In some ways your friend is right and in many ways wrong. Actually you might see a slight improvement in the quality of images with digital since the less than full sized chips are using light from the center of your lenses (one of the good things about the 1.5x factor) and thats where the least distortions are.
One problem/advantage you will have is that all your lenses are now 1.3~1.5x higher magnification, depending on which camera you go with. That could be an advantage with your longer lenses, your 70~210 f2.8 is now roughly a 100~300 f2.8. On the negative side your 24mm is now equivelent to a 35 and if you shoot a lot of wide angle you'll be looking to fill in on the bottom with new lenses. THAT's where the new digital lenses come in to your advantage.
Since you talk about skin color I'll add my two cents. Everyone has their own tastes when it comes to skin color. I went with the Nikon D100 for that reason. I find the Fuji skin tones either too pink or two orange depending on user settings. The Canon is perhaps better with a bias towards yellow skin tones. The D100 isn't perfect but it fit my tastes the best. I'd compare some prints made with each camera to ones you have now and see which camera matches the skin tones/colors best. Be aware that camera settings. Photoshop and printer can add to the differences. One other thing before you decide to buy. (I should mention I managed a couple camera stores for 27 years). Take a REALLY good look at the viewfnders between cameras. It's like looking down a tunnel compared to your film cameras. I always told customers to hold the two cameras they were interested in vertically with their pentaprisms facing each other so the eyepieces are easy to switch back and forth from. Look through them, back and forth quickly so your eye doesn't have time to adapt and you will see a lot of differences with brightness, clarity, color, and ease of reading the display info. That should help you make your decision.
In the past I've advised people here to rent before you buy. You need to work with a camera at least one full day to learn all it's strengths and weaknesses. I'd also recommend looking at a used D1X which you should be able to pick one up for a good price. That sucker is heavy after a day of handholding it shooting but it's NICE!!!
Let me know what you get, Andy. You've got my email address.
Bob Jensen
P.S. Did you get those emails about the models I sent you? I've been referring models to you. Hope that's ok. I'm out of the picture right now due to illness and I'm not sure when I'll be back to 100%, if ever. So I send the girls who ask me to shoot to someone I trust, you.
|