All this negative commentary on the 5D Mk III has become a joke!

You are perfectly right. That is why I wrote

... in evaluating e.g. noise, I think it is quite useful to see what happens at the extremes...

I have used a Kodak SLR/C for quite some time and just bought my 5D2 2nd hand now that prices are dropping. SLR/C is noisy beyond like ISO 400 and even base ISO has considerable noise- therefore I think it can be very USEFUL to know how a camera behaves....helps you to work around....evaluating is part of getting great images.

Did anyone note that a monopod bought 2nd hand for app. 40$ will get you like 3 stops? Add a "fast lens" with f2 or f1.4, learn how fast you can sometimes shoot unblurred with a given lens, make multiple shots (given that camera shake is random, one will turn out ok....) use

Lightroom + Topaz noise reduction and even the SLR/C can be very useful in the dead of night- as per example.

5D2 is very good compared to SLR/C , yet I am likely to buy a 5D3 once the 5D4 is available.... until then, I just enjoy what I have.