NYjoe Loc: US/UK

I have a tough decision. I am presently using a canon 5d with the 28-135 zoom. I shoot for myself, doing expositions and selling occasionally. Its been great but i am ready to move up to larger inkjet printing north of 24x36. Here are my options:
A. Stay with Canon and wait for their rumored high megapixel cam.
B. Jump ship to a Nikon d800 with new lense or lense kit.
C. Jump planet and get 36 megapixel Sony aR7 to use with my canon zoom lenses w/adapter.

Any thoughts on these options?

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

None of the above. You don't need 36MP to print large.

Look at the 5D MKIII.
Less noise than the Nikon or Sony.
Almost no learning curve.
Use all your current accessories.
More than enough MP for anything.
Best of the group full auto shutter lag.

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Hmmmm...i see your logic in using the 5d markiii? Would this put a crimp in my plans to get the Epson 4800 printer and to crop 2 prints out of one shot if the opportunity presents itself?

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Hmmmm...i see your logic in using the 5d markiii? Would this put a crimp in my plans to get the Epson 7800 printer and to crop 2 prints out of one shot if the opportunity presents itself?

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Welcome to UHH

strikerazde Loc: Phoenix, AZ

I'm really not sure why anyone who made any investment in one brand camera, lens' etc would consider jumping ship. Unless you think you could sell your gear and get retail for it.

If you don't have much of an investment, I shoot the D800 and it is a great camera. But as someone said 36mp is not needed for great photos.

A printer that prints larger than 24X36 I would think will cost far more than a camera. Thats a guess as I send large stuff out to be printed, would never try to do it on an inkjet!

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Well, as I said...I don't always need my pics to be huge...but sometimes I do. Sometimes, for the sake of the image or the demands of the exhibition space I need to print big bigger biggest. So...I would like to have that option. Also, there are always possibilities within possibilities....by this I mean I like to be able to crop a small part of a larger image....I see my image possibilities through the computer monitor as much as the camera eyepiece. So that's my rationale...imperfect as it may be.
RE: The camera. I would love to stay with Canon and the 5d marklll has the ability to give me some bigger (not biggest!) image options. But I would hate buying one now and learn that they have finally developed the rumored huge MP camera to compete with the Nikon D800. The Sony aR7, which uses the same sensor as the Nikon d800 and accepts my canon lense with an adapter is another option.
Re: the printer. I've been producing some gallery quality images on my current eight year old Epson 3800. The 7800 is just the larger version, prints up to 44 inches and runs near the 5k price tag. Its right up there with what I'm looking for.

pauleveritt Loc: Erie, Colorado

JUST sat through a seminar on this.

Figure out the BIGGEST size that you want to print.
Figure out the dots per inch that you are going to print.

24 X 36 X 4800 dpi = 4.05 megapixels (If my math is good!)
24 X 36 X 9600 dpi = 8.01 megapixels.

That is what the PRINTER can reproduce.

The ONLY reason to go higher than 12 Megapixel camera is for what I call SPY photos. An example of this: I am shooting a picture of a MARCHING BAND sitting in the stands. I want a group shot of the band. But I also want to be able to give ever member of the band an 8 X 10 head shot close cropped off of the same image. THEN I need the 24 or 36 megapixel image to handle the cropping. Other than that I shoot JPEG FINE SMALL on my 12 Megapixel Nikon D90 for most of my work.

Save your money. Go with what you got. EASY way to do this is go shoot some shots and then go to your local camera store and have them print out the bigger prints on you are shooting on now. The printer's resolution is no where near the camera's resolution so then you need to worry about ink costs, speed, reliability, can I print directly on a disk, am I going to use it as a general office printer as well, etc. etc. etc. The GREAT news for you is that for photo printing Canon is really your only choice. Epson inks are way too expensive and HP photo printing is kind of an after thought. Just be sure to run some test prints and you will happily keep you current camera.

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Thanks, Paul. I'll think about all that....I had a canon i900 before my Epson 3800 printer. The latter was the best in terms of print longevity, gray tones and use for B&W. The main problem I had was with glycol gassing of framed prints....but that's common with many inkjet prints.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Joe, welcome to the Hog. ;-)
Joe, why in the world would anyone crop two pics out of one? You would be using only a fraction of the pixels. As I improve more and more, and my shots are planned/composed better and better, I frame tighter and tighter, just so I can get the most IQ into my shots. I fully see your logic, I just don't see it happening. To plan on a system just in case it MIGHT happen, seems like all the wrong reasons.
The Canon is a much more versatile camera, and the lens system is superior to all others, as a system. I'm not talking about super-high quality manual German glass, but versatile and fast auto-focus lenses for the real world.
If all you shoot are things that don't move, any system will do the job. If you need a little versatility, the Canon is the only way to go.
If you need, I can explain ANY of the above.
Again, welcome.
SS

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Thanks for your input SS...I see your point. Here's the way I see it. I know I would be unable to use a quarter of an image to print a photograph of ideally large size ie. (22x28) using the gear I presently have at my disposal.) However, my answer to your queery about being ready if the opportunity arises instead of planning my shot according to what I envision as my final product is simple...It's nice when I can do that...but I cannot always do it...and I have been able to produce some very nice work using post processing in photoshop. Let me illustrate. The first image I am attaching shows my original shot with a number of unavoidable flaws. If I could have hovered 15 ft above the ground and made myelf invisible so as not to disturb the seated man when I moved in closer..it would have been nice...but I couldn't and the man walked off immediately after my shot so there it went. The second image shows my salvage of the shot using a 50% crop and settling for a 20x20 image. It doesn't always work out...but I like the option and it requires as many megapixels as I can afford....yes? I don't consider the shutter as my final action in producing an acceptable image. But hats off to those who can.

original shot


final composition

DavidT Loc: Maryland

Given only those three options, I would go for the Sony a7R and a good adapter. The Sony a7R runs about $2300 in the U.S. which is $1000 less than a new 5D Mk III body. You can also count on any future Canon models with a high-megapixel sensor not being inexpensive; most likely between $3000-4000. My only reservation is how well the 28-135 lens will hold up against the Sony sensor. Although a very decent lens, it's not one of Canon's finest.

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Thanks, DavidT....have u had any hands on experience with the SONY ar7? Its hard to find anything bad about it other than a noisy shutter and increased image noise above 800iso.

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Also DavidT...what better Canon lense approximating the 28-135 zoom range would you suggest?

amehta Loc: Boston

I think, if you want the best image quality for large prints, you need to upgrade your glass. I know it's not the only benchmark, but the DxOMark for the Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is 16. The Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM, for comparison is 33. If you can figure out what focal length(s) you typically use for your shots, a couple of primes will give you much better performance.

At that point, unless you also have a lot of other Canon equipment, it doesn't really matter whether you get the 5DMkIII or D800 or A7R. I think that any of them, combined with quality primes, will give you all the image quality you need.

http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Canon/EF28-135mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-USM-mounted-on-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III__795
http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Canon/Canon-EF-35mm-F2-IS-USM-mounted-on-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III__795