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Strengths: Image Quality at high ISO (800 to 1600); 10 Frames per second shooting; reviewers rate image quality of this Canon model better than the new Nikon D3 (Mark III has tighter grain structure) at low ISO.
Weaknesses: Coming from Nikon, the menus system is not as intuitive (not as good as Pro Nikon bodies). Also, there is a known hardware defect when shooting in warm weather and using the AI Servo mode.
Summary: Great camera - if you can find one that focuses properly for successive shots in warm weather. Canon (as of November 2007) has finally acknowledged this problem (first reported on the Rob Galbraith web site), and will be taking back 1D Mark III camera bodies for repair. If buying after 1 November 2007, dealers should only be sending the "fixed" model that is recognizable by a "blue dot" on the outside of the box. See the Canon web site for further details.
That being said, this camera is a joy to use. I received one of the last non-repaired cameras...but AF has worked in cool weather just fine.
In late October 2007, Dell (Small Business) was running a special with coupons so that you could purchase a new Mark III for about $3200-3400 depending upon how many "stackable" coupons you could find (plus tax and shipping; total about $3600). Otherwise, the best deal one could find in late 2007 was for about $4079 including shipping from Tri-state Camera in Manhattan.
I purchased this camera body to shoot birds in flight with a 400 F5.6 lens and 1.4x (II) teleconverter. With the 1.3x sensor magnification, this seemed to me a better way to go than with Nikon (who do not currently make an AF 400 F5.6 lens). The quality of the image at ISO 800 or 1600 is much, much better than the Nikon D200 or the Nikon D2X or D2Xs. I own the latter camera bodies so I can compare (or see the many web sites where such comparisons can be viewed side by side). Anyway, for moving targets, this camera body was a better deal for me than the new Nikon D3 (full frame) or D300 (1.5 sensor crop factor).

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