Last Updated: February 15th, 2020

Introduction

We have been using the Canon 5D Mark IV camera body for several years now for all types of photography that we shoot.

This was one of the first big investments we made into our photography business and artform. In the early days, this camera was very costly, coming in at around $4,000. This is, no doubt, a pretty significant investment – and for this money to not even include a lens, it can seem pretty absurd, especially if you happen to be more used to consumer level camera products. We actually bought our first one of these at this cost, and would pay it again if we had too.

Since it’s release, it has dropped in cost significantly – and while still not exactly “cheap,” it is far more accessible for people. As professional photographers, we also like this price range as it is more accessible when we need to purchase replacements or backup camera bodies.

Given all of our use and investment into this Canon camera body, we have a lot of things to say about it. Our experience with it is quite significant – as the resulting images are sent to our clients, then shared with their family and friends, and printed for albums, canvases, and other purposes.

In a more extreme case, we did work for The Movie Tavern (a large movie chain in the USA), and had several 4’x3′ canvas prints created – and the image quality that came from this camera allowed our photos to hold up under such large dimension prints.

Given these combined used cases in addition to our own personal photo journeys that we use this camera for – you can see how our voice, and our review of the Canon 5D Mark IV camera body, can shed a lot of light on what to expect if you were to buy this yourself.

How the Canon 5D Mark IV impacts our photography style

Our method of photography is not very gear oriented. While we can get excited when holding a new piece of equipment for the first time and getting to put it to use (we felt this recently when we finally were able to pick up Canon’s 35mm f/1.4 lens), we know this feeling tends to pass fairly quickly as we begin to settle into our photography equipment functioning as tools. In a significant way, each piece of gear we purchase needs to have a purpose, and ends up just being a means to an end.

With this said, we certainly appreciate the gear we have invested in. On the whole, the majority of what we own does what it was sold to us to do, and the performance of the more expensive, professional level gear shows heavily in our work. Growing up, we were accustomed heavily to point-and-shoot and cheap DSLR cameras, and rarely exposed to more modern and expensive pieces of machinery.

Our first upgrade into the pro camera body landscape came in the form of the Canon 5D Mark III. This was around the time the Mark IV was just being released, and the price tag still dramatically high. These days, our Mark III’s take a backseat and are mostly used as backup cameras, but we can admit it is still a great value if you are looking for something a bit cheaper than the Mark IV but still a quality camera body.

With that said, we had some pointed reasons for wanting to purchase the Canon 5D Mark IV ourselves. We highlight a few of these below:

• We wanted the most advanced and cutting edge technology out there. Of course, this changes pretty quickly as every year there are new product releases…these days with mirrorless camera bodies being all the rage. In terms of major releases by the big brands in the photography industry, the Mark IV is still high up there on the list in terms of quality.

  Our reason for wanting this was less to be the high class tech geeks, and more based on simple observation of a lot of photographers in our area – most currently still using Mark III (or comparable levels of equipment from other brands). We felt, at the time of our upgrade, that the even slight technical advantages could benefit us more in the long term than coming in and purchasing an already outdated piece of tech. 

• Better low light performance. Outside of the more abstract reasons we had for wanting a Mark IV, some of the performance on the technical side of things were actually noticeably different. While the Canon 5D Mark III does handle low light performance (by bumping the ISO) really well, based on our hands-on experience with the IV, this outperforms every time. The ability to smoothly capture images at even 1600 ISO is a pretty significant difference – whereas with the Canon 5D Mark III, images would really start to buckle under the weight of artificial grain by the 1000 ISO mark or so. 
  
• Better image quality. If you care about megapixels, you’ll probably like to know that the Canon 5D Mark IV is quite a significant leap forward over the Mark III in this department. The Mark IV features a 30.4MP sensor, whereas the Mark III only had a 22.3MP sensor. On paper, this sounds pretty great – and in practice, it turns out this makes for a pretty significant impact to the outputted images (more on this in the next section). 
  
• Touchscreen functionality. At first glance, the touchscreen feature of the Canon 5D Mark IV doesn’t come across as something that will necessarily see a lot of use, but over the past few years we have really grown into using it more and more during our shoots. When we made our purchase initially, it was definitely a secondary lure that sank into our skin (so to speak) – and it’s actually hard to use the Mark III’s at times without it. We’ve especially found this feature useful when looking to take higher up images of reception dancing, and in our astrophotography adventures. 
  
• 4K/30fps video shooting. While we are photographers at heart, sometimes we forget that our camera also is an excellent video camera as well. While we don’t currently do a lot of video (and when we do, it’s just for fun or personal projects), the quality from this camera is quite stunning. There are better options on the market specifically for video recording that can shoot at even higher quality, but for combo photographers/videographers or people like ourselves who just shoot video for fun from time to time, it is a great addition.

There are other reasons that may press you towards wanting to buy a Canon 5D Mark IV yourself, though based on our understanding, a large portion of other reasons are really just technical upgrades that you likely won’t notice and be able to pinpoint as a source of making your photography life easier. We can appreciate all the technical aspects of things, but like we said earlier, at the end of the day we are just focused on how our images look.

