You mean you determined this from web-size images? But isn't that always the argument against MFD. I did the same thing recently on a trip to Tokyo with a Pentax 645D. While you really cannot see the benefit on the web, at least without a comparison image, there is a huge benefit to shooting situations like this with MFD. Whether you care for the technical difference is subjective. An M9 would also have made nice images as this does not come down to simply technical attributes. But to imply that there is no benefit to using a higher resolution camera, I cannot agree with that.
I am not trying to start a flame (I have my smiley face on
), but being a member of "Dante's Inferno," I am certainly realizing the benefits of using MFD in areas of photography that have been the providence of smaller formats. And it is not even the resolving power but other attributes like the tonality.
And don't get me wrong. The M9 may very well be the right tool for Joe, but I can't quite dismiss MFD so easily.
+1.
This is the reason my first reply started out with a caveat ...
"It all depends on what the end use will be." The OP has clearly stated what the applications/locations will be while on the trip, but isn't quite clear what the end intent is.
It has to be assumed that anyone with this level and choice of gear is either a Professional Photographer, or a dead serious enthusiasts ... or a little of both. As such, there is usually some sense of what the images will be used for ... what they are after photographically when the trip is done.
As good as the M9 is, working with files from the Hasselblad is a whole other realm of 16 bit, large sensor capture that can show tonal differences and subtile color separation, even subtile differences in a 8X10 print ... (Jack Flesher detailed the benefits of printing using 16 bit files in a recent thread).
Intent is the final decision maker IMHO. Personal comfort is just that, a personal decision. Folks here that trek out into the wilderness at 4AM with a backpack full of MFD gear, a big tripod, and a giant ARCA C1 geared head, do so because of intent, not for personal comfort.
GetDpi member Kurt Kama does all types of shooting similar to the OP's application list using a MFD system exclusively. Value, size, location, application, relationship to the subject both formal or candid, doesn't seem to stop him.
When I traveled to historic St Augustine it was to soak up the history, record notes on my experiences, and do a little street shooting ... the end intent was a nice travel album for family enjoyment, with a secondary intent to capture some "stock" background plates to use for paying work.
The M9s were the only cameras I took. On a recent trip to the Gulf coast my intent was more photographic than personal R&R or sight-seeing, I wanted the best images I could produce for prints, so I only took the H4D/60 and a tripod.
-Marc