In mid-summer 2003 I was working on a major article for a leading U.S. photography magazine. The piece was titledThe World's 25 Best Cameras, and appeared in the Nov / Dec issue ofPhoto Techniques. In a telephone discussion with the editor and publisher they had agreed with my suggestion that such an article wouldn't be complete without a look at medium format digital backs. With the sale and use of film rapidly heading south among professional photographers, and digital swiftly climbing in the other direction, a look at the state of the art in medium format cameras would be incomplete without considering the digital backs that are currently available.

But, over the prior 6 months I had been left with two self-reinforcing impressions from discussions with other professional photographers and retailers. Photographers were telling me that they were selling their MF gear and switching to 35mm format DSLRs, especially the Canon 1Ds. This camera's 11 Megapixel size knocked everyone bac...