Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Full Frame Digital SLR Camera Body

Top positive review

My Last Great DSLR

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2021

I bought this camera knowing that this might be the last few DSLR cameras that Canon will ever make. DSLR's have some advantages over mirrorless. The sensor is protected by the mirror from dust and contact with whatever is outside when you remove or change lenses. With DSLR's, you can see through the lens without turning on the power. True, DSLR's are bulkier and heavier than the newest Canon mirrorless, but some pros prefer the beefier construction. I love the picture quality and the professional-level quality EF lenses that are available in every shop, warehouse, auction place, and even thriftstores. One of the reasons why I chose Canon was because their flange distance was shorter than Nikon's, and Canon wasn't stringing us along like what Nikon was doing before full-frame sensors became commonplace. I did not like cropped sensors. Canon made available a camera with a full-sized 24x36 sensor and if I remember correctly it was my EOS 5D Mark II. But getting back to the 5D Mark IV, it's a professional-level camera. The only thing I do not like is the LCD monitor. I wish they had used the fold-out and flippable monitor that the 6D mark II has. The monitor on the 5D Mark IV is exposed. It does not angle up or down. It stays put. I can live with that, but i wish i did not have to. So what I did was put a glass screen protector on it. Done. This camera is a joy to work with. Ergonomics is perfect and I have small hands. Large handed people do not complain with this camera. You can shoot with just your right hand if the lens on it is light enough. So I think I've told you the reasons why I chose this camera. It might be the last few of its kind and then the Canon mirrorless cameras will take over.

10 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

M. Dillon

Good improvement for the 5D line but some significant issues

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2017

I have several Canon cameras (6D, 5DM2, others... and now the 5DM4). My quick review as a professional photographer is that the 5DM4 worked mostly as expected but I can't give it 4 or 5 stars because I encountered several substantial problem during the trip where I snapped about 8000 photos. The four are as follows:

#1 Consistent blow-outs in Evaluative mode (center dot with circle around it). For example, if taking a picture of a bird in bright sunlight where the background is darker (such as the trees lining a river) consistently blew-out the highlights on the bird. This occurred EVEN WITH highlight tone priority turned on. I had to leave my exposure setting at -2/3 for all such situations and even got some blow-outs there, too. And no, 'spot' isn't a solution either, as spot often has very non-deterministic results.

#2 4K video shooting is unusable. Motion JPEG takes way too much storage. How many 128GB cards does Canon expect me to bring on a trip? With basic H.264 compression the bandwidth requirements for 4K video become very modest and would work with any card, as well as take FAR less storage. Why Canon only has motion JPEG, which is a huge bandwidth and storage hog, I just don't understand. I would gladly give up some battery life if that is what it would take to get usable 4K video.

#3 Downloading pictures via Wifi drains thee battery very quickly (and frankly it shouldn't). roughly 250 pictures downloaded and the battery goes from full to flat. This isn't a complaint about taking pictures, that wasn't a problem. It's a complaint about the power consumption when wifi is turned on and used to download pictures.

#4 Focus points disappear after focus lock, which is a HUGE problem for me when I'm trying to track moving objects. I had to turn on the grid (which I normally hate to have on). My 6D never had this issue. I want the focus points there all the time and in servo mode I want the camera to tell me which focus points it is using at all times, period. AT LEAST GIVE US THE OPTION CANON! COME ON! ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GUESS WHERE THE CAMERA IS FOCUSING?

#5 AF tracking needs a distance-limited mode for tracking smaller closer objects with a wide background field (i.e. birds with a forest in the background). Other than this problem, AF was great.

#6 Still requires Canon's proprietary software for Wifi access to pictures, making near real-time distribution with a black-box solution impossible. At least put the FTP offload option back in like the original wifi grip could do (though hopefully without the stalls). I don't understand why Canon seems to insist on these inflexible proprietary Wifi modes.

I can only give the 5DM4 three stars for the above reasons, and that makes me sad because all of my gear is Canon. Of course, the camera otherwise is a fine improvement over prior models. I particularly like the very fast live-view AF. But Canon made some basic mistakes with this camera. Some could be fixed with a software update, others possibly not. I'm hoping Canon can work up some software fixes for these issues. They could make a good camera great. I'm a little confused as to why Canon would make so many basic mistakes on their almost top-of-line camera.

-Matt

51 people found this helpful

941 total ratings, 323 with reviews

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From the United States

kkrome25

My Last Great DSLR

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2021

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

10 people found this helpful

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Noah Gallagher

A better choice than EOS R?

