Imaginos wrote in post #3918374
How much did you get to poke at it? Much more, coming from a 5D, what's your first impression? Intuitive or not? Too big? Good feel? insufficient weasel pressure? Things like that?
I'm with gdl357 on this one: just drug them and put it on YouTube. You'll be a hero of the internet for about 40 minutes.
I played with it for at least an hour if not more. It wasn't all at once, but between seminars, I would go play with it. I was there pretty much all day. That said, I am NOT experienced with a 1D-series body, so take my opinions and experiences for what they are worth.
1Ds Mark III:
- I love it. They told me it was about CAD9K, so I'm not sure I could buy one without feeling too much like a poser. Then again, I've told my wife she could spend whatever she wants with our (house) designer. If any of you have hired a designer before, you know how much they charge, so I don't think she'd give me much of a hard time for spending this much on my "new" hobby. The guys at the counter all pretty much agreed, however, that if their wives let them, they would all get one. If I was a better photographer, I'd get one in a heartbeat.
- Intuitive or not? Hrm....The only thing that wasn't intuitive for me was turning on the LiveView. As it turns out, you just press the "Set" button. The menu sytem is controlled by both the dials (similar to the 40D, but quite different from the 5D), but I think I like it. I even looked at some of the menus and CF and think I could figure them out. I've worked in IT for almost 10 years, so I consider myself good with UIs and MMIs, but then again, I figure most guys and gals on this forum are similarily minded.
- Size. For anything other than vacation, I love the size. For vacation, I love the 5D size. The 40D is a bit small for me.
- Feel. As you said, I'm coming from a 5D. The 1D series feels solid. I don't know if it's a placebo effect from knowing it is worth almost 10K, but it does feel wickedly solid. It's what I would have imagined a 1D to feel like. The only thing I wish was a bit chunkier is the vertical grip.
Haha....I don't really want to be well known on the Internet for anything or any amount of time. 
40D:
- The menu system is very similar to the 1Ds.
- I just think this thing is a bargain for the price.
- I asked the guys there what they thought of it and if they thought it would cannibalize the 1D Mark III and they looked at me fuunny. They basically said, "The 1D is a pro series camera. It's rated for 300K actuations...the 40D just isn't built the same way in any respect." I guess that's a bit of a platitude given the 1D series are so much more expensive.
- WiFi grip has EMSRP of CAD900
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