Are there any Digital Techs reading this board?
I think what your asking for is a 5 day test of the three remaining brands.
Kind of like the Zaguto shootout thing, but something more comprehensive than just comparing highlight quality, or color, but a real world start to finish example of what it takes to buy something take it out of the box and start working from pre production, to shoot to post production and finish out.
First buy a brand new macbookpro and load Phocus, C-1 and Leaf Capture. Hook up a 23" monitor a 30' firewire cord and start the day with the first assistant learning the nuances of each software.
Then show the 10 chargers in the floor doing 5 sets of batteries to get through the day.
Next the shoot. Shoot in studio, fast paced with clients asking for stuff like, go back to that last session and let me see the model's face, or can we quickly edit and process out about 11 files while the photographer is still shooting to e-amail our vp of marketing?
Then step on the firewire cord or connector and have to go to cards instead of tethered while it's replaced. Insert those cf card images into the tethered shoot so it's one continuous browser of images.
Next go to window light with an hmi fill and high iso for that quick shot you see between sessions.
That night, process out all the raws to jpegs for web galleries.
Then day 2, shoot outside in soaring heat, I'd suggest Jamaica where the humidity will blow out the electronics of a 767. Shoot tethered, all to a macbook, shoot non tethered, shoot fast, shoot slow, shoot synced with flash, without flash and shoot a lot, change batteries and time how long it takes to software to restart and the camera to connect.
Once again go in at night, rename, rate, edit and process out the raws for jpegs to put on the web.
Third scenario is the retouching process. First let the client select background A, subject 2, to fit into overall image 3, and let the retoucher go to work on the files. Is there pattern moire, is there matching color, does the image process in CS4 (cause that's what all retouchers use), well that or CS3.
Then have that round table discussion with first assistant (who has now become the de-facto digital tech), photographer, clients and retouchers.
The rules should be simple. No agendas, not reps, no dealers, no camera makers. Once again the tech should be the good first assistant that knows there way around digital (because from what I can see that's the new process where everyone multi tasks).
And just to keep everything honest, throw in a Canon and/or Nikon and tether it to either C-1, lightroom 3, or the Maker's software.
After everyone talks about the shoot, the image quality, what is/isn't in focus, what had unfixable pattern moire, what didn't, then end the video with the clients. What image from what camera did they pick. Which software did they like the previews on, which software did they notice was fast or slow, or crashed or ran solid and what was the final result. Show finished 13x19 retouched proofs from each camera and let the clients rate them.
This type of test will go a long way to answering most of your questions, but will be hard to pull off cause who wants to pay for it?
Once again do the tests with no agendas, no bias, nothing but a mindset of to get each shot right, get it pretty, get it out the door.
But I would rename your request "are there any good first assistants on this board", because that's the way the industry is going. It's all about multitasking.
BC