Full frame DSLR?

I am doing a bit of dabbling in the full photography to see if it is worth getting into. In many online reviews, they come across that if you have a full frame sensor, your images will be brighter, more contrast., nice depth of field, etc. I always wondered if it was just hype or real so when an older full frame camera became available locally, I bought it. For a total of $450, I managed to get a nice looking Canon 1DS Mk1. I knew the seller as I had bought a few items before from him as he upgraded to the newest and best. He could afford it while I have the budget goddess looking over my shoulder .... sometimes!
The 1DS originally sold for approx US$8K in late 2002. It had an 11 million pixel (MP) sensor which was the  rage of that period. About 2 years later (and for the same price) one could get the 1DSMK2 which has a 16 MP sensor. These days, Nikon offers a 36 MP sensor for about $2K less money.
It came with everything that was bought with it including the original box, instruction manuals and CDs plus an additional battery. Some of the accessories had never been opened, like the AC adapter to power the camera from mains power. A shutter count revealed that the camera only had 5570 shots on it. These days, that is like a short test drive. Lots of life left in it.
The first thing that struck me upon lifting the camera is the weight. It's about double my 30D camera. The next thing was to charge up the batteries and start reading the manual. The major differences were how to access the functions and the location of the buttons to press.
I also ordered two replacement batteries from overseas as backups (no name brand) and began to take pictures. So far, I have added about 100 images and you can be sure more will come soon.
Overall impressions - the images are similar to the 30D. Yes, you get a wider image view due to the larger sensor but if you have the 10-22 lens (which is for the crop sensors and cannot be used on the 1D without modifications), you get the same coverage as a 16mm full frame lens. Pixel peeping, there is less noise at 100-400 ISO with the 1DS but this only shows up during low light imaging.
It is a better camera for portraits and landscapes but nothing earth shattering. Would I get a full frame - absolutely YES! I would love to get  a 5DMk3...... but do I really need it?
Based on online reports, an 8MP camera will allow one to print an A3 image (11.5"x16.5"). I can agree with that as my 30D has done up to 13x19 with no visible loss in resolution. The 1DS should easily get to 13x19. To print anything larger, one can use a panorama mode. I recently took an image created with the 30D to Canada to get it printed on 40" wide paper (the cost was about 1/4 of what they charge down here). It was comprised of 9 raw images merged together (about 130Mb). The guy at the camera shop said he could print it about 14' wide with good image quality. Total final image size in jpg was about 10Mb.
In real life, it all boils down to the  photographer - a professional could take a great image with the cheapest digital camera available while an amateur could have the top of the line everything and have nothing worth looking at.
I am starting a new blog on photography and picture framing to get information out to potential clients for my picture framing business. I am getting questions on why I do certain things and it is easier to direct  them to a good explanation than try to condense 10 minutes into 1. It will be called "In the Frame" and the link is............ Aug 25 - still working on this. It seems that I can do all y normal blog posting and editing but cannot create a new blog! Checking in the blog forum and I find that another person from Norway is experiencing the same thing! Hmmmmmm!!!! What's going on Google?
Sept 8- finally got it figured out. You need to create a blog address name at the same time! In the create box, it said that you can add a blogspot address later and I was thinking that I could have left it blank. Well, live and learn.
So, the new picture framing blog address is.....http://intheframecayman.blogspot.com/. Have a look and see what I am up to!