How Many Lenses Do You Need?

Most photographers would say that is an easy question to answer. One more.

But then again, there are many reasons to limit the number of lenses you have in your optical arsenal. Purist say stick with as many prime lenses as you can get your hands on because they say the optics are more precise vs the moving optics in zoom lenses. The portrait photographer will swear by a good 85mm or a 70-200 mm zoom. Nature can go both ways... Landscape will go wide while wildlife will go long as will sports photographers.

Ok... So that may not be much help to answer the question. To tell you the truth, I can not answer the question. By the simple fact that Canon has over 60 lenses to choose from, the need is so diverse that the original answer may be the best... One more

Here is a breakdown on the lenses shown in this post.

A - EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM $2299

This baby has 114° of view so you are almost looking at your feet when shooting. It is the closest lens to a fisheye and still maintaining minimum distortion. This is great for architectural and very wide landscape. It is a prime lens in that to change the focal length would require a different camera body (APS-C sensor based body).

B - EF 16-36mm f/2.8L II USM $1649

While not quite as wide as the 14mm this lens has a zoom capability that makes it very good for a metro walk around lens.

C - EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM $2149

This lens is coveted by portrait photographers for it's wide aperture of f/1.2. This easily generates soft bokeh in images. The price is the most restrictive on this lens. You are either doing a lot of portraiture or you have a nice dose of disposable income.

D - EF 50 f/1.4 USM $520

This lens is really an ideal lens for the APS-C sensored bodies such as the 40D, 50D, and Rebel line. With the 1.6 crop =factor this lens acts like it is an 80mm lens. Very nice for the cost.

E - EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS $199

Ok... This one seems a little out of place in this line-up. First it is Canon's consumer level lens but is a relatively new design. Specifically it is designed for the cropped sensor. The "S" in the EF-S designation stands for Short. That being the back part of the lens is closer to the camera body than a full EF lens. This lens would interfere with a full framed sensor such as the 5D Mk II, or 1DS Mk III. Having said all that. this has turned out to be a fine lens. A nice reach (320mm) and yet goes wide (18mm)when necessary.

G - EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM $1999

This is probably one of the best lenses in the Canon line-up. It encompasses that magical 85mm and can be racked out to compress the field without having to back up into the next county. The stabilizer can give up to four stops of additional light. Just a fantastic lens. On an APS-C (cropped) sensor it runs at 112-320mm. So what does this have over the EF-S 18-200? Bigger and higher quality glass and constant aperture of 2.8. It may not sound like that much but it is really big!

H - EF 1.4 x II Extender $299

This little device mounts between the long lenses such as the 70-200 and turns it into a 98-280mm on a full frame or 156-448 on a cropped body. That is some really nice flexibility. The only down side to strapping this buddy on is that the is a one stop loss in light. There is a 2x extender but that looses two stops. Most people call these teleconverters.

Ok now... We are moving into the twilight zone in lenses.

I - EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM $7999

You will see this lens on many football field, make that professional football sidelines. You have seen many of the products of this lens in Sports Illustrated. The glass is nice and fast at f/2.8 and allows very high shutter speeds to freeze the action. Oh, did I say it was a bit pricy.

J - EF 600mm f/4L IS USM $9199

The monster lens in the Canon line-up. It is the wildlife photographers lens of choice. Speed is not as necessary as reach. This is how they get that tiger looking into the eye of the camera. Somewhat beyond my budget though.

I have eluded to the APS-C sized sensors in this post for a reason. Having a cropped and a full framed sensored bodies doubles the utility of your lenses. That is with the exception of the EF-S lenses. So if I have any recommendation, it is this:

1. Get the best glass your pocket book can afford.
2. If you plan to have both sensor sized bodies, avoid the EF-S lenses.
3. Remember you feet! They are the ultimate manual zoom.
4. Shoot with one lens for a day to find out its limitations.
5. Practice... Practice... Practice... You parents were right after all!

Take care all... Doug

NOTES

I believe some of the Nikon bodies will accept the Nikor lenses that are designed for the full frame or crapped sensor. I am no where near as familiar with the Nikon line as I shoot Canon.

Equipment That Works

This is the battery grip for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR. It will house two Lithium-Ion batteries or a pack of six AA batteries. This makes it nice if I am ever out where I can not charge the Lithiums and can pick up some AA's. If you are unfamiliar with a battery grip it not only allows you to hold the camera in a portrait orientation, there are shutter speed, AF/AE lock and focus point election right on the grip. Your thumb can still reach the aperture dial albeit just a little further than in the landscape orientation.