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2019

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I have a MKIII and a 6D are showing signs of age. With over a million clicks between them, it was time for an upgrade. I had planned to hold out for a decent mirrorless offering, but that seems far away, and I’d probably want to wait for another generation while Canon works out the kinks in their existing lineup, so the 3 year old MKIV was an ideal choice. As intriguing as the EOS R is (and it really is), I like a camera that can take a beating and the R seemed to me a bit fragile in comparison. The camera has, thus far, lived up to expectations. It is a huge jump in resolution and dynamic range from the mkiii. The focus points are far more sensitive and reliable, the touch screen is as responsive as an iPhone, and live view subject tracking is outstanding. Is this camera as good as the cheaper Sony offering(s) in terms of dynamic range and features? Definitely not. But I’m pretty sure it could withstand a tumble or two, and I can’t say the same for its competitors. My MKIII is cracked in two places and has been for two years. My 6D has rolled down a cliff a few times, and it was my go-to for landscapes and low-light until I received my MKIV.
I can’t say enough about the focus. Servo is accurate enough to keep it on.

I’m finding that images shot at ISO as high as 12,800 are clean enough to post online, and images at 6400 are equivalent to those shot at 1250 on the mkiii and 2000 on the 6D.

I must also mention the ergonomics of this camera. Canon achieved ergonomic perfection with the 5D and an additional customizable nub on the back brings additional functionality that feels perfectly intuitive and natural.

Is its tech on par with its peers? Not at all. But this camera is the most versatile and reliable option for the price.

Nota Bene: Beware offers with free accessories and/or priced below $2500. These are gray market, and do not come with warranty or service from Canon. Spend a bit more and avoid trouble in the future.

12 people found this helpful

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SWG - Columbus, Ohio

Great upgrade to a Mark III!

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2016

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I have been a Canon EOS shooter for over 20 years now - dating back to the film days. Their digital line has impressed me over the years throughout product evolution. As an owner of every EOS 5D model since the original, this model is just as impressive as with each generational upgrade. I bought a 5DS for architectural photography, which it delivers impressive image resolution; but for weddings the 5DS was overkill. As an upgrade to my 5DMIII, I needed something that could perform without resolution overkill. The answer is the 5DMIV!

First off, resolution is just right. 30MP is just what I needed for wedding and portrait photography. 50MP is too much and 22 MP is no longer competitive. Albeit I have gotten great image enlargements out of my 22MP cameras. The ability to crop further is enticing to me!

The touch screen is an amazing upgrade! It makes surfing through menu functions so much faster and easier. Having the additional information within the viewfinder; such as shooting modes - is a hit! The burst rate is much better on this model than before. With a good CF card that has a 80MB/s data rate, one can ensure they aren't missing that perfect shot.

Overall - wonderful camera. I cannot say how much I am impressed in one review. I hope to update my review once I have experienced the product a little further - perhaps once wedding season fires up again!

If your asking if it is a better upgrade (Or worth the $$$) over getting a new Mark 3; don't question it - it is worth the extra money!

33 people found this helpful

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C. Roos

Rock Solid Camera - Love It.

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2016

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I upgraded from a Mark II that I used like a rented mule. I had a couple of "must haves" for the upgrade. First, I needed a more sophisticated autofocus system. The Mark IV delivers in speed and accuracy, and it's easily customizable with both the switches and touchscreen. I also wanted more dynamic range, and at least they got into the Sony ball park. I would complain about it still being behind the Nikon D810, but it delivers enough to get the job done and it makes up for it in low light / high iso performance. It also makes up for it, in a an overall sense, when paired with good glass - something that too often gets missed by the spec sheet nazis. From a performance perspective I am very happy, and from a usability perspective I'm also very happy. The touch screen, along with the generally sensible Canon menus and switchology work for me. It has everything I want in a camera, and does everything well, so overall I'm very pleased. It's a good solid piece of equipment that really delivers when paired with a good lens.

Update: Went from just wanting an upgrade and being overall happy to absolutely loving it. 30 mp is a good bump up in terms of resolution without being monstrous (they are still big files), but the best thing is that good hand held shooting is still possible (this thing rocks with the Canon 100-400 Mk II). The touch screen is amazingly useful and quick - wouldn't want to be without it now. The dynamic range is where it needs to be, the autofocus is fantastic, and the high iso performance is exceptional. The customization options (including the touchscreen) have made this into an amazing piece of equipment for me. I almost got lured down the Sony / Metabones adapter road, but I'm glad I didn't. The whole little camera / big lens idea doesn't make sense, and why give up any features or performance? I can use my canon glass and speedlights and do everything I need to do without compromising anything.