Our observations on the Canon 5D Mark IV and the images it produces

We are going to let this section be a little more free form, with some discussion on the things we have observed about the Canon 5D Mark IV – both in terms of use as a tool of our photography business shooting weddings, portraits, and other gigs as well as being something we take on the road with us on trips.

We must admit, we are actually a pretty solid use case for this piece of equipment. We shoot all types of things, and as a result it has allowed us to really test the 5D Mark IV quite significantly. Our observations come from use since our purchase back in March 2017 as seen below:

It’s important to us that we show you we put our hard earned money we our mouths are. $3,500 is not a small cost for a camera – and we know that getting the right quality lenses is just as important, and easily can make the cost for a single camera setup upwards of $6,000.

What we have seen in our images since utilizing the Canon 5D Mark IV is pretty significant verses our older Mark III model. The place where we witness this first hand is in post production when we are actually editing our images to become the final product our clients end up engaging with. In camera RAW format, you might not immediately notice the difference between the IV and III, especially in instances where you didn’t quite get the exposure right in camera.

With our own use, this is actually often intentionally the case. We frequently underexpose or overexpose images depending on what we intend to do with images later on in the editing stage. For example, with portrait images in the high noon sun, overexposing for skin tones can help reduce harsh shadows falling on a person’s face. Underexposing can help retain a lot more shadow detail, something that can come in handy if we are looking to add more drama and emotion to a photo.

Initially, the difference in quality became really apparent when we both were shooting together – one of us with the Canon 5D Mark IV and the other with a Canon 5D Mark III. Aside from maybe using different lenses, the image quality was noticeably different. The Mark IV images had a tendency to include more detail – in overall colors, shadows, highlights, and so on. This added data, which is the outputted result coming from the upgraded sensor and a good quality lens, is actually the biggest factor in why we wanted the Mark IV in our backpack of gear.

Outside of actual image quality, there are other factors that play into the decision to purchase one piece of equipment vs. another. The actual build quality and aesthetic design is solid as would be expected from Canon products in general.

The waterproofing features have been very useful, and while we certainly wouldn’t go so far as to intentionally take it out in heavy rain or attempt to submerge it in water without the appropriate underwater housing, we have been caught in some rain, snow, and even in the middle of sand dunes and on the beach with no negative effects.

The biggest drawback we’ve encountered from time to time is instances of missed focus on shots. This is actually a fairly notorious issue with the Canon 5D Mark IV in general, with many people reporting similar behavior.

Without putting it through some scientifically controlled study, we can only report on our observations. We’d estimate around 5% of shots end up with missed focus.

Given the nature of our photography (portraits, weddings, etc.) – some of the missed focus is the result of too low shutter speeds (when subjects are moving or we are moving), but most often the ones that become frustrating are those during portraits when things have had a moment to calm down and our ability to photograph is far more controlled. Many of our missed focus shots at this time tend to come along with wider apertures (lower f-stops), which we like to shoot at frequently as it is a defining technical component of our portraiture style.

We have found this can be somewhat mitigated by adjusting some settings in the camera, such as by shifting from multiple auto-focus (AF) points to a single one and taking advantage of back button focusing. Even with this, it’s still not perfect, but in the scheme of things the impact is fairly small, so it doesn’t effect us too much. We still want to make you aware.

Do we recommend the Canon 5D Mark IV?

We have put our Canon 5D Mark IV’s through many different photography shooting environments, and have on the whole been very happy with the results. Our initial reasons for purchasing was for having a great camera suitable for shooting weddings and portraits as a part of our business, and by natural extension we’ve taken it with us to shoot landscapes, astrophotography scenes, and other personal projects.

As you should know, a good camera body will reveal it’s best attributes when paired with good quality lenses as well, so do keep this in mind that if you are deciding on this camera body, you will see more limitations if you are just shooting on cheap glass. The majority of the lenses we use are prime lenses, known significantly for their quality and allowing for the most versatility in that they can be shot at very wide apertures – some as low as f/1.0 and f/1.2.

If you are not under significant budgetary restraints, we absolutely recommend purchasing the Canon 5D Mark IV. It is worth it’s cost, especially now that it has seen some price drops since release.

For those with finances in question, there are other alternatives in the Canon line of products that would provide a suitable quality for a lower cost – such as the 5D Mark III or even the earlier 5D Mark II model (which you can find for roughly $1,000).

You may also consider checking out products from other camera manufacturers – while we have not used it ourselves, we’ve heard the Canon 5D Mark IV be compared to the Sony A7 III, and this may be worth considering as well as an alternative.

Example Images from the Canon 5D Mark IV:

We have selected a variety of images we’ve taken with the Canon 5D Mark IV camera body here. We’ve included photos from a range of photography styles such as weddings, portraits, landscapes, astrophotography…

A few things to note…all of these images have undergone some post-processing to edit the images into our stylistic preference. This is pretty much the norm for most images you see on the internet these days. Additionally, we have listed the lenses used for each image as well, as they influence the outputted look just as much. Lastly, all images are compressed JPEG’s for web viewing, these give a starting point for quality – but will not have as much fine detail as would be found in the higher resolution JPEGs, TIF or RAW file types.