Honestly I have never shot with a camera with a battery grip and I found it a bit awkward this past weekend on two different shoots. I can definitely see the advantages of having the grip though. First there is the battery part of two batteries for twice the duration of shooting. The inherent problem is that there is now twice the battery cost. The other benefit is that of stability. Holding the camera as you would in a normal landscape mode allows a better grip on the camera. This is most handy when I shoot Joe McNally style. And what is that you ask... It has to do with focusing with your left or right eye. In my case I am able to use either eye without any problem. Here is the YouTube video if your are interested.

Of course what is a camera without a means to mount it to a tri-pod. As I have the Really Right Stuff BH-40 LR II ball head mounted to an Enduro carbon fiber tri-pod I needed to pick up an L-bracket for the 5D2. The head an bracket are shown below.

The really cool thing about a ball head and quick release mount with an L-bracket is that changing orientation is just one motion away. Open the clamp, flip the camera, and close the clamp and its done. Sweet! The downer news its this stuff is a bit pricey when you think of what it is made out of. Not saying its not strong and well built, but it is aluminum after all. I consider it one of those areas where you pay for it once and you will have it for a long time.

I have had this set-up on my 40D and it is outstanding so I am looking forward to using this set-up on the 5D2.

I gotta get going so have a great day... Doug

Success

I am just certain you all are wondering if I messed something up on the 5D Mk II firmware update last night. Yes and No. I simply forgot to press the SET button to initiate the update (silly me!) and the screen times out just like it was supposed to.

So all is well in Canon land.

Cya later... Doug

Canon 5D Mark II Part II

Ok, so I said earlier this week that I would put up another image from our trip to Maryland and subsequently Washington DC. This is the Jefferson Memorial shot from across the Tidal Basin. We had wanted to get a picture of the Lincoln Memorial and Reflection Pond with the Washington Monument reflection but it was a bit cold and there was absolutely no parking anywhere close to Honest Abe. We did fins a parking spot that I pulled into and did not realize it was the one at the park by the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. Sweeeet!

Of course I did not bring my tri-pod. Why should I, it was only night time? Anyhow the rail by the basin would have to do. So this would a good test of the 5D Mark II. I mounted my EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM lens, set the ISO up to 6400, threw the aperture up to f/2.8, dialed in 1/40 of a second base on the meter, cranked the lens out to 200 mm and fired away.  (Holy over verb usage Batman). There was a whole lot of dark in this picture because... Well... It was dark outside. What this camera does though is this; When the 40D would blow out the black and produce no data, this 5D MkII says wait just one minute, I can see stuff there. What all that data does is make a 21 megapixel sensor produce a 28.1 MB file in this case. Yikes! I think the people at Drobo might be getting a call in the next couple of months.

The real head rush on this whole night time adventure was when I was walking back to the car. There was another photog with camera mounted on tripod. I stopped to talk and when I mentioned why we had stopped to take some low lights with the 5D Mark II, he said, "I can tell by the strap." Que gloating! All in good fun and before my brother-in-law can say so, I know... It's still just a Canon.

Take care all... Doug

One note on the image above. Even though the ISO was at 6400 which is spectacular, the noise produced is similar to ISO 800 on the 40D so I did run it through Noise Ninja which removed the noise with no problem.

First Out of the Box

I was totally stoked to take the 5D Mark II out for a low light spin when we were out in the DC area the week before Christmas. Just today I was able get the images downloaded of the card into Lightroom. The ADD in me wanted to work with each image as it was downloading but I had to resist and wait for the one that was to be. How could I resist the American flag flying on the United States Capital building. What a majestic site it is. This image represents (literally) you and me, it is the center point of our form of government. Like it or not, like the people in it or not, it might not be the best form to have but it is second to none on this planet.

The camera specs are an ISO of 3200 at 1/15 second hand held using an EF 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM lens at a focal distance of 95 mm. As you can see form the screen captures below, the noise at ISO 3200 is minimal but then nonexistent when run through noise ninja. BTW these captures were when the image was zoomed in Photoshop to 200%. Nice... Really nice.

You may have to click on the image to actually see the difference. I have some of the Jefferson Memorial shot at 6400 and I will try to get that up tomorrow.

