AG Schnozz wrote:
> I'm starting to come around a little bit on the 5D. But I've
> decided that there is no way I'd buy one new. The way Canon
> obsoletes models, I should be able to pick one up used in a few
> months for a song.
I thought about that, but I had set a price at which I thought it was
the right deal for me and when that came close, I bought. I'm aware of
the depreciation factor, but it aslo seemed to me important to be
getting the advantages in the pictures I take between now and when used
is cheap.
My situation was also different that yours. I didn't have much in the
300D, it could act as back-up to the 5D and AF the lenses I had for the
300D work fine with the 5D. So I was looking at only the camera
purchase, not lenses, etc.
> The 5D will be yesterday's newspaper as quickly as the 20D (remember that
> groundbreaking, end-all, be-all camera?).
>
Interesting, I never thought that of the 20D. A great camera, I'm sure,
but evolutionary, not revolutionary. I'm a pretty picky shopper. The 20D
didn't offer enough to excite me, once I really looked closely.
> But your point about digital cameras being a commodity is an
> unfortunate reality. Frankly, 3-5MP is more than sufficient for
> 99% of all pictures and will be so for many decades to come.
>
I agree, but see below.
> Even though technology keeps advancing, the uses and users don't.
>
Here, I have to disagree, to the extent that your statement is meant to
say that the technology doesn't make much difference in how images are
produced. I agree that 12 mp is overkill for the vast majority of uses -
IF - you think only in terms of the past limitations of technology. 12
mp of really clean, pixel sharp sensor, like the 5D, is better than a
teleconverter, without any additional lens aberrations and without
losing any speed or having to swap lens bits. 1/4 of 12 mp is 3 mp,
just in your happy range. So for that 99% of shots you define, a 100/2.8
lens is, in effect, a 100-200/2.8 lens, with zooming by cropping.
This approach was severely limited with most films by the grain. That
just isn't true with the best sensors. The whole trade off of
grain/noise, aperture, size/weight of lenses and DOF becomes
significantly different than it was. The uses may not change, but the
solutions do.
You have seen the detail resolved in the tail of a jellyfish at full
pixel and 3200 iso (And imagine what it would be with a real, serious
lens, instead of that crappy 28-300 I use.<;-). Do you recall my simple
test of the 5D and 300D for 1.6x factor shooting? The 300D had a few
more mp in a C-APS sensor area, but the 5D just beat the pants off it
for resolution delivered
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Canon%205D%20vs%20300D/C300v5D.htm>.
It isn't just the mps, it's also how they perform.
Most people are conservative, doing things the way they always did. For
those willing to see the possibilities recent sensor system advances
open up, there are new ways to do old things and things to be done that
couldn't be done before. I could simply never have taken the quality of
shots of some subjects that I've shot in the last few weeks with film.
In the long run, the innovations of those who explore new possibilities
will become the dogma of the rest. Think of what was said about 35 mm
when it was first put to use for still photography!
When I hear someone say "I've always shot at 100-200 asa, so why would I
want anything more in digital?", I think "There is someone who remembers
what they do, but not why they came to do it that way in the first
place." My guess is that it was for a certain kind of image quality with
the films available. To ignore the possibility of equal image quality
with higher speeds with digital is to limit ones self unnecessarily.
This is NOT a sales pitch. I would hate to convince you to buy a camera
and then have to listen to the complaints about it's ergonomics, "Oh, my
aching fingers, Oh, my aching wrists!" It is my personal assessment,
based on experience, of the state of sensor system technology and what
it means in the practice of image making.
Moose
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