The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is one hell of a gadget While it begins U.S. shipments to dealers today (Tuesday, Nov. 25), let me tell you why I am so excited about this one.

The product from Canon is not only a digital still camera but a  first-class high-definition video camera as well. It serves both the purposes with equal efficiency.

As Digital SLR (DSLR)

  • The Canon 5D Mark II has a 21-megapixel sensor
  • Resolution of up to 5,616 x 3,744 pixels. (That’s a 100 dpi wall poster 56 x 37 inches)

As A Video Camera

  • SD Mark II shoots 1,920 x 1,080 progressive scan video or you can back off to VGA resolution.

Sensor Cropping

Chuck Westfall, a spokesperson from Canon said,

A small amount of the total imaging area on the sensor has to be cropped from the top and bottom in order to account for the difference in aspect ratio between 3:2 [photo] and 16:9 [video], but the full width of the sensor is used. For this reason, there is no focal length conversion factor in HD movie mode.

Price

$3,500 for camera and lens. Yes I understand its damn good and serves both purposes but to buy with that money at this time, well I can only see prospective buyers as wild life photographers.

[via: gearlog.com]