In the Field with the Canon 5D Mark IV

While the “professional” 1D series may get the title of flagship DSLR, it is Canon’s 5D series that gets all the attention. With the release of the EOS 5D Mark IV a few months ago, we received a variety of highly anticipated new features, including a higher-resolution sensor, improved low-light performance and dynamic range, Dual Pixel technologies, and 4K video recording. So, what did I think after spending some time with the camera? Well, it’s an easy decision if you shoot with any existing 5D-series body and want the ideal all-around performer, but there are a few limitations for certain users.

Build and Handling

If you have seen or handled a 5D Mark III, 5DS, or 5DS R, you have pretty much used a 5D Mark IV. Not much has changed, and not much really needed to. There are a few nice additions, however, including an extra button on the rear that provides another method of quickly accessing your settings and a higher-resolution rear touchscreen that I enjoyed—something rare for me, since I dislike them. The touchscreen works for changing settings, as well as for tapping the screen to focus, which works wonderfully in live view and while shooting video. Beyond this, it is largely the same camera as before and is very comfortable to handle and hold.

Image Quality

Canon has been making numerous advancements with its CMOS image sensors in the past few years, starting with the 50MP CMOS sensors in the 5DS and 5DS R. The Mark IV doesn't quite reach that resolution, but it does get a nice bump to 30MP that will keep things manageable while providing plenty of resolution for more demanding printing applications. As I'd written in Canon Camera Wars: 5D Mark IV versus 5DS and 5DS R, a previous article comparing all the current 5D series cameras, the Mark IV is the perfect all-around camera, offering good resolution with excellent speed and low-light performance, and I stand by that statement after using it.

One significant upgrade in the Mark IV is a vast improvement to dynamic range and a greater ability to push and pull the raw files in post. Earlier cameras would start to show noise very quickly if you tried to pull up the shadows dramatically while editing. The Mark IV, however, allows users to expose for the highlights and then pull up almost pitch-black areas to reveal detail without suffering from tons of color noise. I have personally seen this issue many times, and am glad to see this change.

Low-light shooting hasn't changed drastically—only about 1/3 stop improvement, but when you combine this with the higher-resolution sensor, it is still a nice upgrade. I would feel comfortable shooting at up to ISO 12800 for most situations, and could probably push that to 25600 if I really needed to. It is good to see significant changes to the image capture system, which provide photographers with more control over their images in post.

Performance and Connectivity

A few other upgrades come with the autofocus system and the connectivity options. The AF system is an expanded 61-point system that is like the 1D X Mark II, and it is extremely fast and accurate, even in low light. This is one of those features that you don't even think about because it just works. Changing AF modes and coverage is easy, thanks to the new rear button, and the coverage is wide enough to cover most subjects with ease, even during tracking. Of course, there are numerous ways to program the AF, as well, meaning you can fine-tune it to do exactly what you need. Additionally, it works very well with the high-speed 7 fps continuous shooting.

On the connectivity side of things, there have been a couple of tweaks made. First and foremost is the addition of built-in GPS. For those clamoring for geo-tagging tech like the 6D, you finally have it. The Mark IV also comes with what is effectively the new standard of Wi-Fi with NFC. Canon's app works well, so you can quickly transfer photos or even take control of the camera.

Dual Pixel Technology

This is surprisingly deserving of its own section, since the 5D Mark IV has two new features related to Dual Pixel tech. First, it gains Dual Pixel CMOS AF, first found in the 70D, which provides outstanding autofocus performance in live view and while shooting video. It is surprisingly accurate and fast and, with the use of a touchscreen, it becomes very easy to use. If you have seen it in action on previous Canon bodies, it isn't very different here, but it is very helpful to have on a professional full-frame camera.

Next, we have the most intriguing new feature of the Mark IV: Dual Pixel Raw. Many questions were raised when Canon mentioned this, when the camera was previously announced, with many people wondering if this was some sort of Lytro-esque technology. Unfortunately, it doesn't take things quite that far, and merely offers slight adjustments to your photos in post. To use it, you must use Canon's Digital Photo Pro software for editing the images and it gives you a few tools to help save an image.

This tool set includes focus micro adjustment, letting shooters move the point of focus a little bit to ensure the sharpest focus is exactly where it needs to be. This won't save completely misfocused images, mind you, but it can help account for the millimeter or two that you were off when you moved slightly between focusing and taking the shot. There is also a bokeh adjustment, which is more interesting, and lets you change the shooting angle ever so slightly. I found this to be more significant of a change compared to the focus adjustment, and here are some samples of the most extreme changes that you can make.

There are a couple of other settings, as well, including diffraction correction, but with most major editing tools already offering effective tools themselves, it’s hard to justify adding another piece of software to your workflow just for this reason. One other issue I had was that only one of these settings can be used at a time, so you can't shift the bokeh and do focus adjustment or diffraction correction for an image at the same time. It is an interesting tool, for sure, but I'm not sure many people will really find a use for it.

A Word on Video

Compared to the groundbreaking achievements in video quality made by the Mark II and the Mark III, the Mark IV doesn’t quite hit those heights, but it does add some desired improvements. The primary upgrade is DCI 4K recording, and now via an optional paid upgrade service through Canon, you can get C-Log in the camera. It is still missing many critical features, such as zebras and peaking, uncompressed 4K output (HDMI is Full HD only), options for better codecs, and more. Rolling shutter is also noticeable, making it a difficult camera to use handheld. And, it will only record 4K video with a massive 1.74x crop. The overall quality of the video is very nice, however, if you can get over these limitations. And pulling 4K stills after recording is simple if you want to experiment with that capture technique.

Conclusion

The 5D Mark IV is an easy upgrade if you are a professional Canon photographer—it gives you practically every upgrade you could possibly hope for in terms of image quality and performance. If you need it for video too, well, it may not be the best but it will work in many controlled situations. Canon seems to be targeting still photographers with this camera. Many shooters who moved to Canon strictly for video may be upset, but I find it an interesting and good move for Canon to focus on the core aspect of its DSLRs.