Remember the Canon 5D Mk II

Remember when the Canon 5D Mk II was the greatest new camera to hit the planet? Remember these comments?

Pros: picture detail, usable high ISO's, bright and big viewfinder, etc. too many to list here Cons: Vertical grip should be integrated

This more of a real world photography "review", so pixel peepers steer clear Ok, coming from the 40D, I'm gonna compare this to that... When I went from 350D to 40D, the transition was nice but nothing spectacular... This time though, from 40D to this, I keep getting the "WOW!" feeling all the time. It's mostly probably because of the full frame. I'm just gonna concentrate on things that are worth mentioning, aka things that I would have wanted to know before buying... Viewfinder & focusing The viewfinder is so much bigger and brighter, I can finally reliably use manual focus.. Now it's more like I don't use the auto-focus because using manual is such a joy. That is not to say the autofocus would not work, because it does. I didn't really notice any differences between the 40 and the 5DmkII. Well, I don't do birding, sp that could be a tougher situation for the AF. But eventually when summer hits, I will be shooting some racing and other sports... So maybe then I can see if there are any differences... It's just so different when you can keep your eye on the VF and see everything. The whole experience of shooting just got more natural and easy flowing. Lens calibration I calibrated the lenses using the supplied EOS utility, with the camera on tripod. I was astounded how big a difference it made. I kept thinking how much sharper my pictures would have been before on previous cameras if user controlled calibration existed before. It was easy to do with the camera tethered on a laptop, and I think it is one of the biggest reasons to upgrade from older cameras (the 50D and current 1D's have the calibration option also). The Screen Finally the picture preview is from the big picture and not the small thumbnail. I can actually see if the picture is in focus or not. This is for me, in top 3 of the reasons why I bought this camera.And the screen is fabulous anyway. It makes a world of difference. Handling It's a brick. In a positive way. The buttons are in the right places, and it was very intuitive to use. Finally the "direct print" button can be used for other stuff too. When you have it in your hand, it just oozes with the fun factor. It makes you want to keep on shooting. Only thing I wished was they had the vertical grip built in, but I suppose some want to keep it smaller. I myself opted for the grip right away... Picture quality This is one of the most subjective things in photography. From my point of view though, it is just amazing. The amount of detail at my disposal with this camera is so overwhelming. Looking at the raw files I think, wow, the sky is the limit. For some reason getting the exposures spot on seems so much easier with this camera. The tonal range one can get is great. You really have a lot of material to work with from the files. High ISO Well, I knew it was gonna blow me away. But I was still in awe when I opened the first shots above 1600. I think the possibilities this camera (or any other of the new breed that can deliver the goods, Nikon or Sony or whatever) is beyond comprehension. My band, wedding and street photography are going to get boosted to new heights from now on. Full-frame It was clear to me before going full-frame that it was gonna look different, but how much different was still a huge surprise. The bokeh got so much creamier, and the depth-of-field became more apparent... It really made a difference. Even the non-L cheaper lenses lost most of the smutty bokeh they used to have... Conclusion Highly recommended. Hands down. If I knew exactly what I was gonna get, I could have easily paid a 1000 € more for it. It is just so good. It's like falling in love with photography again. It's rare I get to use a piece of equipment that I just have no complaints about. Canon really delivered the goods this time. Go out and buy it!