To the original post and poster, East Wind Photography (I don't want to quote the whole post):
While I have no real world experience with either camera yet (I’ve only edited some 5D3 raw files in both CS5 and CS6, and shot with it briefly)…let me point out some obvious oddities I noticed:
1) You limited yourself to ISO 1000 or below. That’s fine for shooting ducks in bright sunlight…not so nice for shooting woodducks in dawn or dusk hours (the only time they show up at my pond, or most anywhere in my area). Also not so good for shooting any other type wildlife in low light. Some of us like the lighting effect of shooting in low light, or low sun…or even post sunset or pre dawn. It can add drama, and the colors can be nice. And many animals are simply on the move at those times. Mid day light is also boring, and a bit played out. Some people like me, enjoy the idea of pushing shutter speed beyond 1/2000 in less than ideal light. I also like to capture things like deer on the run, at sunset.
2) You’re saying 12 fps isn’t necessary for you. I say it really depends on the speed of the animal. I’ve rented the predecessor to the 1Dx, and found its 10 fps entirely too slow for trying to capture small birds in flight (something most bird people never do anyway…which is part of the reason it appeals to me. Anyone can slap on a supertele and shoot a bird once it is resting on a limb, or swimming slowly in a pond or lake.) The ideal camera for small birds in flight, would be a high speed video camera, but of course those still images don’t print very big (especially if cropping is necessary)…and high speed cameras cost more than the new Porsche I would rather purchase for that amount of money.
3) It seems to me, that you may well have had your mind made up before you did this comparison, since you deliberately are faulting the 1Dx where it is weak, and in the areas it’s not designed to excel in…such as: A price range similar to the 5D3; the image’s pixel dimensions; the larger camera size; the increased battery demand; the supposed lack of DR at or below ISO 1000 (If you need that, buy a Nikon D800…it’s better in that range than your 5D3, and produces a radically larger image size to boot). The 1Dx is meant for people who aren’t afraid to occasionally shoot at or above ISO 10,000, let alone 1000! Besides, even the 5D3 doesn’t lose significant resolution until ISO 12,800 (tests have shown this). If you are one of those people (and it seems like there’s too many of you), that only want to shoot pictures that produce very little noise WITHOUT employing any of the excellent NR methods available today (many of them lose essentially no detail)…again, I have to wonder why? That just seems silly to me. The idea that “I will never shoot a picture that requires any sort of NR at all, all sliders will be at zero, come hell or high water”. And yet you imply you’re NOT a pixel peeper??? ONLY A PIXEL PEEPER would care about tiny amounts of noise when viewed at 100%!!
4) As for “pixel peepers”…anyone who spends more than $500 on any type of camera, and doesn’t do at least some amount of pixel peeping, is wasting their time and money. Digital files are meant to be peeped at the edit stage. Digital files are meant to be edited, enhanced, and optimized in a creative way (whether minimalist or extreme.) What are you, some kind of camera Quaker or something? Sorry, but I see photographers as indeed a type of artist. We are not simply robots who don’t think for ourselves. We interpret the world around us in a creative way, and we aren't afraid to use any tool at our disposal.
To fault the 1Dx for not being everything a 5D3 is, to you, is not all that valid an exercise. I will grant you, some of your findings are worthwhile to read, but I’m not sure most wildlife photographers will agree with your conclusion. I will also grant you that, given the price, the size, and the 5D3’s AF sensor (a feature pioneered FIRST for the 1Dx)…then the 5D3 represents an extremely capable camera for most uses.
But that’s nothing most people don’t already know. So basically, much of what you have said, is nothing new.
What would have been interesting to me, is if you compared the low light AF performance of both cameras in servo mode, and especially the AF speed. For example, a duck that is flying off the water toward you, and then panning back to another duck (or perhaps a moose), that is at the far end of the lake...and going back and forth between the two separate subjects...all while the duck in the foreground closes in on your location quickly. And do all this at sunset...now that would have told me more of what I wanted to know about whether the 1Dx is a more capable camera overall, than the 5D3. I'm guessing it is. Doesn't mean it's a better overall "value", of course. But value is relative.
