Ok I know a few of you have upgraded from a 20D to a II N. What is the scoop? How does it compare? Give us a mini review please! You all know you wanna brag about your new camera, so here is your chance!

I'm curious too . . .

I'm ready to make the leap myself!

Guys I am posting some pics right out of the camera settings in JPG Mode. Its coming right up!!!!

Jim,

You beat me to it! I've been planning on doing a comparison between the two cameras and letting you know how the transition has been! The past two weeks I've used this camera to shoot two weddings, two soccer games, an engagement shoot, a set of baby portraits, and some surfing. All to say it's been a good time of learning the camera and seeing what it can do!

I'm going to aim this review towards 10D/20D users who are upgrading to the Mark IIn, not Mark II users who are upgrading. Mark II users won't notice much difference at all besides a very slightly larger buffer and a significantly larger and brighter screen.

I think the first thing that must be said is that these are two COMPLETELY different lines of cameras. It's not the difference between a Honda Civic and a Honda Accord. It's like the difference between a Ford Focus and an Infinity. Looking at the stats you wouldn't really think that since the cameras have the same mega pixels and share a few other features, but I mean that more in the way that the cameras feel and the way they operate.

The Mark IIn is actually considerably more complicated to use than the 20D. The 20D is pretty easy to understand. You get used to some of the Mark II's two button system of working things pretty quick, but it's a little odd at first if this is your first 1D series camera.

Here are some of the Pros of this camera to the 20D.

1. The "pro" feel. The 20D with a vertical grip isn't bad, but when you hold a Mark II you KNOW it's a pro camera. It's very well built. If you haven't held one....do it. It'll be hard to put down. The weight might be a bit much for some people though, particularly if you're lugging a 70-200 around all day.

2. 8.5 frames a second. Wow! It's funny I never thought I would ever really want 8.5 frames a second until I had it. I don't shoot weddings at 8.5 frames a second (not much anyways), but for sports this camera rocks. In fact, I would say this camera really is designed for the sports photographer more than anything else. It's awesome for weddings too, but a lot of the features are really made with the sports photographer in mind. It's wonderful for shooting fast action.




3. 3rd stop ISOs. It's SO nice to be able to shoot at ISO 500. Or 1250. Or 320. Or 1000. Or 50. The ability to choose more ISOs is great. When you need something in between 400 or 800. Or between 800 and 1600. It sounds silly, but it's huge. Came in REALLY handy for this engagement shoot that we shot at night. As it got darker I could just adjust my ISO in third stops rather than being forced to make the jump from 400-800 or from 800-1600.






4. Go WIDE! The 1.3x crop factor is great! 16mm on a Mark II is a pretty noticable difference from 16mm on a 20D. If your style includes a lot of wide angle the Mark IIs 1.3x crop is a nice feature.

5. The SCREEN! The screen on the Mark IIn is HUGE! Really they should just call it the Mark II HD because it's pretty unbelievable. I was shooting with Pepper Nix this weekend and she kept wanting to use my camera just cause of the screen! Actually using her old Mark II was good because it showed me just how big a deal having the big screen is! With this screen I don't find myself having to zoom in to make sure something is sharp. You can usually tell right away.

6. The battery life. When I first used my Mark IIn I shot an entire wedding (about 1600 shots), an engagement shoot (about 600 shots), and half a game of soccer (250 shots?) before my camera even came on with the low battery warning. My 20D battery's are kinda old and the problems I've had with the grip make the new battery SOOO nice! Plus, I love how on the new chargers you can "refresh" the batteries so it will drain them all the way to empty before it starts charging them again. It makes the life a bit longer on 'em. Very nice feature!

7. Picture Styles. For anyone who has ever used an old Mark II you know getting SHARP images out of the camera was sometimes a problem. I'd rarely see images out of camera on the Mark II that were as sharp as the ones I would get out of my 10D/20D. The Mark IIn totally fixes this. The old Mark IIs didn't apply much sharpening in camera allowing you to apply it rather in post production. With the new Picture Styles you have lot more control over this in camera and it makes a huge difference. I'm amazed at how sharp my images are now when I download them. It's great! The Mark IIn also has a Picture Style that allows you to capture in b/w as well.

8. Customizable file names. If you shoot with multiple cameras, have multiple shooters, or shoot multiple events on one card, you can now change the first 4 characters of the file name to anything you wish. (such as CAM1, CAM2, WED1,) etc etc....

9. Writing to two cards in different file formats. I haven't done this yet (because I don't have an SD card or SD card reader), but I plan on it, and I'm sure it'll be cool!

Cons.

1. I don't really get why this is, but I feel that the 20D has BETTER low light focusing than the Mark II. It sounds really wierd, but it's been my experience. Anyone else experience this? I feel the focusing is faster than the 20D in daylight, but not so in low light.

