I've never considered an electronic VF a viable replacement to a true optical TTL viewfinder. I suppose perhaps it's just that a sufficiently detailed and fast display technology has not yet been invented.
Plus even if an electronic VF were capable of delivering, say, 6 megapixels at 30 fps the view would be delayed by as much as 1/30 second, and that could make a difference to a sports shooter. Now, if it were capturing and buffering noiseless frames at 1/1000 second that might be a different story... Press the shutter button and get the last 1/2 second worth of frames in stop motion.
The 1D series has shown us that moving mirrors can be done INCREDIBLY quickly.
Personally, I think you'd be nuts to go with medium format digital system over the 1Ds. I don't have a lot of experience with digital MF systems, but I used to use film MF on an almost daily basis back in the day, and although the image quality was amazing, it was a happy day for me when I was able to pack that stuff in a box and get rid of it.
While the MF systems are undeniably better, the big problem I see with them is that except for the very high end printers, you lose most of that advantage when you print to paper. I've seen really big prints from the 1Ds, and even the 12MP Nikon D3, that are nearly as good, or as good as, prints from the high end MF backs.
If you really feel the need, rent a system and take it for a spin. Unless they use them every day, that's what most pros do when they have to us UF digital for a job.
Yair Shahar from Leaf, part of Kodak's Graphic Communications Group, was kind enough to send me some images taken with the Leaf back that I am considering. Yair sent large jpegs converted from Raw with Leaf Capture software, and even offered to send me the original RAW files with a copy of Leaf Capture.
This image was taken with a Hasselblad H1 with 80mm lens (ISO 100) 1/125 sec @ f/13 . The original was reduced for posting in this forum. The second image is 100% crop (actual pixels, no reduction).
Her hair seems a bit unnatural looking at the high magnification. I'm guessing their processing is optimizing sharpness.
Here's a 40D (slightly SMALLER photosites than the 1DsIII) image, scaled roughly the same (keeping in mind the 1DsIII has quite a bit more sensor, so I shot more tightly), and processed a bit...
I'm sorry I don't have a young, pretty girl on staff for test photos. My son will have to do.
Canon EOS-40D, Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime @ f/10, 1/60 sec with 550EX flash bounced, converted to upsampled resolution (4096 x 6144 pixels) and processed for best sharpness.
I guess you could call bleached hair and eyelashes gobbed with mascara unnatural!
Your post definitely has impressive sharpness and detail, but Noel ...... that "up the nose" shot is never flattering.
I have just joined Digital Lloyd's DAP (paid) review section and read his hands on review of the Mamiya DL28, The Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, the Nikon D3 and the Sony A900. He likes the DL28 as it outperforms all of the 35mm digital in terms of image quality (from ISO 50 - 200). He also favors the Nikon D3's image quality over the 1Ds Mark III. Again I believe it is because of the larger photosites producing a lower signal to noise ratio.
I am in no immediate hurry to purchase and will continue to research my next purchase with image quality being my major influence (as well as my wallet).
Her hair seems a bit unnatural looking at the high magnification. I'm guessing their processing is optimizing sharpness.
I think what you're seeing is probably the lack of an AA filter. The back you're looking at doesn't use one does it Jerry? I love shooting without one and miss that option on current DSLRs. I recently found a site that offers AA filter removal for a number of common camera models. Sorry... don't have a bookmark handy. I may give that a try on my 5D at some point... like after I get a 5DII. You don't really realize how much sharpness the AA filter removes until you've shot for a while without one. Yes you get more artifacts and moire in a small amount of subject matter... but it's rarely difficult to deal with... and the rest of subject matter benefits greatly by a more naturally sharp appearance with less software enhancement.
Linear Mode
