One of my work mates just received the new Canon 5D Mark II with a nice Canon EF 28-70 2.8 L lens. A little boxier than my poor old 40D and with that lens it is much heavier, but both camera and lens make a nice pair and take beautiful looking test photos. Focus was fast and accurate and exposure seemed good as well.

I think I would get a battery grip, my little finger seemed to slip off the bottom, which is odd because the 5D Mark II is franctionally larger than the 40D which fits my hand fine. It must be something different in the hand grip shape. With a camera and lens that expensive I’d want them welded to my hand.

All minor first impression complaints aside, I’m jealous. It’s a lovely piece of kit that will no doubt produce high quality images. Still, no new camera or lenses for me for a while, I need a decent computer for photo processing first. Maybe a 5D Mark III in years to come is the best I can hope for.

There are lots of rumours about new Canon DSLRs mainly around the 5D replacements and a possible 1D replacement. Curiously when I look at the canon website they are a campaign for “the Future of Photography”.

Looking at the camera image there are two things. First there seems to be a built in flash, there is a line visible under the canon logo and there is no hot-shoe. The 5D has no built in flash and would any pro camera would be without it’s hot-shoe flash?

Second, and more interesting, there are no buttons, none at all, and no control dial?

I wonder, with all the coverage for the higher spec cameras is Canon about to surprise the market and launch another entry level DSLR camera with a touchscreen interface? That would be interesting but is it really going to appeal to the typical DSLR user? It might get some point-and-click users to make the jump to DSLRs. A camera with all the advantages of a DSLR but with the ease of use of a point-and-click? Will touch screens make it into a new 5D or will that take another release or two?