Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Review

The 5D Mark IV is a professional tool that does nearly everything right and arrives at exactly the wrong moment. The 30.4 megapixel sensor is the best Canon had built to that point, carrying the color science that keeps working photographers loyal, and Dual Pixel autofocus in live view is so far ahead of the contrast based systems in rival reflex cameras that it feels like a different generation of engineering.

The 61 point module inherited from the flagship tracks a moving subject reliably through the optical finder, the body is sealed and balanced and completely familiar in the hand, and the touchscreen finally makes the menus bearable. Then there is the video. Canon records 4K with a heavy sensor crop, in an ancient Motion JPEG codec that fills a card at a frightening rate, with no flat picture profile unless you pay Canon extra for one, and an HDMI socket that will not pass the 4K to anything else.

Raw dynamic range still trails the Nikon it competes with, which shows the moment a shadow needs lifting. At thirty five hundred dollars against that list, the value grade writes itself. As a stills camera it is excellent. As the camera that defined hybrid shooting, this is where it hands the crown away.