Hi,
Good advice from Edmund. I'd just add a couple of comments.
1) Doubling the number of megapixels would allow you to make 40% larger prints.
2) You could try printing from Lightroom or QImage. Lightroom has a very sophisticated pipeline with capture sharpening, uprezzing and sharpening for output. Camera Raw in PS has the same capture sharpening as Lightroom but lacks output sharpening capacity. Regarding ACR/Lightroom sharpening try with "Detail" set to 100%, a small radius (0.5 - 0.
and a moderate amount (like 40), and add some noise reduction.
3) Make sure that your present equipment works optimally. Are you using Live View for focus? Have you calibrated your autofocus?
Its very easy to loose sharpness, unless technique is perfect. That of course applies even more to MF.
No doubt, MF-digital is much sharper than DSLRs like Canon and Nikon, at least if the equipment works perfectly.
Regarding the option to use film with MF, I'm highly skeptical. I have done some tests using my old Pentax 67 and Velvia and even if I found that the Pentax may have a small resolution advantage on high contrast detail I have the impression that image quality of a 24 MP DSLR is simply better. The other issue is that you either need to scan it on a drum scanner or getting a really good film scanner. Depending on where you live, turnaround time can be very long.
For my test I made something like two exposures on digital, but used at least three rolls of film. Turnaround time was like over a week. My professional lab now only processes one or two batches of film each week. Having fast feedback is one of the great advantages with digital.
That said, some very good photographers love film and prefer it to digital.
http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/16-pentax67velvia-vs-sony-alpha-900http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/38-observations-on-leica-s2-raw-imageshttp://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/41-phase-one-images-for-downloadPhase One has a couple of comparison images available for download. They have a comparison between 1DsIII and the P65+, P65+ wins. You may try to download the images from Phase One and try out. Capture One is needed to read them.
Best regards
Erik
Yours might be one of the rare cases (Landscape + Portrait) where a Hassy or a Leica S2 might be justified. A new possibility is the Pentax 645D.
Frankly, I don't think that investing in MF makes sense on a financial basis - I would first go and buy Genuine Fractals, and play around with better printing technique. I'd say one can improve by about one camera class of detail that one can coax out of a print if the color management is right, and the paper/raster combo is well chosen. Of course, MF provides a better starting point, but at the price of a large investment and cumbersome workflow.
BTW, you might try a Zeiss lens on the 5D; Bernard swears by Zeiss, and also you can MF those lenses with Liveview; some Canon lenses are very sharp eg. 85/1.2 but are designed in such a way that accurate focus near infinity is totally impossible.
Another thing to investigate is a better Raw converter; if you are shooting Canon you might be surprised at how much detail Canon's free DPP program can get out of a file, especially if you switch on its remarkable sharpening. Photoshop too has a built in deconvolution sharpening algorithm.
I'm not saying the 5DII is ideal - in fact I dislike it. But it can definitely make decent mid-size prints; 24" counts as barely mid-sized on this forum (I'm not joking).
Edmund
