Canon 5D Mark II: DxO Lab

(Credit: DxO Labs)
CNET's Underexposed, a blog by Stephen Shankland, has posted an article with a bunch of interesting news on the Canon 5D Mark II. For instance, it reports that the camera's sensor ranks very high on DxO Labs' test of sensor performance. This is especially significant since there's been an ongoing debate as to whether the $2,700 5D Mark II performs better than the $6,500 1Ds Mark III, which has the same resolution of 21.1 mps.

Although the DxO tests give the edge to the 1Ds Mark III based on its better color and dynamic range, the 5D Mark II has a better low-light performance. In my view, this is particularly welcome news considering that the price of a 1Ds Mark III is 2.4 times that of 5D Mark II.

The blog post also mentions the black-spot issue reported afflicting some of the new 5D Mark IIs. It also reports that Chuck Westfall of Canon will make an official comment on the issue.

Detailed image quality measurements for the Canon 5D Mark II: (DxO Labs)

As an aside, I was shopping at B&H today, and noticed a few things:

1. During my visit, the customer traffic at the cashiers' lanes were light in comparison to others occasions I was there. I didn't have to wait for a salesclerk to help me.

2. There was quite a crowd surrounding the Nikon island, where new models are on display. In contrast, the Canon island had a much smaller number, mostly around the point & shoots (ie the G10).

3. If I'm to believe the salesclerk, B&H had no 5D Mark II in stock and had even ceased taking pre-orders via email since there were too many.