17 people found this helpful

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CalBear '01

The Mark IV is another superb iteration of the Canon 5D line that hits many of the upgrade checkboxes

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I'm writing this review as a hobbyist rather than professional photographer (that is, that sells photographs for a living). My first 5D was the Mark II, and I've used the Mark III for over 3 years myself, and instead of going through all the nitty-gritty of the Mark IV which you find elsewhere, I'm going to speak to mostly to the differences I've found in my day-to-day experiences and whether it's worth the upgrade for the hobbyist.

First off, coming from the Mark III, the IV on the outside is very much similar, and you could mistake them at a glance. The differences include a slightly rougher cap on top of the new Mark IV body (where the Canon brand label sits) whereas the Mark III had the same material extended from the body over the cap. Perhaps it's a new material housing to play more nicely with the GPS/Wi-Fi? There's also new switch to toggle face detection in Live View mode in the back. The mode switch dial is also the newer Canon styles that bumps up a bit rather than the more flatter design of the Mark III. Otherwise, for those coming from the Mark III, you can feel right at home picking up the Mark IV for the first time.

In terms of shooting, I personally find the viewfinder to be brighter on the Mark IV than on the Mark III. This could just be my units and maybe a bit of dust on the Mark III, but using the same lenses, I find the Mark IV viewfinder a joy to use, much like the Mark III's, and even a shade brighter! The new Dual Pixel AF works as advertised, and is much faster than the Mark III at face detection and toggling between different subjects - a big improvement here. The back review LCD is also a touchscreen now, which allows for your standard panning of shots as well as pinch-and-zoom. Although many shooters will still opt for the familiar mechanical buttons, as a hobbyist that shares the camera for others to shoot as well as reviews them on the spot with many moms with Android/iPhones, it's so much easier now to have them use the touchscreen to flip from photo to photo, and to zoom in and out to see themselves and whether the shot is worth keeping ;)

In terms of photo quality, the highlight is the improved dynamic range of the new 30MP sensor. Although improved from the Mark II to the Mark III, I see a marked improvement for the Mark IV. Pushing exposure on underexposed shots with the same ISO produces less banding on the same shots with the Mark III. Although Canon is still behind Nikon in this area, I'm happy to see improvements in this area. Auto-focus at lower light levels at the center point is also improved, so that helps with getting those low light shots as well. As for overall crispness and quality of the shots (which of course, depends very much on the lens itself), I found photos were very similar on the Mark IV, which is not in anyway a let down given I thought the Mark III was overall excellent in terms of stills quality.

Also as a hobbyist with a simple Lightroom workflow, I still have Lightroom 5. With Adobe's latest Camera Raw 9.7, Adobe now supports the Mark IV, but you'll need the newest Lightroom 6 or Lightroom CC, which is another cost to add to your upgrade tally if you don't already have those versions and plan to use Lightroom. Also, although Adobe will enable editing of the new Dual Pixel RAW format in Lightroom, it looks like, at least for now (as of late September 2016), it doesn't support any making micro-adjustments in focus that can be done in DPP. I find that it's useful when shooting with fast primes like the Canon 50 f/1.2L where small adjustments can help you hit focus.

Overall, another superb iteration of the Canon 5D line that hits many of the upgrade checkboxes, most particular in the area of dynamic range. I'll update my review as I've gotten more behind-the-lens time with the Mark IV, and in particular, video shooting. So, is the upgrade worth it for Mark III owners? I would say for those of you shooting in more low light settings, the upgrades could make the additional cost worth it for you. However, for many others, given that photo quality improvement from the Mark III is not revolutionary, I would say it may not be at the current MSRP for Mark III owners; maybe wait for the next Black Friday sale to bring the price down a bit. Also, having used the Mark II as well myself, for those Mark II owners itching for the next big thing, with two generations of technology under its belt, the Mark IV is a worthy upgrade that you don't have to worry looking back on!

144 people found this helpful

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Best camera ever at least for me

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

Well, at least it was when I bought it and I still think it is. It has a lot of great features and plus it is full frame.

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Pierre de Klerk

A Go-To general purpose camera which can also serve in various specialist roles

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2024

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

There is nothing to dislike. The AF menu is awesome

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Amazon Customer

Great camera even in 2021

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2021

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I’ve been shooting professionally as my full time career for over 15 years. I work primarily in both commercial advertising and photojournalism.

This camera holds up very very well as a stills camera. It’s autofocus is fast enough and wide enough to satisfy most shooting environments. It’s lowlight focus is even more impressive.

Image quality is definitely not perfect. Pushing 30MP on a 35mm sensor is going to give it some noise but thanks to Canon’s sensor quality, it’s not a deal breaker. I wouldn’t shoot fashion with this camera beyond 800 ISO but for most amateurs, it’s got good noise control.

Build quality is what you’d expect from a semi-pro camera. It feels solid, ergonomically correct, and is weather sealed.

