Before the Canon EOS 5D was announced, I wrestled with the idea of “upgrading” from the Canon EOS 20D to an Canon EOS 1Ds II but decided against it. The EOS 20D with its 17-85 IS lens is a brilliant travel camera and lens combination. Wide zoom range and image stabilisation together with the camera’s low noise make for a very flexible but lightweight, compact and unobtrusive combination. An EOS 1Ds and 24-70 f2.8L would take better pictures, but at a significant cost. Compared with the 20D system, the 1Ds II with 24-70 would be about twice the size and weight with about half the zoom range and no IS. Potential street candid subjects would most likely run a mile at the sight of such an obvious “pro” camera.
For me, the 5D and 24-105L combination is better than the 20D and 17-85. No surprise there. Really, the results of my tests are that there are no surprises. The 5D is as good as I expected it to be, and I expected it to be amazing. For my travel purposes, as an all-round compromise, it is better than the chunky EOS 1Ds, making it the best camera currently available, indeed (for my purposes) the best camera ever. But in some respects (ie telephoto shooting) the 20D is still superior, for half the money.