2. Depth of Field. This is a pro and a con really. Because of the chip size and because you have to get closer to your subject (due to the 1.3x crop) the D.O.F. is narrower on the Mark II rather than at the 10D/20D. Just be careful. Things that I would normally shoot at f2.8 on a 20D might be better shot at f3.2 or f3.5 on the Mark II. Then again, it's nice to have a really shallow D.O.F. at times as well. I got to use Pepper Nix's 85mm f1.2 a bit at the wedding Saturday and wow! It's cool, but just make sure you shoot a bunch to try to grab something that is defiently sharp. I was shooting some baby portraits last week as well and the narrow D.O.F. was great for that.






3. Weight. As I mentioned earlier. If you get tired lugging a 20D around, the Mark II might not be for you...

That's about it. Or at least all I can think of at the moment. All in all, I love this camera. More than I actually thought I would to be honest. It's a pretty cool setup. Let me know if there are any questions I didn't answer or if there's anything else you want to know.

FANTASTIC review Chris.

Just what the doctor ordered. The points you bring out like DOF on a 1.6 crop verse a 1.3 crop is stuff I would have never thought of prior to converting. I am going to read this several times to make sure I get it all.

But I am sold and will soon join the 20D -> Mark II N ranks.

B&H has the Mark II N's back in stock and my credit card smoking! I wonder what it is gonna be like upgrading from my polaroid to a Mark II N.

Cool Jim!

Glad you're going to pull the trigger as they say.

Don't trade in your 20D though. It's still a great camera and I may still decide to move to having two cameras on me all the time. Ideally I would have a 5D with my wide angle and my Mark IIn with my long lens. We'll see though....

Trigger pulled!

Just wondering how difficult it will be having my 20d as my 2nd camera. Will I get confused with the operation of a "Ford Focus vs an Infinity"?

I doubt it......I know another great photograher here in Santa Barbara who shoots a 20D and a Mark II and it's been great for him.

You already know the 20D really well, and once you get to know the Mark II I don't think you'll have too many problems.

It's up to you and your style of shooting and what you're comfortable with.

Chris,

Thank you for your great review . . . it was incredibly helpful! I am a 10D/20D owner, although I have shot with a 1D Mark II. It took some getting used to, but I loved it. It's good to hear that the Mark IIN has improved on some of the minor flaws of the Mark II (I never was able to get the sharpness just right on that camera).

Are you shooting with the 16-35L? If so, how do you like it?

Thanks again, Chris!

::B

Brian,

I love that lens. The 16-35 on the Mark II is a good bit wider than what it is on the 20D. If you have that lens you'll like looking at it through a Mark II.

Seriously, though that lens, combined with my 70-200 makes up for probably 90% of my images.

Great information, Chris! Thanks. I'm still undecided. My plan was to get a 5D for the full-frame coverage, and use that with my 20D. (I'll probably be selling a 10D and D60). Then. . .maybe wait for the 1D Mark III? I've got too much on my wish list right now.

I personally don't need any more than 8.2MP!!!The only thing I wish is that the menus were easier to get through and that the focus point had a joystick that could be controlled via a Custom Function like the 20D. I absolutely am 100% satisfied with the pictures.

Wait, Chris, isn't that what most people call "chimping?"

Tim, honest mistake....actually that was a quote from Pepper....here's what I meant to write....




I was trying to give a review of the camera and even though I never chimp I know that many on here (including you) do, so I just wanted to give a fair review and I asked Pepper what she thought. I actually kinda thought people would understand that that was a quote from Pepper and not something I would ever say....

Sorry, I'll try to clarify better next time.

There's more to cameras than megapixels. Personally, the thing I always hopes that improves with cameras is bigger buffers. The buffer on the Mark IIn is actually pretty darn good (particularly compared to the 20D), but it could always be better. I just hit mine for the first time yesterday shooting some kids running around in a park. (shooting RAW+Small JPEG)

Hopefully in the Mark III they will have corrected the low light focusing a bit better as well.

Also, hopefully you'll get even low noise levels in the higher ISOs. From what I hear the 5D is gonna be incredible with this. I hear the noise levels at 800 on the 5D is what 400 is on the Mark II/20D. (I think the Mark II and the 20D are pretty comparable). I'm betting we will see that carry over in the Mark III.

I love my Mark IIn, but I don't think it's unwise to wait for the Mark III if you feel the Mark II isn't really worth the upgrade for you at the moment.

Just my thoughts.....

Amazing review Chris. Very informative and thorough. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

On another note... what are your thoughts on American foreign policy in relation to global economics and fossil fuels?

Ha! I love your sense of humor Josh! I seriously laughed out loud for about 15 seconds after I read that.

Since I know you're joking I won't really answer your question, but it is oddly enough a topic I'm pretty passionate about (almost as much as photography!) If you want to read a real eye opening book on the subject check out Confessions of an Economic Hitman. That book will flip you out. Pretty crazy stuff....

Good review Chris.