toptrainer Loc: Wellington

I’m looking in to getting an extra camera so I will have a back up when I go out shooting. I have found a Canon 5D Mark2 with the battery grip and very low shutter release for $700. I now own an 80D and was wondering if that would be a good camera for me to have as a backup. Is that a good price for the camera, or should I look into getting something that’s newer? I was looking forward to having a full frame camera.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

How do you envision a "back up" fitting into your shooting?

If you see a back-up as "just in case" as in sitting on the shelf waiting for the highly unlikely event of a failure in your primary camera? If this is your idea, you're just having a case of GAS and you're pretending you're buying insurance ....

If you see the need for shooting two bodies without needing to change lenses, your best play is two of the same bodies. Your editing is easy as both produce the same results. You also don't pick one over the other and can use both off and on elongating the life of both bodies. You also don't have any usage impact for body-specific differences.

If you think you need to compliment a crop body with a full-frame, you'd make a better choice in a used 5DIII.

I really think emergency back-up is a waste of money. Your equipment should be topnotch for the need / intended purpose and not judged inferior of one vs the other where you'll end up using the back-up only an (unlikely) emergency. The unused / under-used body just becomes a waste of money rather than an valid addition to your photography.

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

I just recently purchased the 5dii and I like it okay except the focus. I have been using the 7d and the focus system has me spoiled when I had to go backward on the focusing. If I knew what I now know I would have spent a little more and got the 5diii with better focusing. The price sounds like a good price. I give 675 for mine.

jcboy3

The answer depends on why you are looking for a backup camera. It should be able to use the lenses you have for your primary camera. If shooting professionaly, it is usually advised that your backup be the same model, or perhaps an earlier version. You can also use the backup to shoot with a different lens. What I have a hard time understanding is how you would use a full frame camera as a backup for a crop sensor camera; unless you are shooting with full frame lenses. I have used a crop sensor as backup for full frame; I just add one crop wide angle lens into my kit and then use the other full frame lenses. But I usually use that camera as a second shooter. When shooting snowboard competitions, it's big telephoto on full frame and normal zoom on crop. For other sports, I might use medium telephoto on crop and wide-normal on full. For events, I use the same models with wide-normal on one and medium telephoto on the other.

If you just want to move to full frame, then that's different. You'll have to start buying full frame lenses, and that can get expensive.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

I recently picked up a 5d Mark II as a second body to my workhorse III. I have a few crop cameras and have a 7DII as a back up on shoots. But with the newly acquired used body, I find I am using it as a supplemental body instead of changing lenses and keeping the FOV the same.

I considered another Mark III, but I don't want to put that much money into older tech, even though I am totally happy with the III. I'd rather invest in different glass and lighting. The older Mark II fills my needs now at less than half the price of even newer refurbished .

As to crop vs FF, it all depends on what I am shooting. Neither is more or less important, but their functionality suited for the task is a major factor.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

It depends upon what you shoot...

5D Mark II is a fine 21MP full frame camera and that sounds like a really good price (original cost w/BG-E6 and an add'l battery was almost 4X as much).

The main drawback is that the 5D2 uses essentially the same, rather primitive AF system as the original 5D, dating from 2005. It was surprising to a lot of people that Canon didn't update the 5D2's AF, when it was introduced in 2008. And there have been a lot of advances and improvements in autofocus systems since then. The 5D-series finally got a MAJOR upgrade in AF with the Mark III model and saw some further improvements in the Mark IV.

As a result, the 5D2 is fine for a lot of things... portraits, landscape, architecture and more. But it ain't an "action" camera, by any means. Sure, you can use it for sports and active wildlife, but you'll get a higher percentage of missed focus shots with it, than you would with your 80D or a later 5D model or many other models. To put it in perspective, the most entry-level Rebel T6's and SL2 today have similar AF system (but faster processors might give them faster acquisition and better tracking).

5D2 also was ground-breaking as the first DSLR to be able to shoot HD video. It saw and still sees a lot of use by Hollywood... as well as other videographers and cinematographers worldwide.

So, depending upon what you want to shoot with it, that 5DII might be a good second camera... or not. Some good news is that 5DII uses the same battery as your 80D, so they can share. But 5DII uses Compact Flash memory cards, instead of SD like your 80D. The control layout of 5D-series is a bit different from 80D too... it's more similar to 7D-series.

Another consideration will be that, depending upon what you already have, you may need to spend some money for full frame-compatible lenses. You won't be able to use EF-S lenses on the 5D2 (some third party crop-only lenses might work partially, but need to be used with care because they might interfere with the mirror in the FF camera). I'm sure you know, FF cameras require FF lenses... While your APS-C 80D can use both FF and crop-only lenses.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

As a long time user of the 5DII, when they were brand new, I have a prediction. Once you buy the used one as your 'back up', don't be surprised if it becomes your primary camera.

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

Thats' an excellent camera and a good price, excellent for landscapes etc.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Its a decent price, if the camera is in top notch condition! While quite old, the M II is still a very nice and capable camera ( I have one as a back-up and still use it a lot). After a while you may decide to switch and make the D80 your back-up to the M II!