"Neither the 5DII nor the 1Ds3 can be considered poor."
The 5D MkII is an embarrassing joke when compared to the D800, it is a poor stills performer when compared to the D700 unless you need the MP, and lets be honest most people don't most of the time. AF, response, customization, flash capability etc are all better on the D700, if you need your DSLR primarily for stills and web output or 14"x21" prints or smaller the 5D MkII offers nothing over the D700.
I think you have missed the point here - I said that neither the 5DII nor the 1Ds3 can be considered poor
The IQ they produce is excellent - way beyond the needs of all but a few.
Now you are trying to compare them with a D800 - a body that has not had a review yet - although already we are getting reports of unacceptable noise from the samples released.
The advantages that you list for the D700 are quite frankly nothing more than you expect from newer techology, although flash control? (that sounds dubious as it does everything that any EOS does - unless you mean a built in controller) and response?? what is that? AF we have discussed to death - most 5DII users seem to find it OK - it works happily in most situations and is still the best in class in low light (for the centre point). Seems to me that the 5DII weaknesses keep getting trotted out and every iteration makes its minor limitations sound more like a major flaw.
'unless you need the MP, and lets be honest most people don't most of the time' - have you evidence of this? I certainly use the MP - for composition onto different media sizes for example
I am suggesting relaxing for a couple of months to see what comes along from Canon - as everyone knows it will - and come to your conclusion after seeing comparative reviews.
