Oct
02

Top 10 reasons why you should NOT buy the Canon EOS 5D

Photography, Articles
Canon EOS 5D

I have been inspired by a recent thread at DPreview where a fellow user was asking for reasons why he should NOT buy the Canon EOS 5D.
This thread turned out to be very interesting with 90+ responses and I thought it might be of use for anyone currently considering to buy a Digital Camera, specially with the upcoming Canon fall rebates, so what is found in this post is just the 10 top given answers, in the thread stated above, sorted in no particular order.

1) Money: Well yes, money is an issue for many of us and the Canon EOS 5D still costs around $2800 USDwith a $300/$600 rebate during this fall double rebates and if you are not a wealthy person and your are not making money out of Photographyand won’t be soon then probably the Canon EOS 5D just is not for you

2) No built in flash: The Canon EOS 5D has no built in flash simply because it is designed to the prosumer market of digital photography. But sometimes when you want to travel light the small pop up flash comes in handy. So if you are not ready to invest in an external flash and find yourself frequently shooting in situations where a flash is needed then you should probably be looking somewhere else.

3) No weather sealing: Although the Canon EOS 5D is rated between Canon’s top digital cameras, it is built is not as good as the Canon EOS 1D series and it lacks weather sealing. I wouldn’t say this is a very important issue since there are MANY was of protecting a camera against bad weather is you really have to.

4) 3 frames per second limitation: I am sure that the maximum of 3 frames per seconds would be enough for most of us, but if you are into sport or action photography this might be a limitation for you.

5) You need a better Auto Focus: Of course in this statement I am not addressing amateurs but rather professionals that track fast moving subjects all the time in AI servo mode and want to rely almost solely on they camera then you should probably be considering the Canon EOS 1D series.

6) Full Frame: I am well aware that most people do buy the Canon EOS 5D BECAUSE it is full frame, nevertheless if find yourself shooting on the long end of your lenses most of the time (birding, sports photography etc…) then maybe Full Frame isn’t the right way to go

7) It loves DUST: Well the reason why is a big mystery for me, but some of Canon EOS 5D owners seems to find that their full frame sensor just attract dust and wish it was armed with the new dust cleaning system of the Canon EOS 400D

8) Bad focusing screen: How bad can it be I don’t know, I’m pretty sure it is MUCH better than my Canon EOS 30D, but some owners complain that manual focus is almost impossible.

9) Near end of life cycle: Well there is always a new camera around the corner and if you’ll always wait for the new one then you will probably never buy one, but the Canon EOS 5D has been on the market for more than one year and is expected to be replaced this coming February 2007, so if you can afford to wait, you can then have yet another camera to add on your choice list.

10) Weight: Compared to the Canon EOS 400D my 30D weight a ton, and the Canon EOS 5D is yet heavier, so if weight is a concern to you I’d say forget about it.

Conclusion: The Canon EOS 5D is a GREAT digital camera, unbeatable image quality and noise performance at all ISO, but I guess it is just not made for everyone.


3 people have commented on this post so far! Leave a Comment
  • Picsbydan

    I can’t understand why you would consider these valid reasons to not buy a d5 Canon slr. Lets start with your money objection.
    When I looked into the d5 I found it out of my price range. When you cant afford something, you can look at cameras in your price range or wait. I opted for a canon 30d. Also if you can’t afford a 5d you shouldn’t compare it to the 1d series. Another point. If you are in need of faster frames per second than 3. Try and get someone else to buy your equipment because there are these things on the end called lenses. If your lense isn’t fast then neither is your camera.
    I usually don’t get this ramped up about what camera to buy but if you are going to present these as reasons not to buy something it’s a weak argument.

  • First let me thank you for taking the time to read my post.

    Now regarding the price, it seems that we both agree that if the Canon EOS 5D is not within your reach we’d better be looking for something else. I couldn’t afford it either so I went for the Canon EOS 30D too, so price could be a, if not THE reason, for not buying it.

    Second, I totally agree with you, if you don’t have enough money to buy the Canon EOS 5D, the 1D is surely not an option but, again, this is just a list and each point should be considered separately and your photography NEEDS might be more of a 1D series than the 5D.

    Third regarding the numbers of frames per seconds, it won’t matter what lens your sticking on the Canon EOS 5D it will still not be able to give you more than 3fps, so if this is not enough for you, here also, you should be looking somewhere else.

    Finally, it is obvious that the Canon EOS 5D has a market niche of its own, a grey zone if I may call it. Professionals MIGHT prefer to go for a 1D series whereas amateurs would rather save money and go for the xxD series or even xxxD series.

    All this being said, it is irrefutable that the Canon EOS 5D is and outstanding camera in all aspects.

  • tim

    poor review, The 5D fit in a great market and in my feild os the most common camera, seems like a review for reviews sake….