It is easy to get all caught up in the buying frenzy of others purchasing the latest and greatest technology and feel compelled to do so yourself.
Today I offer a reprieve, a leg to stand on, a logical conclusion as to why a 21mp Canon Full Frame 35mm cameras could be the one that lasts you a long time. I will use my own shooting needs as basis as my needs are vastly in line with most peoples.
* I rarely produce prints larger than 16x24 for customers. The native resolution of a 21mp camera (about 5616 x 3744) allows for 250dpi of 14x22. Of the 16x24 prints I have made from a 10mp camera not one person complained. In fact they *loved* them. Only medium format will make a real difference. Most of the times I make 8x10 thus a 21mp allows for extreme cropping of the shot and still produce a good 8x10.
* Good ISO 3200. While it might be nice to fantasize about ISO 6400 the fact of the matter is that most homes are lit using 60watt light bulbs in such a way that the room meters ISO1600 f2.8 1/60 sec. That is fine for a single person portrait. If ISO 3200 is good on the new cameras then you get another stop of shutter or aperture if you want it. More aperture or shutter is not truly needed because the ambient light characteristics are not flattering anyway. A room metering at ISO6400 is not going to properly light people anyway... If your not shooting people then you can stall your shutter and use a better ISO. Personally I use flash so it does not matter.
* LiveView. A very welcome feature allows for precise manual focus. Now that the replacement 5D will have it the entire Canon line is now perfect for focus freaks like myself.
Beyond these above requirements there are many wants. Built in radio triggers, geo-tagging, etc... But the above combination allows for someone selling prints to have all they need from the 35mm format.
Next it will be the price reductions of Medium Format Digital that sets the tone for our next round of purchasing. Medium Format does things that 35mm most likely will never be able to do and will be what I want for the certain types of photography. For everything else it will be the 1DsMKIII/5DII.
Thank you for reading.
