I love digital and I love medium format. So which one is better?? Both have their uses and the argument between both have been going on since digital was created. The gap is closing in on medium format's advantage over digital as newer models are being released to the public.  So let's have a look at both samples.

The first photo was taken with my Canon EOS 5D of our friend

Jef and his cat Sake. The settings are 1/200sec at f/6.3 ISO 100.

After the standard post processing (spot, color, white balance treatment and sharpening) this picture doesn't look too bad!

Now here is a medium format photo of Jef. The settings are

near identical with the 5D but the camera's film was ISO 160.

This medium format shot was basically scanned and resized for the web. I did a couple spot treatments and that's it. No white balance, color correction or even sharpening! It was plenty sharp! Maybe even too sharp as it depends on how you scan the film. I love how medium format captures such minute details and preserves the highlights!

The verdict. Each formats have their strengths. Digital easily has the upper hand in terms of flexibility in every field. It saves time, produces stunning photos and leaves me with files that allow me to edit them without doing too much damage.  So far, the standard for newer DSLRs produce 12-14bit files which capture more detail and tones. For medium format, it depends on the film and the scanner. The higher end scanners can scan up to 48bit and higher which allows for far greater tonal range and detail but leaves you with files reaching hundreds to thousands of megabytes each!

The advantage over digital with medium format is greater tonal range which allows for evenly exposed shadows, highlights and better colors as it prevents clipping. White balance is more natural as well. Most of medium format's characteristics can be simulated in post processing nowadays except for the megapixels. Also, because of the size of medium format film, depth of field is much more shallow which creates a delicious 3D effect that takes hundreds of digital photos merged together to reproduce!

In the end, both formats are very similar and also very different. We will be offering medium format in February as an option. Who doesn't love the nostalgic, sharp detailed feel of film?! It's awesome.  Enough nerding it up. Back to work!