That's it for today. Cya... Doug

Update

This is a quick update on a couple of items I have been blogging about. This is the office project and the Canon 5D Mark II.

OFFICE

It really is in process but that has slowed to a crawl. The walls are ready for paint, the surface top for the work station is in hand, and construction of the work support will follow the painting. With Christmas and travel and all this will slip to mid January timeframe but photos will follow.

CANON 5D MK II

I took this little baby out to Maryland this past week and all I can say about the low light capabilities is that I am simply amazed at its performance. I am really liking the 4000 and 5000 ISO for interior photos at f/4-6. We spent some time down around The US Capital and the Jefferson Memorial and I will get some images up here in next week. I am kind of stuck with my laptop for the RAW files as I have Elements 6 on it and CS3 on my iMac. For the purposes of the 5D Mk II, Adobe Camera Raw 5.2 will only install on CS4 or version 7 for Windows on Elements. I do have the updated Version 2.2 of Lightroom so I will be able to convert the files there. Yes I know I could have just shot JPEG but I simply loose too much dynamic range from the RAW files. Some of these RAW files in the higher ISO settings are running 31MB each. Now that is starting to put a dent in the memory game.

That covers today, so stay warm and dry today.

Cya... Doug

5D Mark II - Yes Bill it is a Canon

Ok... So there were no angelic hosts singing from on high. And... Well ok... It probably didn't have that misty glow when it was raised up out of the box. But I may have been a little misty eyed myself. MY Canon 5D Mark II is now in my possession. Actually we are so blessed to be able to obtain some fine tools that make our talents useful. So it really is not mine but mine to use, be responsible and productive with and hopefully a blessing to others.

I have seen videos of unboxing ceremonies of peoples gear so I thought I would take an opportunity to bring up some shots I took with my G9 on a tripod. I had a EX 580 II flashing through a Lastolite EzyBox and triggered by the Canon ST-E2 transmitter.

Here is all what was in the box. I just got the body as I already have a good collection of lenses that will fit the 5D's full frame. I only have one EF-S lens that came with a Rebel XTi so that is really not a issue.

The 5D body looks very smart sitting on the back of the EF 70-200 IS f 2.8 L lens. The XTi looked like a toy camera on this lens, the 40D looked much better, but the beefier 5D just gives it that Tim Taylor look. Urrr Urrr Urrr.

I got the battery charged and took some shots just to see hoe the high ISO stuff was going to look. All I can say is WOW!!! It is really incredible. This is going to be way too much fun.

I may get some stuff up the next couple of days but I would not count on it as we will be visiting family for our early Christmas. So take care... Doug

It Has Arrived!

Unfortunately I am in Houston TX and am unable to get my hands on this fine jewel. There is a funny story here though. The sales guy from Norman Camera back home in Grand Rapids MI called my home yesterday and told my wife that my camera was in. She said ok!

What is funny here is how my wife explained it. She said that it was not your normal shipping notification. She said the guy for the camera store sounded giddy. Almost disappointed when she responded with less than equal excitement. My wife told me it must be some photo geek thing because she could sense the same level of excitement in my voice.

Ok, so I am looking forward to this camera. So much so I had to go back over to David Ziser's blog Digital ProTalk and re-read the review on the 5d Mk II. I will have to give my own review here early next year when I get to shoot with it over the holidays.

Take care, Cya... Doug

Way Too Funny

I was going to post a different subject here today but after viewing the following video and laughing soooo hard, I had to drop it in here.

I actually had to put this up for my brother-in-law Bill. It stems from the Nikon - Canon war amongst photographers. Back in September when we were shooting at Trillium Lake in Oregon at 6:00 in the morning, there were two other photogs there doing the same thing. The one dude was touting about his Nikon gear and when it was all said and done, his buddy made the simple statement "It's still a Nikon."

Bill and I have had many laughs over this after this video that will no doubt continue for some time.

Take care... Doug

Pseudo Macro

Last week I had picked up a Canon Close-up Lens commonly known as a Macro Filter because it screws onto the front of the lens like any other filter. So I thought I would take some shots of cookies to see how this filter worked with respect to the original lens. The 58mm filter screws nicely onto my EF 50mm f/1.4 lens. I have mostly 77mm lenses but the store had only the 58. Anyhow with the amount of macro work I actually do the smaller equaled less money. Decision was made. 

