Advice on further investment in LF equipment

[Ed Richards]

Depends on the image - if there is fine detail that matters, then you are going to see a difference with a smaller print. If the image depends on smooth tones, bigger prints will look very good indeed. Now, that means no cropping, absolute attention to detail about exposure, and sharp lenses, and that you do not need any real movements. But then chromes are the easiest to be beat with digital because of the dynamic range problems. Take a scene with a wide dynamic range and negative film is going to beat digital if the digital camera only gets one shot. It it is static, so you can take multiple shots, nothing beats the dynamic range of digital for COLOR. Start cropping or shoot at sub-optimum conditions and the print size shrinks. Shoot pictures that do not depend on file detail, and digital really shines.

[Chris Strobel]

Ed, I asked this because I've had a 20d for a year now, and had a 5d for three weeks while my boss was on vacation.I had seriously considered getting the 5d, but after playing with it for that time I really could not see any difference between it and my 20d in my 13x19 prints, but I do see a difference between my 4x5 drum scanned images and my 20d.So I decided to keep my 20d and took my savings and bought an 8x10, film holders, film, 8x10 film tubes, three lenses, 8x10 black jacket cloth,and the big Ries tripod with the money I was going to spend on the 5d body.I was inspired by the prints I saw by Christopher Burkett shot with 8x10 chromes while up in the Carmel area.I've never seen landscapes that dropped my jaw like those did, even some of the landscapes I've seen done with the 1ds Mk II didn't compare as far as detail and clarity.Soo I'm just a little confused here

.I

Depends on the image - if there is fine detail that matters, then you are going to see a difference with a smaller print. If the image depends on smooth tones, bigger prints will look very good indeed. Now, that means no cropping, absolute attention to detail about exposure, and sharp lenses, and that you do not need any real movements. But then chromes are the easiest to be beat with digital because of the dynamic range problems. Take a scene with a wide dynamic range and negative film is going to beat digital if the digital camera only gets one shot. It it is static, so you can take multiple shots, nothing beats the dynamic range of digital for COLOR. Start cropping or shoot at sub-optimum conditions and the print size shrinks. Shoot pictures that do not depend on file detail, and digital really shines.

[Ed Richards]

You should definitely see a difference from the 20D, even if it is not as good as 4x5. Raw files? Sharp lenses (preferably primes)? Tripod? Optimally sharpened in PS? Sharpening is the most critical step - Canon digital images are soft because the hardware in the camera does not sharpen the raw files. They need significant sharpening. You also need detail in the pictures to see the difference - pictures of clouds will not do it.:-)

An 8x10 in a large print is going to beat any digital. If you are just looking at the chrome, that is deceptive - you would need to print your digital to film to get the same look, and if you did it would be mighty sharp from the 5D - to the eye. Magnifiers do not count, they are like big prints.

Since I am staying with 4x5, I have no particular brief for digital. However, it is so much easier and cheaper than film that it deserves serious consideration from anyone who is not sure what they want to do. It is really easy to invest in LF gear and then discover that a year later you are not shooting any pictures. A 5D or a 20D makes a lot better picture than any camera left in the closet or trunk. At $15+ a shot, 8x10 color does not encourage shooting a lot of images - less than 200 shots = the cost of a 5D, and 200 more will buy some nice lenses. A lot of folks will respond to this cost by not shooting many pictures, which is not terrific way to get good images. They would do better work with a 5D.

[Jim Ewins]

Sorry Mike, but unless you wish to go Pro, investment is the wrong word. If it is a hobby, as it is for many of us it is just an expendature. Spend what you can afford and have some benefit from.