questions from new owner of 5d mark2

[s._prior]

<p>I just got my 5d mark2 camera and hope to put it through its paces tomorrow. I have a couple of questions:<br>

1. I will be shooting mostly stills but also some video but for no more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Which CF cards would be best for me to get?<br>

2. I want quick access to MLU. Is it possible to set the camera to activate MLU by pressing just one button?</p>

[jody_stowitts]

<p>Go to Canon Digital Learning Center</p>

[ken schwarz]

<p>I am using a Kingston 32Gb 133X CF card and it works great. I've never had problems with speed for video and the capacity is terrific.</p>

<p>If you use Live View you lock the mirror up, so effectively the Live View feature is the same thing as MLU. You can also configure the mirror to go up with the self-timer and assign the feature to one of the custom settings. I use C3 for macro, so it has this set. I use it about 0% of the time because Live View makes all of this MLU concern completely obsolete.</p>

 

[david_littleboy__tokyo__ja]

<p>One way to use MLU is to define one of the custom modes to be a state where MLU is enabled. This gives you "one-dial" access.</p>

<p>Two points about MLU mode: (1) Once you've set up MLU, it's quite quick to change it since you usually don't use any other menu items so the menu button gets you there. (2) Unlike MLU on a mechanical camera, MLU mode doesn't interfere with composing and setting the camera, so you don't need to switch in and out of MLU mode. That is, MLU mode is just like normal mode except that you hit the shutter (remote) twice to make an exposure. So when you are making a series of exposures using MLU mode, there's no need to change the MLU mode state. You only need to switch MLU mode if you switching between tripod shooting and hand-held shooting.</p>

[s._prior]

<p>Thank you Ken and David. I appreciate your advice and comments.<br>

S. Prior</p>

[dan_south]

<p>I added Mirror Lock Up to My Menu (the configurable "star" menu that comes up first when you press the menu key). It still takes a couple presses, but I never have to go looking for it in the other menus.</p>

<p>Unlike some folks, I don't like to shoot stills in Live View. I use Live View for manual focusing, then return to normal shooting mode to make exposures.</p>

<p>The great thing about MLU on the 5D mark II is that it works in conjunction with the self-timer. It's great with the 2-second self-timer mode, especially when shooting from a tripod in portrait orientation when it's difficult to mount a cable release. MLU engages when you press the shutter button, and then two seconds later the shutter opens. Slick and smart design! I wish my Nikons could do this.</p>

<p>Video stops recording automatically when the file size hits 4 GB. That's usually after about 10 to 12 minutes in high resolution. Then you'll have to restart it. This should give you an idea of how much card space you'll consume. I use 32 GB cards most of the time.</p>

<p>Transferring video to the computer will be VERY slow if you do it directly from the camera. Invest in USB card reader (or Firewire if your computer can handle it).</p>

[robertbody]

<p>Read some reviews on Adorama for the 64Gb 90MB/s Sandisk PRO card........ and it's on sale! Only $550 [regular $700]</p>

<p>Well that's not very price conscious, but since you asked, i recall reading that today specifically. They talk about video specifically besides the capacity. I would think a 32Gb 60MB/s Sandisk Extreme would be fine, and cost $190, not that crazy number above. Probably a 16gig Sandisk card would do as well. I don't have experience with video, I just saw the comments by others, in the Reviews section for those cards on Adorama. (and B&H)</p>

 

[digitmstr]

<p>16gb is enough and you can get several of those (or however many you may need) I actually prefer to have relatively 'smaller' cards rather than to mix everything in one huge card.</p>

<p>BTW, I'd never spend $700 on a memory card!</p>

[nathangardner]

<p>The only one button MLU option is to enable live view. </p>

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Regarding CF cards to be used for video, you need to look at two things: speed and capacity.</p>

 

<p>The camera's manual tells you the minimum speed you require for video; anything faster will be of no benefit while shooting video, though it may enable you to download the video to your computer more rapidly (and may be useful for still photos if you're shooting large bursts or want quicker chimping).</p>

 

<p>The manual also tells you how many megabytes per minute the video files will be, depending on what resolution you use; multiply that by how many minutes you plan on shooting, add in a safety margin (to allow for shooting more video than you'd anticipated and/or to have some room for still photos on the same card), and you'll find out how large a card you need.</p>

[lostbob_photos]

<p >For what its worth, when I bought my camera a few weeks ago the best value CF I found online was a Scandisk Extreme 16 GB 60 Mbps card at less than $100.</p>

[dan_south]

<p>FYI, it's Sandisk, not SCANdisk.</p>

[jim_service]

<p>i second what dan said about putting mlu in the "my menu", and shooting mlu w/o setting the delay timer is useless. mlu and 2 sec delay is how i shoot 90% of the time, but it's easy to get into and out of.</p>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I use the Calumet 305X cards. They are supre fast, cheap and very reliable. I never use MLU on my 5d2 I just shoot in LiveView mode which does the same thing automatically and allow me to zoom 100% to get a magnified and perfect focus. This is espeacilly usefull when shooting in low light with an F2.8 or faster lens. Ps ononesoftware make and app called DSLremote which allows you to fire your 5d2 from any Iphone. You will actually be able to see the liveview photo on the iphone before and after teh shot and make camera adjustments remotely.</p>