Canon's 8 Megapixel Alternatives

In mid-March Canon loaned me two cameras for testing. The1D Mark IIand thePowershot Pro1. As I spent two weeks shooting with both cameras, looking at test files and making prints, both the irony and the reality certainly wasn't lost on me that both of these were 8 Megapixel cameras. Both were being released in the same month, and yet there was a $3,500 price differential between them.
Of course there's more to the similarities and differences than just megapixels and money. TheMark IIis among the most robust, full-featured and certainly fastest shooting professional digital SLRs to ever be produced. It is a serious professional's tool and will likely be the first choice of many photojournalists, sports and wildlife photographers for the next few years. It weighs as much as a small dog, is as bulky as a six-pack of beer, and with a telephoto zoom lens attached looks like it could be mistaken for a small shoulder launched missile. The retail price is about U.S. $4,500,withoutthe lens us...