I spent about an hour at FotoCare, in NYC, about a week ago and had a chance to check out some images from the subject cameras/backs. I thought I’d share some biased thoughts on an unscientific comparison. All images were compared on screen at 50% and 100% enlargement. I know very little else, about what optics, ISO, sharpening, etc., were used.

First, I was very impressed by how well the Canon held its own against the competitors. One could certainly make some large prints with this camera and be very happy. In comparing the 1DS III with the 22 MP back; the MF beat it by so little, that I thought the cost differential would not make it worth the additional expense of MF digital. Therefore, if one were considering a 22MP MF camera, I’d recommend the Canon and some of their nice glass instead.

What one got with 33MP was micro fine detail that was simply not evident with the Canon, and barely (just barely, if at all) visible with the 22MPix back. The sales person indicated that it gave somewhere between 5x7 and 8x10 sheet film quality (my guess being compared to samples scanned on a Kodak/Creo flatbed – they are a dealer, but probably around 4x5 drum scanned quality).

The 39MP Hasselblad showed just a small improvement over the 33MP back, but an improvement none-the-less. Since the cost differential between a 39MP Hasselblad and a 33MP Leaf system is little, I’d probably go with the ‘blad.

To summarize, I noticed very little difference (dynamic range, smoothness, color, etc.) between the images with the exception of resolution. If/when I make a move to MF digital (which must include view camera capability), I’ll ignore the low end 16/22MP cameras/backs in lieu of a high end 35mm DSLR, for a significant cost savings. If I were to go to the higher resolving MF digital cameras, I’d have to think long and hard about the cost, which would be in the neighborhood of $45,000 (2008 dollars) for a system with lenses (not including view camera and digital lenses for it). This simply does not seem reasonable unless one is make money with such a system.