5D III, 5DS or 1DX

I currently have a 7D version 1 and am looking to get a second body. I primarily do perching bird and wildlife photography. I have a 600 F4, 400 5.6 and a 300 2.8 that are my go to lenses for this.
I'm trying to decide the pros and cons for the above bodies when used for my application. I even thought about finding a clean used 1D mkIV. A friend has the mk IV and really likes it but admits it's getting a little dated now. Is focus locking ability on the above bodies about equal amongst them or would one be better noticeably when it comes to low light conditions etc.? High frame rate is not a deal breaker for me and I don't do any large prints at this point. It seems initially that that having the ability to shoot full frame, 1.3 or 1.6 on the 5DS would be very nice but maybe I'm sacrificing something by having that option built in to that body?
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Thank you.

I own a 1DX, 1DMkIV, 7D, 5DII, 5DIII...and most recently, a 5DS.

The 1DX has been my primary since it came out. I keep the 1DIV in my bag as a back up. Use the 5DIII for product shots. The 7D for wildlife.

I did some preliminary testing on birds when the 5DS arrived with my 600 f4. The 7D had sharper results over the 5DS by a slim margin (using the same settings). Even though The 5DS handes ISO noise better, it starts falling short with shadow detail.

The 5DS has proven useful capturing birds in flight, as it gives a larger capture area/cropping option. Basically, a bigger net. The 5DS' mirror lockup options are very cool. I think it'll be an interesting airshow body.

The focus is as fast as I need, and the buffer keeps up me me....but I'm somewhat deliberate with the number of shots I peel off. if I have that kind of assignment, I'll reach for the 1DX.

That all being said, in the studio, the 5DS rocks. I've aready shot three articles with it. Phenomenal studio camera, where I control the lighting. I'm not a landscape guy, so can't comment there.

The 5DS does not do TTL or HSS with my Profotos gear...but that's a Profoto software update issue.

5Ds looks great for wildlife, due to the high pixel density combined with full-frame sensor giving lots of cropability and freedom in framing. ISO 800-3200 are as good or better than any other camera, and that's where you get a lot of shots when shooting wildlife.

IMO it works better for wildlife than it does for landscapes, since its landscape utility is limited by poor dynamic range at low ISO.

I remember a time when the 1Ds2 was a go to body for landscape photographers, so do not let anyone tell you a camera is no good for landscapes. 1 DX is as good as any canon camera, except maybe the 6D which has a slight DR advantage I believe. The old 5D made some fabulous wall hangers but had lower DR and far worse noise.....

Yesterday I had to shoot my daughter at the end of school year concert, the room was dark and they did not use many lights. I was shooting at f2.8 ISO20-40k, and I was happy to have keepers. In good light ISO20k looks quite good and I often use 6400 without problems.

I have seen RAWs from the 5Ds and they are not bad at all but I do see noise from ISO 800 that I would not want, personally I would use it for landscapes and lower ISO work. But that is my opinion. For landscapes I bought an A7R, the Sony sensor with Canon lenses was too much to resist.

For wildlife and general my go to cam is the 1DX. Having the option to crop would be nice but for all round brilliance the 1Dx is unbeatable.

I personally would go with the 5DM3 as it has all the pro features and if you truly need a 2nd camera then you truly are doing professional level work, which the 5DM2 truly is.

I have a 6D (poor man's full frame camera) and have found it to be an awesome camera but the limited features of it make it less than appealing. The only thing I don't like about the 5DM3 is that it has a compact flash compartment storage instead of yet another SD slot. so, i just purchased a compact to sd converter and WOOT i have two sd cards using the SD only port as the primary recording port

Thanks for all the input. Keep it coming. Not an easy decision. If and when the 5D mark IV and the 1 DX mark II come out, what ballpark price do you think the current versions will drop to?

mfingar wrote in post #17612804
I own a 1DX, 1DMkIV, 7D, 5DII, 5DIII...and most recently, a 5DS.

The 1DX has been my primary since it came out. I keep the 1DIV in my bag as a back up. Use the 5DIII for product shots. The 7D for wildlife.

I did some preliminary testing on birds when the 5DS arrived with my 600 f4. The 7D had sharper results over the 5DS by a slim margin (using the same settings). Even though The 5DS handes ISO noise better, it starts falling short with shadow detail.

