jrista said:
Um...what? On a 47.6mp FF sensor (which would be the equivalent pixel density of an 18mp APS-C), if you crop the 18mp APS-C sized center of the frame...you would get the exact same effective focal length...160-640. Are you thinking about the 200-400mm with 1.4x TC? If so, that would be 320-640 effective @ APS-C crop. I'm curious where you got 400-640mm effective...
I was saying you'd get 46MP at up to 400mm, but to effectively go beyond 400mm you can crop. Setting the floor at 18MP, you reach the same 18MP at 640mm effective as with 7D.
itsnotmeyouknow said:
So why do people bother paying thousands for EF 400 L's and above if they could simply buy 1 camera and crop in? Because of quality. I would rather have Canon get the quality right first at 22.3. I have a 41mp medium format if I want bigger, but then medium format also has a different quality to it that the D800 can't fully replicate. If you need to get closer, GET closer. Stop decreasing you IQ by cropping in in post.
If I could get closer, I would be able to walk on water and fly. As far as I know, I am not related to Superman, so that is not an option. Sure, I'd love the massive telephotos too. If I had the cash, I'd get them, as well as an entourage to help carry them around. Medium format is about the worst camera for my needs. For less demanding uses, I have the 5D2 at half the price of the 5D3, but neither come close to the 7D in this application. And that is the big point here. I don't care if the kit does better in another application. I'm concerned with what it does for me. Do not try to impose a different set of irrelevant criteria to my needs.
Besides, I'm not decreasing my IQ from my benchmark, which is the 7D. Having a high MP will allow cropping to that when necessary, and when not, a significant resolution increase. Put simply, if Canon had released a 5D3 with a sensor like the D800 in it, I'd have one in my kit bag right now.