Digital BW, The Print

I just made prints of their sample files from the Japan Web site on my  7600 
(I did a BO print on Semi Matte of the B&W portrait sample) and a color  print 
of the macro shot. Very nice indeed. There are very few times where I need  
more than 2-8 megapixels to earn a living, but this sure gives you a lot of 
bang  for the buck.
 
I was within days of buying a 1Ds MkII of the shelf, but decided to try  this 
instead. With a $4,250 net savings vs. the 1Ds, the 5D provides a better  
value. The Canon rep. happened to be at the store when I walked in and he said  
the ISO 3200 perfomance was unreal. He also said the color rendering would be  
similar to the 20d, which I found better than the 1D Mk II when shooting 
Jepegs  in camera.
 
With the 5th generation (hence the name) CMOS technology with a generous  8.2 
Micron well site pitch and the 20d's superb 3-stage noise reduction, this  
promises to be a lightweight winner with heavyweight performance.
 
Canon came up with an excellent 10-22 mm lens for the APS-C chip, but left  
the 1D MkII's APS-H chip behind. We really needed a good 12-24mm or 14-28mm 
wide  angle for that, but it was a no show. So now with this new full frame chip, 
I  can do extreme wide angle shots with their excellent 17-40 mm L lens 
instead of  resorting to a 14mm of lesser optical performance for the same AOV as a 
17 on a  full frame camera. The 14 represents a pretty extreme view for very 
rare  occasions on full frame. Otherwise the 8mm fisheye is the last resort.
 
If the 5D turns out to be less than a stellar improvement, I will  just sell 
it for 10% less a month later and call it a cheap rental. Then I'll  just get 
the big dog, which should be availavle for less than 7 grand at that  time. Go 
Canon.
 
Claude


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