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I have even been toying with the idea of getting a Mamiya RB67 again for studio work. No way I will go back in the darkroom but film did hold some good points, particularly medium format

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...and I'm finally ready to give mine up, ! During my first couple of years of mainstream DSLR use I kept my Mamiya 645 loaded and going with Velvia for those "special images". But now that I'm getting the photomerge technique down I'm am ready to completly retire the MF gear. 4 to 6 (or even more sometimes)frames shot with the Canon 5D and using one of my superb adapted Contax lenses give me just as much satisfying detail in large prints as I was used to to with my mf gear. There are still some subtle differences in color graduation and such where I feel digital still falls behind but basically it's more than good enough now to please me.

But..... some of my old Velvia slides still give me goosebumps when viewed. There's just something about them that just feels right! Of course there was also all the money and time wasted processing the slides only to find one or two keepers out of a roll of 36. Now I just download and delete the same day I shoot and a lot of times this gives me the option to reshoot something if the initial results were lacking.

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After much further discussion, we agreed that setting up the camera to produce images that reflect the way you see your subject is not "cheating". It's part of the art of photography.

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Still, a decent film scanner (not a drum scanner but a good, high-quality film scanner) will set you back under $2500 and that's a lot cheaper than getting a digital back for the 645.

I toy with that idea myself: get a good medium-format camera with a very good lens and a good scanner and see whether that combination is worth the time and effort over "affordable" DSLRs. That would be simply for the "fun" photography -- you know, the stuff that doesn't make me any $$$$ .

Jim

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But, for pets, maybe it will not be fast enough to move around with; still brings back good memories.

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That will depend on your shooting style. If you plan to shoot off of a tripod, then you can use any camera. If you plan to shoot off the floor, hand-held, then the D300 is more than adequate.

The other question is how big an image do you think you'll be selling as your "bread & butter". For me, it's still 8X10 with the occasional "large" print being a 16X20. I find that 8.2 mpx is just fine for that.

But there are times when I yearn for that Velvia medium-format look in my still life shots, macros and studio portraits where there isn't much retouching to be done post shoot. Sigh. Can't wait for that 5X7 digital back .

Jim