Quirks with the Canon 5D?

[astrostu]

I'm renting a Canon 5D for a wedding (it was either that or a Rebel XSi for ~10% less). I'm picking it up on Wednesday and the wedding's on Saturday, so I'll only have 2 days, really (Thursday's travel) with the camera before I need to use it for "real" shots.

It will be my first time with a full-frame digital, but I used to use an old film Nikon so I know what to expect there (the lenses will seem to have less reach, I'll be able to get shallower dof with the same field of view, and even my L glass will have some sharpness and vignette issues at the edges). But, I was wondering if there are actual quirks of the camera, like, don't go above ISO 800, or, the EV compensation is generally off by +1/3.

Anything from previous or current owners?

 

[Village Idiot]

The rear LCDs were notorious for having an almost green hue, so don't trust the rear LCD. And feel free to shoot at ISO 1600. Even push it to 3200 and see if you like the outcome. That's the reason wedding photographers flocked to that camera. High ISO performance. I have a 5D MKII that I used to shoot a concert venue at 6400 ISO and the results were very usable with just a touch of noise reduction in post.

 

[inTempus]

Be prepared to fall in love with that old girl.

 

[Derrel]

The 5D's ISO values are a slight bit off; ISO values are under what the sensor produces, so 400 ISO is 500, 500 is really a true 640,and so on. This can add up when you dial in some flash compensation. The autofocusing system is not particularly stellar with either slower-aperture lenses like the 24-105, or on fast action, or in poor indoor light, so be prepared. The quality of the images the 5D can put out is very good.

 

[astrostu]

Thanks for the info so far, folks. Since it's a wedding, I don't think I'll need to worry about fast focusing except maybe at the reception, or on people eating (Motherzilla of the Bride says she wants pictures of people eating for some reason). I also have some pretty darn fast glass.

That's weird about the green hue on the LCD. Since I'll be shooting in RAW, I can always take care of color in PP, but still good to know.

That's also good to know about the ISO behavior and performance. Definitely useful for those reception shots which are almost always low-light when indoors. It's actually in a hotel, which, in my experience, usually has horrid lighting regardless of where you are. I may be defaulting to ISO 400 even with my fast glass, it seems, but I'll be testing everything out on some guinea pigs ... err, friends ... the day before to figure out what kind of settings I should be defaulting to given the light, where the couple will be on the dais/stage, and where I can be in the room.

I'm thinking I'll likely keep my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on my Rebel and switch between the 35mm f/1.4 and 24-70mm f/2.8 on the 5D so that I can take advantage of the crop factor on the Rebel, but I may reverse that depending on what I figure out on Friday.

 

[Big Mike]

My concern would be the different layout of the buttons (and maybe the menu) on the 5D compared to your Rebel. It can take some getting used to.

 

[Derrel]

I've owned a 5D for a few years now, and I would say yes, definitely, feel free to make ISO 400 your base or starting ISO. The sensor's noise performance at 400 is very good--much better than many smaller-sensored cameras, since the actual capture area is 2.6 times larger than a Rebel has.

Using the 70-200 on the 5D would make sense, as would using the 35 and 24-70 on the 5D. Indoors, I find my 70-200 kind of restrictive on a 1.6x body, but find it easier to use on a FF body. But, as you said, there are things to figure out....who knows the wedding might take place in a postively huge room at the hotel. Regardless, do not be afraid of shooting the 5D at elevated ISO settings,especially is you do any slight fill-flash, such as lower-speed, almost-shutter-dragging shots with the flash dialed wayyy down to like Minus 2.7 stops.

The 5D's big sensor are huge pixels make it a good imager even at ISO 640 or ISO 800 as long as the exposures are correct.

 

[Antithesis]

Watch out for banding in the ISO 1600 range, I've had problems with it in the past. The AF can hunt a bit too as its got a bit of a dated AF system. Great camera otherwise, used to absolutely love mine.

Oh, and with all Canons, watch for the "canon red" that will show up in your shadows and also sneak into some other random spots. Its borderline impossible to correct out of your photos.