Even if the Canon EOS 5D MkII received a warm weclome from the whole press (paper as well as Internet), there were a few discordant voices to be heard. They are worth listening to, even if only to be sure to know all the sides of this SLR camera or to understand its limitations, while this SLR photo camera stays a true reference in the EOS camera range from Canon as well as in the SLR camera market.
- Karel Donk starts with an issue of autofocus precision. Essentially, it seems that after micro-adjusting the AF for each lens the camera may often have an issue with a very soft focus. Being slightly off-focus becomes quite an issue when you bring 21 mega-pixels to the user. What was acceptable on a 6MP camera becomes awful four years later on a state-of-the-art camera. And some photographers are troubled that this issue may be popping in more than a few cameras.
This seems to be more visible in low light and low contrats situations (difficult for AF precision, of course). And most observers of this phenomenon tend to put the blame on a Canon AF sub-system that has been lacking in significant technology upgrades. - Michael Reichmann, at Luminous Landscapes, had really bad experience(s) during an Antartica trip with repeated failures. Probably caused by some sensitivity to moisture and humidity.
- Some photographers observed significant vignetting associated to the LiveView mode. And this could be associated to some issues with white balance, which may be exarcerbated by Auto Lighting Optimizer.
As you can see, this is quite interesting. Not automatically reasons not to buy, but enough to stop being purely ecstatic about the Canon EOS 5D MkII.