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Canon EOS 5D 12.8 MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
From Canon
List Price: $2,599.99
Price: $2,199.88 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

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Average customer review:

Buy Cheap Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera Compare Price

	79% buyCanon EOS 5D 12.8 MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)  (74) $2,199.88
	14% buyCanon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens  (138) $1,329.88
	6% buyCanon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)  (498) $589.88

12.8-megapixel effective recording * full-frame CMOS image sensor (35.8 x 23.9mm) * 2-1/2" LCD screen with adjustable brightness levels * top-mounted LCD panel with orange backlighting displays camera and exposure settings * DIGIC II image processor * compatible with Canon EF lenses * hot shoe for Canon EX-series Speedlite flash accessories (no flash included) * compatible with Canon EE-TTL II flash exposure control systems * 9-point autofocus * viewfinder with dioptric adjustment * optional interchangeable focusing screens * depth-of-field preview *

Customer Reviews

Don't Be Fooled, the 5D is THE Way to Go
There are tons of raving reviews about the amazing 5D, so no repeating all that. There is one reason the 5D is THE choice: the full frame sensor, hands down. The image quality is umatched and is super low noise BECAUSE of the larger sensor. You see it in the top end cameras costing up to eight grand, but the difference is, you get it for this incredible price. Sure, there are things that people aren't happy with on the 5D like menus and no weather sealing, but in the end, image quality is what it's all about. For landscapes and nature shots and anything else where the rich look of a medium format camera is desired, the 5D does it. Of course, if you can afford the 21MP 1Ds Mk III, go get that. Otherwise, the 5D is primo.

Important things to know:
-No pop up flash. No offense, this is a real camera. Get a real flash for it. Pop up flashes are for snapshots. Better choice: set ISO to 1600 and get natural light images (yep, 1600, and it looks good due to: the full frame sensor! Your friend with the Rebel can't do ISO 1600 without gobs of noise).
-Flash sync at 1/200, not 1/250. If you do sports photos and hook up to the wireless flash systems in arenas, this might be an issue. For everyone else, you'll not even notice.
-Get some big CF cards, the RAW files can get up to 15MB each.
-The JPEGs don't come out all that great. Be prepared to use the RAW files and your results will be phenomenal (note: the 5D has built-in "Picture Styles" for JPEGs... you may get good results with that. I only use RAW).
-No EF-S lenses on this camera. It only uses real EF lenses (the better ones).

I can't rave enough about this 5D. To get full frame for this price is insane, I can't imagine using cropped sensor cameras ever again. BTW, your cropped sensor cameras (20D, 30D, 40D, etc) don't turn a 200mm lens into a 320mm lens, it just crops it. Big difference. Don't let that sales pitch fool you. You can crop your 5D image to look the same and still have the image quality of the 10MP cropped cameras. Get the 5D.

A Nikon convert
It was hard (and expensive) to go from Nikon to Canon, but worth it. I always felt my Nikon could be sharper. I went to Canon for the Lenses and I'm not disappointed, nor will you be. The D5 with the 24-105 L series lens is a beautiful setup, extremely versatile. This is not a compromise camera. Is it perfect, no, but a very, very good camera and lens.

Mainly I use this camera for photographing artwork. I use strobes, and sometimes available light or the 580ex flash. So the lens is plenty fast for my purposes. In fact I try not to go below 5.6 for sharpness. Be warned, if you use the widest zoom, don't fill the frame, there is definite fall off at the corners. The color rendition is beautiful, and nearly flawless right out of the camera, very little post processing is necessary. This was the most frustrating thing about Nikon. Sitting in front of Photoshop fixing bad photos simply sucks.

Then why a rating of 4 and not a 5? I would like to give it a 4.7, because it is not perfect, no camera is. I sometimes use a Hasselblad with a Phaseone digital back and that's not perfect($30,000 setup). The D5 with canon lenses is not a Hasselblad, but at a 10th the price, it is damn close. Did I want the 1ds mark iii? You bet. But for less than 1/3 the cost it is a much better value.

Things I like a lot:
Full frame, L series lenses, true wide angle, reasonable size body, good weight, buttons laid out well, easy menu, beautiful lens, great color, diopter adjust is great, high resolution for the price, good battery life, ergonomic, and a very reasonable price for a great camera.

Things that could be better:
Timer needs to be adjustable (Like a 2 second delay for tripod work), one or 2 buttons for custom settings (instead of the stupid print button). Easier white balance setup and control, confusing resolution descriptions, a pop up fill flash would be very useful in a pinch, time lapse control would be fun.

Things others find missing that I don't care about (but you might):
Not weatherproof, modest multiple capture speed, slow(ish) lens (F-4 isn't bad, and you can get very, very fast Canon lenses if you need them), weight of the lens, slight crop of the image in preview, no live viewing on the lcd, no fill flash, grainy at very high ISO (I found the camera quite impressive up to about 800).

Things that are unacceptable:
None.

A word about RAW. There are many resolution settings on this camera. From medium jpeg to Raw, and Raw with jpeg. This is mainly a studio camera for me, so burst mode is not something I use often. So I won't comment on the speed of capturing multiple images. Maybe if I do portrait work, I'll be glad it's there. But I use RAW with everything I shoot, you should too. As much as possible, anyway Yes the files are larger, but so what. A $40 extreme III card can hold hundreds of images. A 500gig hard drive can hold over 30,000! Here is the upside of raw. It gets better with age. Raw processing has improved from Photoshop cs1 to 2 to 3. Old raw files I have actually look better in the new versions. So if you keep your old raw photos untouched, you may actually get better photos in the years to come. RAW allows amazing adjustment. With jpeg or even tiff, you can't go back. They are what they are.

Summary: A camera cannot take good photographs, that is the photographer's job. That is why I like this camera so much, it gets out of my way easily, so I can do my part. This is a beautiful camera, with a beautiful lens at a GREAT price. Do buy a good UV filter to protect your lens, and a few CF cards and you are good to go.

The best camera I've ever owned!
The Canon 5D is the best camera I've ever owned, hands down. I've owned Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus and Minolta cameras and this is the best. The size, weight, build quality, everything is just right. Most of all the image quality is unparralled. The Full frame sensor really does make a big difference. The pictures are sharper, with better color and less noise than any camera I've ever used. There is enough resolution to make gorgeous 24x36 in. prints that look better and sharper than 35mm film. I took some shots at ISO 3200 and underexposed by one stop and pushed them back in RAW, and they noise was invisible on a 8x10 in print, you still probably wouldn't see it unless you were looking from an inch away on a 16x20 in print. I love the viewfinder and its great big view, no more tunnel vision for me. I can't even stand to look in a olympus viewfinder anymore, let alone try to manual focus on it. With the 5D the view is so big manual focus becomes easy and enjoyable again. this camera has really brought back the joy of photography for me. I was getting tired of all the photoshopping with other cameras to get what i wanted. But with the 5D I shoot and print, not worrying about post processing anything,it's that good. Try one out, rent or go to the local Wolf camera and play with one you will fall in love with it, guaranteed.

Buy Cheap Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera Compare Price

	79% buyCanon EOS 5D 12.8 MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)  (74) $2,199.88
	14% buyCanon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens  (138) $1,329.88
	6% buyCanon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)  (498) $589.88