The 5DS has proven useful capturing birds in flight, as it gives a larger capture area/cropping option. Basically, a bigger net. The 5DS' mirror lockup options are very cool. I think it'll be an interesting airshow body.

The focus is as fast as I need, and the buffer keeps up me me....but I'm somewhat deliberate with the number of shots I peel off. if I have that kind of assignment, I'll reach for the 1DX.

That all being said, in the studio, the 5DS rocks. I've aready shot three articles with it. Phenomenal studio camera, where I control the lighting. I'm not a landscape guy, so can't comment there.

The 5DS does not do TTL or HSS with my Profotos gear...but that's a Profoto software update issue.

Having a great selection of bodies as you do, have you noticed a significant difference in focus lock time or accuracy amongst them?

Sell the 7D, buy 7D2 and 5D3

With those lenses I would sell the 7D and get the 5DS. Some reasons:
1. obvious resolution advantage means you can crop in as needed.

2. But, if you capture some wildlife with your 600mm and fill the frame with it - imagine the detail at 50 MP.

3. It comes with mraw as well as crop modes, so you can shoot it like a 7D II if you like (albeit with much less fps speed).

4. Superior sensor to the 5D III and 1DX. 1DX and 5D III have pattern noise in the shadows. The 5DS does not.

I find my 1D IV just as good as my 5D3 and prefer it for reach and speed. There isn't much of a difference between the 1.3 crop and FF.

Quack Me Up wrote in post #17613830
Having a great selection of bodies as you do, have you noticed a significant difference in focus lock time or accuracy amongst them?

The 1Dx is remarkably fast (get what you pay for). The 1DIV and the 5D's are all about the same...still fast, and keep up with me (aircraft, birds in flight, etc). The 7D searches a bit...the smaller APS-C field-of-view doesn't help find an object in blue sky.

The 1D series cameras can supply a higher drive voltage to the focussing motor so, all other things being equal (which of course they're not), they can focus faster than the 5/6/7D cameras.

Although the focussing systems in the 1DX/5D3/7D2 bodies are similar, there are some subtle but important differences as described here:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com …5D-III-AF-Comparison.aspx

The 1D series cameras also employ a different ADC readout arrangement which means that banding is much less of an issue. (For me, it is a complete non-issue - although I don't routinely push things by +/-5 stops as seems to have become de rigueur).

Re. the OP's question: my recommendation would be 1DX, 5D3 and 5Ds in that order. The 1DX is still Canon's best focussing and low-light camera - which is what you want for wildlife. The 5D3 is an excellent all rounder. It's subjective but I reckon it is 1 stop behind the 1DX in terms of high ISO noise. The 5DS is very impressive but it's geared towards low ISO shooting and (personally speaking) I seldom shoot wildlife below ISO400 because I'd rather have the shutter speed. I think if you were to down-sample the 5DS output to match the 5D3 then the noise levels would be similar (i.e. one stop behind the 1DX) however if you were to utilise the crop mode then you would be looking at noise levels comparable to the 7D2 which looks to be 2 stops behind the 1DX (http://www.martinbaile​yphotography.com …s-7d-mark-ii-podcast-464/).

Just my 2p...

The 1Dx does show banding but only if I apply 5 stops in post... I have never had a problem with a single image.

first choice by far would be a 5DSR - second for the value would be a 7D2

wallstreetoneil wrote in post #17615876
first choice by far would be a 5DSR - second for the value would be a 7D2

I can't figure how it is even a contest. It has a terrific AF system, so nothing to complain about there. And when capture your subject you've got a 50MP of detail to work with!

Wildlife photography may not be all about detail, but it's pretty doggone important.

OK, 5 FPS with a quick-to-fill buffer might be a deal killer, but let me put it this way: who do you want to go to bat for you? A big powerful home run slugger with 50MP muscles that knocks in home run after home run, but also gets thrown out a lot because he only runs 5fps? Or do you want the little guy that bats for high average, runs the bases at 10 fps, but doesn't knock it out of the park with regularity because his 18MP muscles are too weak?

Hehe, don't take me too seriously; it's how I see it, but I absolutely respect and admire the other options as well.