It’s hard to beat this camera with its feature set and price. You’ll be shooting with this body for years to come.

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Jill Clardy

A Significant and Very Useful Upgrade to my 5D Mark III

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

After using my 5D Mark III for over 5 years with stellar results whether it be for weddings, families, infants, or travel photography, I decided that I was ready for the next upgrade. Since I am retired, and take several extended trips each year, my primary motivation to upgrade was the inclusion of GPS tracking. I would get home from a trip with thousands of images, then as I started to edit and tag them I would wonder, "were we in Honfleur, or Lyons, or Paris that day?" Of course, I could figure it out from the exif date tags, but being able to see exactly where I was standing is fantastic!

I gave the camera a real workout on a 3-week Panama Canal cruise in which we visited 8 countries and had many excursions. Just the trail of GPS tags on my Lightroom map as we crossed the Panama Canal showing our progress throughout the long day in which I took >600 images makes it all worthwhile for me. The GPS mode does eat up battery life quickly, and I might need 2 batteries for a days' worth of shooting, whereas with it turned off, I could get by with just 1 battery. To me, that is a small price to pay; however when I'm not travelling, for instance for local portrait photography, I leave it turned off.

Other significant improvements include the high ISO performance. I frequently shoot in AV mode, and rarely give a thought to high the ISO is going on the Mark IV. Even at very high ISO's I know I'm going to get a usable image.

The touch sensitive screen is a great enhancement. Using the quick menu I can change settings on the fly and not even worry about missing a shot. Be aware that while you have the touchscreen turned on, it is really easy to bump a control and end up with an unwanted setting. Somehow I accidentally changed the quality from RAW to Large JPG and ended up with days' worth of images for which I had no RAW... I'm sure that won't happen again!

There are many other enhancements, both small and large; but what I like about this upgrade is that it is already a very familiar camera to me. Virtually all of the controls are in the same position, and the camera body is nearly identical. In fact, if I have the 2 cameras sitting on a shelf in front of me, I actually have to pick it up and turn it around to read the front label to be sure I have the right one.

41 people found this helpful

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Abysal

Improved ISO and dynamic range performance.

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016

Style: Body OnlySet: BodyVerified Purchase

I have been waiting for a camera that performs well in low light and one that can also achieve good dynamic range. Having already invested into the canon system over the last several years, meant I would not switch to Sony or Nikon, even though they both have good performing cameras. My main shooter has been a 7D Mark II for the past couple of years.

Pros:
- Great low light performance. For me, easily acceptable images up to ISO 16000. Even ISO 25600, but it gets muddy.
- Dynamic range is very improved over my 7D Mark II & newer 760D; I can really boost those shadows several stops without added noise.
- 30MP sensor shows a lot of detail.
- Touch screen is awesome! I find my self missing it when I switch to the 7D Mark II.
- Focus speed is fast, but to be honest the 7D Mark II focus seems just as fast.
- Area focus zones, zone switch button, and general design carried over from the 7D Mark II - awesome!
- Focus point lights up in red.
- Exposure meter in manual mode at the bottom of the view finder, where it should be! 7D Mark II has this on the right side of the view finder.
- More customization of button functions, allows quick switch from One Shot to Servo
- GPS works, and works well, can leave on without battery drain. 7D Mark II took several min for it to begin logging.
- Over all build and sealing seems as good as the 7D Mark II.
- 1080p video @ 60p looks great! Does not overheat when shooting 4K.
- Takes same cards & batteries as the 7D Mark II.

Cons:
- Focus points are not far enough out, my 7D Mark II has a better distribution. I found I do more focus and re-compose with the 5D Mark IV.
- Lack of articulating screen. I think this could of been added while still maintaining the tank build of the camera.
- 4K video MJPEG codec - it has some benefits, but honestly the file size is too big to work with quickly. Sony Vegas chokes, but will work.
- No HDMI 4K out.
- Some lenses need peripheral illumination correction turned off for jpeg. Since it's a global setting, I just left it off. I shoot raw anyway.
- Battery life seems to be on average around 500-600 shots, I thought it should be closer to 800.

Overall I'm very pleased with the camera. I love the canon controls & design, as well as the auto ISO setup compared to Nikon. I'm not heavy into video, but I plan on mostly shooting 1080p, and I'll leave the 4K to my lx-100, so the lack of better 4K capabilities is only a minor annoyance. My old 550D would overheat when shooting 1080p, and the Sony cameras also overheat on 4K, so far the 5D Mark IV has been working reliably. On the stills side, the camera performs great, the sensor provides sharp images with very nice details, even though there is a low pass AA filter - good glass helps; like the 85mm f1.8 from Tamron :)