I picked up my P45+ a couple of weeks ago.
Second surprise was how fast the P45+ goes through batteries, even shooting architectural at a sedate pace, lucky again because the LL review flagged this in advance so I'd ordered some extra batteries.
Third surprise was how slow my 2GB SDRAM MacBook Pro now runs on location. .
Fourth surprise, because I normally use a sliding carriage on a Linhof it was a breeze to stitch two P25 shots together for either sumptuous image quality or an ultra-wide lens effect. But given the pixel increase with the P45+ that technique is now a bit of a handful, and for interiors that'll be a problem unless I get a lens wider than my current 35mm. Oh dear, more expenditure.
Fifth surprise, not much image quality improvement over my P25 at the reproduction sizes I usually work to. In fact let's be frank, zero image quality improvement in a full bleed double page spread with normal commercial printing quality.
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Dear Gary,
I too went P25>P45>P45+ and have the following observations (NB: I have Contax 645 and use mostly those lenses, incl excelent 35mm and 80, also Hassey V;
On batteries, yes, about 20% more drain, BUT I travel and I notice thay keep charge better. I also bought a small charger (plug folds in) and worked like a charm in europe with simple round plug adapter
Stiching means better control simply due to registration. If you have very smal angle (like a 140mm) not good. Better with the 45 or 80 where the small variations can be blended )PTGUI works for me!)
On image quality, well, don't hit me, but what are you using for lenses? I have found even 8x10 better due to a very simple fact of life. 100% digital is not the best way to use. The leck of sharpening needed for images with 39MP is a massive advantage. I can't believe how much better. If you do a lot of sharpening anyway, well may not matter, but if the image is better to begin with (and 39MP is a lot) then you never get into the Bayer 'fixing ' mode. Remember, the 7000+ pixels you have are not all colors, BUT if you are at say 16-20" image at 240-300 you will pick up ALL the colors within the resolution.
However, all said I don't think the step from P25 to P45+ is all that massive, but then a lot people don't see the difference between 180 and 400 dpi in printing either!
regards
Victor