Canon EOS 5D Mark II rumours leaked in Amazon field guide

When released, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II will be a replacement for the three-year-old EOS 5D.

Rumours have been circulating this week about the imminent release of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II after Amazon released a Field Guide for the not-yet existent camera with a release date of November 2008.

Unsurprisingly, the product has since been removed from Amazon and publishers Wiley are now claiming the guide's name was an error on the part of an employee.

Barry Pruett, publisher for Wiley said: “The title mentioned is a 'place holder' we put in our system and was inadvertently posted externally outside the company. We publish hundreds of titles a year and each title must be placed into our system well in advance of the published product, so we create place holders for titles. We already have the new Microsoft Windows titles scheduled and that’s at least three years away.”

“The fact that the information was published was an honest error by a new employee. There is not a camera to our knowledge, but we do know Canon will someday produce a new digital SLR.”

Should the camera make an appearance at any date in the near future, it will serve as an update to the EOS 5D released almost three years ago in August 2005. The 5D features 12.8Mp CMOS sensor, DIGIC II image processor, 2.5in LCD and is capable of 3fps. Currently dropping in price (presumably in preparation for the release of the 5D Mark II), the 5D is now available to buy for £1,275, a £1,265 reduction from its original price tag of £2,540.

Rumours surrounding the specification of the 5D Mark II predict that the camera will feature a 16Mp Digic III Image processor, 14 bit RAW, 3in LCD, Live View and sRAW format capabilities.

Robyn Rendle from Canon declined to comment on the camera's impending release, but if speculation of the 1000D is anything to go by, the 5D Mark II could be with us any time soon. We announced rumours of the camera on 21st May and it made its appearance less than three weeks later on 10th June. Watch this space!

To view the ePHOTOzine discussion on the rumours, please click here.