Canon 1DS.

My first digital camera was an Olympus C-2500L. I was very content with it until one day it got stolen and I had to start looking for a replacement. I bought a Canon G-1 and only then realized how noisy the Oly was. Followed the inevitable - I sold all my Nikon gear and bought a Canon D-30 (I defected the Nikon camp because of Canon lenses). A 10-day trip on Brazil dirt roads convinced me that changing lenses in the field is not such a good idea. Now am trying to change lenses only in a "dust-free environment" (yes, I am nuts). Over time I worked with D30, D60, 1D, 10D, 20D.

Canon 1DS appears to be THE camera. Overall image quality, dynamic range, color, autofocus - no complaints. At ISO 100 it exhibits substantially less noise than the 1D (at ISO 200). At ISO 200 the overall noise level of both cameras appears equal - although noise distribution statistics are different. For a reason I still can't figure out the 1DS so far appears substantially more susceptible to dust than the 1D, D60 and D30. At the end of a three-week trip in the Andes and Atacama the sensor accumulated over several dozen dust particles visible at f/11 and lower. All particles appear to be less than 50-70 microns in size. I have not changed lenses. I suspect the problem is in the "pumping" zoom action of the 28-70/2.8L. However, I used the same lens on a D30 and a 100-400/5.6 L IS on a 1D in the same environment with no such problems whatsoever. Go figure...

IMHO, 1D with a long lens is fantastic for wildlife. The autofocus performance combined with virtually instantaneous shutter response and machine gun-like 8fps is a hard-to-beat combination.

The D-60 is a pretty good camera, too (99 percent of the time I am limited by my photo skills, not by camera specs). For static subjects (where autofocus performance and shutter lag are not an issue) and long lenses (where the 1.6x factor is not a disadvantage) it works very well. However, in spite of higher pixel count the effective resolution is lower than for 1D. If only it had a 1.3x or a full-frame sensor...

Gitzo explorer, Velbon Carmagne and Gitzo G1518 tripods, different heads depending on the occasion - Markins (big and well-made), Velbon Ph-273 (very light), Wimberley head for the 500/4 lens. Bogen monopod. Velbon quick release system. IMHO, Velbon makes very high quality, very reasonably priced hardware. Most items bought used on Ebay.

The Velbon tripod is extremely light and rather sturdy (carbon fiber) but its central column is not rigid enough for a 1D / 1Ds with a long lens.