I took some test shots of various items on the kitchen counter and realized two things. First thing was a tri-pod was in order and the second was that I was not shooting very good material. Then I saw the box of cookies... Who doesn't like cookies? The first three images are of the straight 50mm lens and the second three are the same lens with the Macro FIlter screwed on. I did have to adjust the camera position so the lens would focus but maintained perspective with the cookies. The specs for each image are below.

ISO 200, 1/2 Second at f/22:

ISO 200, 1/20 Second at f/8:

ISO 200, 1/800 Second at f/1.4

These have the Close-up lens attached to the front of the 50mm prime.

ISO 200, 1/3 Second at f/22:

ISO 200, 1/20 Second at f/8:

ISO 200, 1/800 Second at f/1.4:

This last image really shows how the Close-up lens tightens up the focal length throwing the background out of focus. I have used extension tubes in the past to get the same effect but even with the 12mm tube the focal length is only about 5mm deep. This lens make that quite a bit more flexible.

By the way... The set-up for the cookie shoot was to place the plat on a paper town setting on a stool that was positioned under a recessed ceiling light (tungsten) of 75 watts. All I did in Lightroom was tweak the exposure to balance the six images.

It back to the office project now. 

Take care... Doug

Make-Up Blog

Well this may not be a bonus blog but more of a Thursday make-up posting. Yesterday I was hitting some sites that I have taken notes about while listening to podcast during my many airline flights. Podcast are my airline survival tool.

Anyhow I was over at Ken Rockwell's blog. There is a plethora of 411 at his site. One of the funniest items were the "Seven Levels of Photographer". It is hilarious only because we all fit into one or two of these categories. Sorry but no admission of guild here. You can go to the article by clicking here.

While I was at Ken's site he had an excellent evaluation of the new Canon 5D Mk II. I am really stoked to get my hands on this jewel of technology. I know I have posted on it before but let me have my moment of enjoyment. Some of the images are shown below.

Here is a look at the well endowed to LCD panel. The original 5D had a Custom position on the mode dial but brought all three (C1, C2, and C3) originally introduced on the 40D.

The back panel above is going to be a little cumbersome for 40D shooters (yours truly) because the button are on the side rather than the bottom and they are not in the same order. Oh well.

The very cool cutaway image gives a glimpse under the hood of this little baby.

Back when I purchased my original XTi, for some reason I started investing in really good lenses. The L series Canon lenses are some of the highest quality DSLR lenses made. As I moved to the 40D, I did purchase it with a "kit lens" if you can call an EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS lens a kit lens. After the XTi was repaired, that lens found a semi-permanent home. As far as the 5D MkII is concerned, at present I do not need to pick up another lens. I am definitely looking forward to early December.

Take care all... Doug

Taking the Dive

I just could not resist the temptation. After the year long anticipation and reading the blog post, reviews, and videos, I had to put my money where my lust is. Yes I have pre-ordered the Canon 5D Mk II. It will fit a position in my arsenal that extends all of my lenses to a different focal length than the 40D with the 1.6 cropped sensor.

If you have been a reader of my blog for a while you will remember that I had a Canon Rebel XTi that thought it would be better laying on a parking lot than in my hands. It forced my hand to pick up the 40D. I had planned to keep the XTi and get the 5D Mk II when it came out. Well, the 5D Mk II has it all over both the XTi and the 40D that it really serves a different purpose. There in lies the temptation.

Justified or not, the money has been spent and I can look forward to an excellent Christmas time.

Take care... Doug

Follow-Up Post

I was in my local Camera store here in Grand Rapids MI. Quick plug for Norman Camera as they are quite capable of providing not only a sufficient choice of gear but the guys in the are really pleasant to deal with.

Ok so this is a follow-up post on the lengthy post I did last week called To Carry or Not to Carry. If you recall (or even if you don't or didn't bother to read it at all you can click on the link), it was a post on the different types of gear just to store and/or support you camera. 

So with all this information in hand I had no first experience with what is known as a hand grip rather than a neck strap. In talking with the Norman Camera dude he said that Canon only makes one for the 1D/Ds Mk III or the other bodies that have a battery grip installed but that Nikon still made one.  Sold I was!

Where I have seen this grip in action is with wedding photographers and people that need a quick and unencumbered access to their camera without sacrificing the security of the rig.

The photo above shows it fitting on the hand (don't bother clicking to enlarge as it will suck). The upper strap/adjuster really was getting in my way so I reversed it so the adjuster was on the bottom. As it is right now the upper strap does restrict finger movement but not so that you can not access the top panel buttons. I think this will be offset by the freedom of movement without the neck strap attached.

