I would also welcome comments on this topic, but my situation is slightly different. I owned a 1Ds MkI and 1Ds MkII. The MkII was accidentally dunked in salt water and destroyed. I decided to get by with my old back-up body, the MkI, until a replacement was released by Canon for the MkII.
But the weight of the MkI wore me down on a recent trip to Japan as a tourist.
I have another tourist trip planned to Europe at the end of this month. It occurred to me that another option is to buy the 5D for tourist trips when I rarely use a tripod and am not shooting precision and careful landscapes.
When the 1Ds MkIII is finally released, I'll probably buy that as well to replace the MkII that hit salt water. The 5D would become the back-up body, and I'll sell the MkI at that point.
Personally I don't need the rugged construction of weight of the !Ds MkI or MkII as a tourist, walking around all day. Not with the weight penalty.
So my questions are:
Is the 5D clearly superior to the 1Ds MkI in image quality and noise at higher ISOs like ISO 400?
Is the 5D clearly equal to the 1Ds MkII in image quality and noise at higher ISOs like ISO 400?
In his review, Reichmann argued that the 5D is equal to the MkII in image quality, and by implication, superior to the MkI.
Does everyone agree with that conclusion? The above comments appear to do so, because those who recommend the 1Ds are basing on that on build quality, etc. But not on image quality.
Any opinions as to how soon will a replacement for the 5D be released? Michael reviewed an early production model in late 2006, so it has only been on the market for about a year. My best guess is that a replacement would therefore not be released for at least another year, if not longer.
I'll download the manual for the 5D and try to figure out what features are lacking as compared with the 1Ds MkI or MkII. Any views on what features are lacking on the 5D that I might miss?
But, again, image quality is my priority. Not build quality and tank-like construction. If the 5D is superior to the 1Ds MkI in image quality and noise, and roughly equal to the MkII, then it would be a good choice as a tourist camera for walking around all day.