My take on the Canon 5D Mark 2

So the new 5D finally arrived late last night. Jason pinged me in the middle of the night as I editing a few weddings. I was truly excited about this new camera, but now, I am not really sure where I stand.

I am shooting with the 5D in the last 2.5 years and have been extremely happy with it except the following:

1. The camera body is not up to par for a professional photographer. We use and abuse these cameras so the body has to be able to withhold the test.
2. The dial on the side is annoying to me because I always accidentally switch it to a mode that I don't want.
3. The 5D does not have a sensor cleaner so I always get dust in the camera, especially shooting in a dusty location like Nestldown!
4. I shoot RAW, and I tend to set my camera on continuous shooting mode. I noticed many times that my camera "slows down" when I shoot too many frames at one time. I have to sit there, wait for the camera to "catch up".

So having said all that, what I was hoping Canon would do is to put this camera in a better body with a whole different function layout. This will address my #1 and #2 above. #3 is now being addressed in the new 5DM2 and I *THINK* #4 is being addressed as well.

Now, many friends and students have been sending me emails today and asked if I will upgrade. My answer is yes, but maybe not immediately. What I am concerned about with this new camera is the following:

1. New battery, new charger, now we need a whole new set of batteries (including backup) to support it.
2. The new RAW file size is gynormous. It is 21MP, so my file size is around 20-24MB. This is nuts! especially, I shoot around 2000 pictures per wedding. Imagin what the storage would need to be?
3. What about the shutter? has it been upgraded to a more "industrial strength" shutter? I broke my 5D shutter once and Canon replaced it at a pretty hefty cost. We shoot so much that a consumer based shutter is just not going to cut it.

Like I said, I WILL eventually upgrade to this camera, but I am just not as excited as I would have been if Canon upgraded the overall body to the more industrial strength one (similar to the 1 series). But one thing that REALLY excites me is the ISO 25600. This means I can pretty much throw my flashes away! ;)

Nevertheless, this is still a GREAT camera. I am sure people who are using 30Ds or 40Ds are more than happy to upgrade to this new kid on the block.