The New-To-Me Canon 5d, or, Spend Your Money Wisely

Taken with the original 5d and a 28mm lens. Photo by Will Parson

If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!

Remember watching TV in the late 90s and hearing that slogan on NBC?   Before the days of streaming internet video and Tivo there was no hope for anyone who missed a new episode of Seinfeld aside from waiting for a rerun…on a real television set of all places.  And as NBC was happy to remind every couch potato, an episode that you haven’t seen isn’t just a rerun, but more like a second chance at happiness.  Anyway, that was what I was reminded of recently when I got tired of staring balefully at the price of the Canon 5d MkII and bought myself it’s forebear, the original Canon 5d.

I was in college when the first 5d came out, and back then a new one cost about as much as one year of my tuition.  Now you can pick up a used 5d on eBay for roughly the price of a new cropped-sensor Canon 50d, which is exactly what I did about a month ago.  I shot an assignment the day after getting my new-to-me 5d, and I haven’t looked back – though I do set out with both my 5d and my 40d cameras when an assignment dictates I need simultaneous wide and telephoto lens coverage.  Despite my 40d’s 6fps, despite it’s 14-bit processor and despite it’s sensor-cleaning technology, every day I reach for the 5d before leaving the house.

Why?  For me it’s because of the format; I had never owned a full frame DSLR before.  I like being able to control depth-of-field, and with a cropped-sensor I felt like I was working with one hand tied behind my back.  Now even my wide lenses reveal that pleasing background blur when I want them to.  The 5d has also eased the strain on my poor lenses, pushed to their resolving limits by the 40d and beyond by the 50d (as a side note, I would definitely buy the 40d over the 50d today).  With any camera, the sharpest lenses are the most desired, but going from cropped to full frame, I am surprised to be able to open my apertures a couple clicks more than I used to and still get sharp images.

I’ve all but forgotten about the 5d MkII, and if you’re an emerging photographer looking to buy a camera, I know you might be enticed to splurge on the best you can afford.  Fancy equipment can be enticing because it feels like one less barrier to making strong work.  After all, if you own the same camera as, say, White House official photographer Pete Souza, you could be taking historic photos too right?

Probably not.  The camera doesn’t take photos, you do.  By far the biggest thing affecting the quality of your photos is you, not your camera.  Consider this:  by purchasing the original 5d over the 5d MkII, you’ll save about $1500.  Now what will look better, a photo of your empty wallet captured at 20 megapixels, or a well-researched photo essay captured at a still considerable 13 megapixels, but funded with that $1500 dollars you saved.  Save your money, fund a personal project or buy a plane ticket across the planet and take some photos with your five-year-old camera.

Times are changing – digital cameras are staying on the market longer.  With General Motors (originator of ‘planned obsolescence’) bankrupt, the zeitgeist has made expensive new equipment a lot less appealing.  We should be saving our pennies where we can and spending them where they will matter.  So stop being a consumer whore.  Stop it.

Remember watching TV in the late 90s and hearing that slogan on NBC? Before the days of streaming internet video and Tivo there was no hope for anyone who missed a new episode of Seinfeld aside from waiting for a rerun...on a real television set of all places. And as NBC ...