Gizmodo: eos 5d mark ii

Canon EOS 5D Mark II to Track Multiple Batteries

Mark Wilson — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 10:30:00 EDT

We thought that we already knew just how glorious that Canon's $2,699 EOS 5D Mark II would be, but the camera has one trick up its sleeve that's more practical than another megapixel boost, or maybe even its ability to capture 1080p HD video. Seriously. The camera can keep track of up to six batteries in its internal database, managing which of them still have juice.

The technology isn't extremely complicated, just clever. Each LP-E6 battery pack contains a microchip with an 8-character serial number. In the camera menu, the battery/chip can be registered to be tracked by the camera.

From there, the Mark II tracks the battery's charge by single percentages along with how many shots the battery has already captured. Put a photographer in a dark room and multiply his battery load by six, and it becomes obvious why many pros and consumers alike will take advantage of this feature. [Canon via Engadget]

Canon 5D Mark II Supposedly Surfaces Online, Due in June

matt buchanan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:45:00 EDT

A screencap supposedly snagged from Canon's German site spilled some details on Canon's way anticipated 5D Mark II before it slipped back into the ether. June release, and it rocks a 16-megapixel DIGIC III processor that can fire at 6.5FPS. The blurb calls the Mark II "small, light, robust and weatherproof." A bit different than the last batch of rumored specs, and could very possibly be BS, but with the noise steadily growing, we can probably expect something soonish regardless. [Photography Bay]

Canon Announcing Digital Rebel XTi or EOS 5D Successor Jan. 24

matt buchanan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:50:07 EST

Swedish Canon exec Robert Westin has apparently told the (also Swedish) site Kamerabild that Canon's announcing a new DSLR on Jan. 24, a week before PMA. The obvious choices are updates to either the Digital Rebel XTi (aka EOS 400D) or EOS 5D, since they're the two DSLR lines that've gone the longest without an update.

We might see updates to both at PMA, given that Canon's last freshly baked goods came out dualie style and the veep said Canon would be dropping more stuff next year than they did this year. If you didn't already ask Santa for a new DSLR for Christmas, it might pay off to wait a tick to see what Canon's got up its sleeve. [Kamerabild via Photography Bay via Engadget]