Above is the little strap. There is a plastic attachment that screws onto the plate mount of the camera. This is adjustable and there are two attach points for a strap. the one side for the hand strap and the other will use the left camera attach point to mount a neck strap is so desired. But wasn't that the point of getting this strap ion the first place. Hmmm!

I have a Really Right Stuff L-Plate on the 40D and using the strap mount impedes my use of the L-Plate. Fortunately Really Right Stuff has a strap mount machined into the aluminum plate. So off with the plastic Nikon mount and I hooked up the strap directly to the RRS L-Plat and I was in business.

Hey we will be back tomorrow.

Cya... Doug

Bad Blogger

My apologies to anyone who looked at the "FINALLY - Canon Steps Up" post. It must have been in stealth mode but is fixed now.

Doug

F I N A L L Y - Canon Steps Up

The long long long awaited announcement by Canon about the replacement to the very popular 5D was announce just before Photokina in Germany a couple of weeks ago. It sure seem that Nikon has been kicking the proverbial Canon butt for most of 2008. I like the competition as it makes the company at the top of the heap step it up. But is it enough? Ultimately time will tell.

No I have not shot with this camera and what you see below is what you can find on the Canon website with some exception. This is the paraphrased version of that information.

Quick Summary:

The EOS 5D Mark II has a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor, an ISO Range of 100-6400 (expandable to ISO 25600). It supports Live View shooting and Live View HD videos. It can shoot up to 3.9 fps, has 9 AF points plus 6 AF assist points, a new 98% coverage viewfinder, a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) and a rugged build.

Here are abbreviated specs form the Canon site. Scroll down to see the continuation of the this blog posting. 

Specifications

Type
Recording Media	CF Card Type I and II, UDMA-compliant CF cards, via external media (USB v.2.0 hard drive, via optional Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E4A)
Image Sensor Size	36.0mm x 24.0mm (35mm Full-frame)
Compatible Lenses	Canon EF lenses

Image Sensor Type Large single-plate CMOS sensor Pixels Effective pixels: Approx. 21.1 megapixels Total Pixels Total pixels: Approx. 22.0 megapixels Aspect Ratio 3:2 (Horizontal: Vertical) Dust Deletion feature (1) Automatic sensor cleaning (2) Manual cleaning of sensor (3) Dust Delete Data appended to the captured image

Recording System Recording Format Design rule for Camera File System 2.0 Image Type Still: JPEG, RAW (14-bit, Canon original), sRAW1, sRAW2, RAW+JPEG Video: MOV Color Space sRGB, Adobe RGB Picture Style Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Def. 1-3

Image Processing Type Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Custom, Color Temperature setting Auto White Balance Auto white balance with the image sensor Color Temperature Compensation White balance correction: ±9 stops in full-stop increments White balance bracketing: ±3 stops in full-stop increments Blue/amber direction or magenta/green direction possible

Viewfinder Type Eye-level pentaprism Coverage Vertical/Horizontal approx. 98% Focusing Screen Interchangeable (Eg-D: Grid lines, Eg-S [point of Focus], Eg-A standard focusing screen provided Mirror Quick-return half mirror (transmission: reflection ratio of 40:60, no mirror cutoff with EF600mm f/4L IS USM or shorter lenses) Viewfinder Information AF information (AF points, focus confirmation light), Exposure information (shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed, AE lock, exposure level, spot metering circle), Flash information (flash ready, flash exposure compensation, High-speed sync, FE lock), Image information (Highlight tone priority, monochrome shooting, maximum burst, white balance correction, CF card information), battery information

Autofocus AF Points 9 AF Points (1 Cross Type) + 6 AF Assist Points Metering Range EV -0.5-18 (at 73°F/23°C, ISO 100) Focusing Modes Auto, One-Shot AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF, Manual focusing (MF) AF Point Selection Automatic selection, manual selection AF-assist Beam When an external EOS-dedicated Speedlite is attached to the camera, the AF-assist beam from the Speedlite will be emitted when necessary.

