Here's an interesting fact to mull over. The Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III will sell for £6,000, body only. For that, you can get a D3 body, one of the brand-new Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 N-series lenses and Nikon's fabulous 14-24mm N-series wide-angle zoom. Remember, the D3 is a full-frame SLR, so that 14mm zoom is so wide you'll be lucky to keep your ears out of the picture.

Both of these are professional lenses with the build and optical quality that goes with it. We were fortunate enough to get to try out the D3 and these two lenses for this review, and the combination is truly awesome.

The 1Ds Mk III has 21 million pixels. The D3 has 12 million pixels, which is not as many but still a lot. Some clients may demand 21-megapixel files, but how many? You have to weigh this against the D3's far lower cost (£2,500 lower) and certain other capabilities that the Canon doesn't have.

These include the fact that the 1Ds Mk III can shoot at 5fps, while the D3 shoots at 9fps. The 1Ds Mk III goes from ISO 100-1600, but the D3 goes from ISO 200-6400 (yes, 6400). Stuck with a bunch of APS-C format lenses from lesser cameras in the range?

If you've got a 1Ds Mk III, tough luck - you can't use Canon's EF-S lenses on this model. If you've got a D3, though, and you slot on one of your old DX lenses, the camera spots it straight away and switches automatically to a 'cropped' mode to give you 5-megapixel photos. It's not much, but it's a lot better than nothing, and handy for making long telephotos even longer, thanks to the 1.5x focal factor.

This is not an attempt to trash the 1Ds Mk III, but it's important to understand just what Nikon has achieved with with its new professional flagship camera. The Canon wins on resolution, and it's a no-brainer if you've already invested heavily in Canon gear. But what Nikon has produced is a camera good enough for West End fashion shoots and frantic goal-mouth action at 3pm on a sleet-soaked January afternoon.