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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tdodd" data-source="post: 1650372" data-attributes="member: 55450">I think to pick a winner you need to have very clear ideas about what you will be shooting, with what glass, and in what conditions.The 1D3 pulls ahead on build, weatherproofing, durability and FPS, and its AF system may provide options that you will find more useful than those on the 7D. It can AF properly at f/8, but that's with centre point only, so may be of limited use. The extra heft and size does contribute to additional stability when handholding, and the battery life can be very impressive. Of course, the bulk and weight is a mixed blessing, making the camera quite a lump to lug around and not ideal for vacation shooting. If you can frame your subject/scene to make full use of the extra sensor area then the IQ should pull ahead of the 7D. As a compromise between high speed performance and terrific IQ the 1D3 really is a wonderful tool, and beautifully responsive, with some nice customisation features that can fine tune it to your needs.However, compared to the spec sheet of the 7D, the 1D3 really is looking long in the tooth and I think the 1D4 is desperately needed in order to restore the 1 series to the top of the totem pole. By today's standards that LCD screen is a joke and it is simply impossible to confirm sharp focus when reviewing a shot. That is actually less down to the screen and more down to the preview thumbnail, but either way the camera is poor in that regard. The absence of any kind of AF whilst in Live View can be quite annoying and the lower resolutiono screen is a weakness for manual focus in Live View. Also, not only is there no builtin flash, but more importantly for many, no wireless flash control either, and if it matters, no video at all. The 7D has some nice customisation features unique to it, as well, missing from the 1D3, such as the ability to use the DOF button to switch AF modes, temporarily, from One-Shot to AI-Servo.For the difference in price between the 7d and the 1D3, at current retail prices, you would need a very good reason to pick the 1D3 in preference, and the 1D4 is presently looking to be a crazy price, so hardly an option if you want to spend under £2,500, never mind £1200.I bought my 1D3 last December, and the primary driver for that purchase decision was the disappointing options with respect to AF performance in any other body offered by Canon. If the 50D had "pro" grade AF I think I would have been happy to stay put, but I wanted more, so I stumped up for the 1D3. I also had one eye on superior high ISO performance, especially for weddings, but selected the 1D3 in preference to the 5D2 primarily for the AF, but other "pro" features were nice as well.Purchasing the 1D3 also forced me along a path to need more EF glass, rather than the very adequate EF-S glass that I already had. All in all it's been an expensive journey, and I've bought far too much gear that has been close but no cigar, and has had precious little use. On the plus side I now have the glass already to really make best use of the 5D2 which I've also purchased recently.What the 7D has given me is performance which, for my needs, is mostly equal to my 1D3 but in a lighter and more compact form, which has lots of appeal at times. Unquestionably, in the right circumstances, there is a very real advantage in reach too. I think I may well make use of wireless ETTL flash as well. Video I'm not sure about, but it's there if I want it. The 1D3 is still a great camera, and if shooting a wedding I'd use the 5D2 and 1D3 for the larger sensors and extra IQ, plus thinner DOF. For general shooting, when wanting to travel light and less obtrusive, or when focal length limited, the 7D is a very sweet package.p.s. (there always seems to be a p.s.) If you want one camera body to cover every common photographic discipline from landscapes through portraits, macro, architecture, sports, wildlife, birds, travel etc. etc. then I would pick either the 7D or the 1D3. The 7D has the edge in flexibility and "gadgets" and the 1D3 has the edge in build/durability/IQ/speed, but both are excellent. Think of the 1D3 like a three year old BMW 5 series with a good spec, perhaps an M5, and think of the 7D as a brand new BMW 1 series (maybe a 3 series), loaded with every conceivable option going.</blockquote>

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