Exposure Control Metering Modes 35-zone TTL full-aperture metering Evaluative metering (linkable to any AF point) Partial metering (approx. 8% of viewfinder at center) Spot metering (approx. 3.5% of viewfinder at center) Center-weighted average metering Exposure Control Program AE (Shiftable), Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Creative Auto, Full auto, Manual exposure, E-TTL II autoflash program AE Exposure Compensation Manual: ±2 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments (can be combined with AEB) AE Lock Auto: Applied in One-Shot AF mode with evaluative metering when focus is achieved Manual: By AE lock button

Shutter Shutter Speeds 1/8000 to 1/60 sec., X-sync at 1/200 sec. Self-timer 10-sec. or 2-sec. delay Remote Control Remote control with N3-type terminal. (Wireless remote controller RC-1/RC-5 can also be used.)

Drive System Drive Modes Single, Continuous, and Self-timer (10-sec. or 2-sec. delay) Continuous Shooting Speed Max. 3.9 shots/sec.

Live View Functions Shooting Modes Still photo shooting and video shooting Focusing Quick mode (Phase-difference detection) Live mode/Face Detection Live mode (Contrast detection) Manual focusing (5x/10x magnification possible) Metering Modes Evaluative metering with the image sensor (still photos) Center-weighted average metering (video) Exposure Simulation Provided Silent Shooting Provided (Mode 1 and 2)

LCD Monitor Type TFT color, liquid-crystal monitor Monitor Size 3.0 in. Dots Approx. 920,000 (VGA) Coverage Approx. 100% (viewing angle: approx. 170°) Brightness Adjustment Auto, 7 levels provided

Image Playback Display Format Single image, Single image + Image-recording quality/shooting information, histogram, 4- or 9-image index, magnified view (approx. 1.5x-10x), rotated image (auto/manual), image jump (by 10/100 images, index screen, by shooting date, by folder), slide show (all images/selected by date/folder) Highlight Warning Provided (Overexposed highlights blink)

Customization Custom Functions Total 25 Camera User Settings Register under Mode Dial's C1, C2 and C3 positions My Menu Registration Provided

Interface USB Terminal For personal computer communication and direct printing (USB 2.0 Hi-Speed) Video Out Terminal (1) Video OUT terminal: NTSC/PAL selectable (2) HDMI mini OUT terminal

Power Source Battery One Battery Pack LP-E6 AC power can be supplied via AC Adapter Kit ACK-E6 with Battery Grip BG-E6 attached. Battery Check Auto Power Saving Provided. Power turns off after 1, 2, 4, 8, 15 or 30 min. Date/Time Battery One CR1616 lithium-ion battery Start-up Time Approx. 0.1 sec.

So! Is it going to be worth the upgrade? That really depends on what you are doing with a camera today. Will it bring back the Canon shooters that bailed to Nikon in the last year? Personally I don't think so. If you are a Canon shooter using a 20D, 30D, 40D, or even 50D that has not loaded up on EF-S lenses it could be tempting. The portrait shooter that is running a 5D, start saving now, you want to go to the Mk II. Here is how I see it.

Nikon Shooter

Nikon makes an outstanding line of cameras, great glass and are the best challenge to Canon. My recommendation is to keep you gear unless you are moving into digital but that has it's own conditions. When bot Canon and Nikon went to auto-focus lenses, Canon decided to change the lens mount to the chagrin of most of the Canon shooters. Nikon decided to not abandon their owners and mad the body backwards compatible with the exception there would not be auto focus on the older lenses. I think that was a great move by Nikon and one that probably started Nikon on its move dominance in the market.

20D-50D Shooter

If you have a bunch of EF-S lenses then stay with the cropped camera. If you are heavy in the EF lenses, going with the 5D Mk II will essentially double your lens selection if you hang on to the cropped camera. Let's say you have a range of lenses on the from 16 mm to 200 mm. Your minimum effective focal length was 25.6 mm and now is a true 16 mm. with both cameras you end up with an overall range of 16 mm to 320 mm (448 mm with a teliconverter)

5D Shooter

Put you camera on e-Bay as soon as you can and put it towards the 5D Mk II. Bit depth and the ability to crop in post on a 21 MB file will maintain a very high resolution. Not if shooting at such high ISO's is not enough.

As for me. I have the 40D and there just is not enough to upgrade to the 50D. The 5D Mk II however is a different story. Portrait photography can have no better friend than the 5D line and now that the 5D Mk II is a reality, it is a no-brainer. David Ziser has a saying in photography and it goes like this, "photography just gets cheaper, better, and faster". At a price point 1K less than the original 5D the 5D Mk II will be a winner for Canon.

Take care all... Doug