edelson

I have had several 20x30 and 16x20 printed by Shutterfly and Clubphoto. All images were shot with my 10D, which is a 6.3MP camera. I shoot everything in JPG format with little or no compression at all. Very happy with the quality from my 10D for poster size prints.

I anxious to see what a 30x40 poster size print shot with my 5D will look like. Anyone out there had 30x40 shot with a 5D yet?

I am still shooting with my 10D which was originally purchased on May 2003, and bought a Mack 3-Year Extended Warranty with it. I didn't know that the extended warranties start counting from the day you purchase the camera, not from the day the manufacturer warranty expires. I have had the 10D sensor cleaned by a Canon authorized repair facility here in Miami twice. Other than that my 10D works beautifully. Thank God, let me knock on wood for that.

The Mack warranty expires in May 2006. I recently learned that although the Mack warranty is not honored by the repair facilities in Florida as set by Mack, Adorama and B&H will still sell the extended warranty to Florida residents without letting them know a thing.

I purchased my 5D just 3 weeks ago and went straight to the Canon repair facility that I use here in Miami, which is called Southern Photo Technical Services and purchased a 5-year extended warranty for my 5D for $149, and also a 5-year extended warranty for my 10D for $99. The extended warranty is from a company called RepairTech Inc from Bayonne, NJ. The senior tech and owner of Southern Technical told me that the shutter in my 10D already shows moderate use and will be the first thing to go in the camera. He said that repairs on the 10D start at about $200-$250, and repairs in the 5D start at about $500-$600.

Anyone ever used or dealt with RepairTech?

Thanks for all the feedback folks. It's greatly appreciated. I think I will hold on to my 1V-HS for the time being, but get rid of the Elan 7E. May possibly look into getting a medium format system like a Mamiya 645AF or Pentax 645. Medium format seems to have come down in price a lot lately. I recently almost bid on an auction on eBay for a Mamiya 645AF with both 120 and 200 backs, 80mm lens, and 150mm lens, but decided against it on the last minute. The auction closed at about $750, but the seller had a $1000 reserve price. When I contacted the seller almost 2 weeks after she still had the system available for sale. I was shocked to see how little the entire thing was going for considering that 2 years ago it would have probably sold for $2000-$4000.

I also want to point out that while Canon has continued to improve and come out with new models for their entire digital line their film line except for the Elan and Rebel has remained the same for the past 5 years. The EOS 3 and 1V have not been updated or replaced by newer models in the longest. Is this in any way an indication that those cameras have been fine tuned to their capacity? I know that Nikon recently released a new F6 replacing the previous F5. I wonder if Canon will just stop updating their top of the line film bodies.

I guess for the time being I will hold on to my 1V-HS and look into acquiring a modest used medium format system while I continue to experiment with digital to see if it fulfills all my demands and requirements. Again, thank you to all of you who gave me your valuable opinion and feedback.

There is another company that does the digital infrared conversion too, and their prices seem slighty cheaper.

http://www.lifepixel.com/

I am faced with a small dilemma and would appreciate any thoughts or

feedback from other fine art photographers.

I started shooting about 7 years ago. I shot a while array of

different subject matters, but focus a lot of my energy on shooting

fine art nudes. I started shooting with an Elan 7E, and later moved

to a 1V-HS. Throughout the whole process I was developing the film,

and doing the printing my self. When the 10D was released I

immediately got my hands on one. I never really printed anything

larger than 9x12. Very recently I had an image shot with my 10D

printed as 20x30 print. To my amazement the quality was beyond my

expectations. Last week I just got a 5D and I am looking forward to

photographing my first subject. I am also anxious to see the quality

of a 30x40 print from my 5D.

I hardly use my awesome 1V-HS or Elan 7E bodies anymore. I have a

pile of film in my refrigerator ranging from TMAX to Velvia and

Provia that have not used during the past 2 years. For the Eland 7E I

paid about $500, and for the 1V-HS I paid $2000. Both Adorama and B&H

are still selling the 1V-HS for about the same. I did a brief search

on eBay and to my amazement found out that 1V-HS bodies in excellent

condition are selling for about $600-$900 tops. About the same price

that the used 10D are selling for.

I don't want to go on and on for long so I am going to try to keep it

short. I am wondering whether or not I should part with my film

bodies and go 100% digital, or keep at least one. I have all this

film which I have not even used in the longest, not to mention all

the b&w and color paper I also have. I am concerned about the fact

that most professional papers used for digital printing don't have

nowhere near the same life expectancy as genuine B&W paper does such

as Ilford. Silver gelatin prints have a life expectancy of about 200+

years, while some of the best papers used for digital printing (color

or B&W) don't usually go beyond 75 years.

There is also the battery life factor of the film bodies, money

invested in the 1V-HS which now seems to have depreciated below 50%

the original cost, and the wide range of colors, and contrast that

film offers over digital. You can tweak digital files to emulate a

certain film look, but is never the same. Granted, the quality of

cameras like the 20D, 5D and 1Ds Mark II have already surpassed 35mm

film, but there are still some good valid reasons to take into

consideration. There is also the film over and under exposure

tolerance factor which is obviously is not present with digital.

The question is, should I sell my film bodies and go 100% digital, or

should I keep one or both film bodies? I think it would be smart to

sell them before they even loose more value, but at the same time

something tells me to hold on to them. My 1V-HS has produced some

stunning images shot on Kodak Technical Pan and Ilford Pan F-Plus

film that enlarged to a 16x20 with no grain what so ever. Strangely

enough a lot of the fancy films have not drop in price one bit.

Provia, Velvia, Kodak B&W Infrared, and a few others still have the

same price.

Would appreciate any comments, feedback, and suggestions from other

fine art photographers that are still shooting film, or have crossed

over to digital. I am just completely uncertain as to whether or not

I should sell or keep my film bodies.

I just got my 5D in the mail today, and boy do I love this camera. I

took a few snapshots around my house using my Canon EF 17-35mm 1:2.8

L lenses and noticed right away vignetting on all 4 corners pretty

much anywhere from the 17-20mm focal point. No vignetting at 20mm or

higher.

Has anyone noticed or had the same problem? I don't have this problem

when I use the same lens on my Canon 1V-HS film body. I did read

something about the vignetting when using wide angle lenses with the

5D on DPreview.com. Would appreciate any feedback or comments from

other 5D owners.

I just got the camera on Friday. Everything seems to be working fine,

but everytime I turn the camera on I get error message E05 on the LCD

panel. In the instruction manual error 05 refers to "something

obstructing the built in pop up flash operation", but in reality

nothing was obstructing the pop up flash when I turn on the camera.

My firmware version is 1.0.0. I was wondering if anyone else out

there is experiencing the same problem, or knows how to resolve it?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Please email me at

Narcissus@bellsouth.net