If I were to start from scratch, can anyone tell me if

The lens line up has always been the strong suit of Canon.

The general feeling here seems to be that their tech is sorely outdated, though. Since the 5dII release the canon sensors characteristics (mostly shadow noise/DR) are significantly behind the comparable Sony/Nikon offer (think banding). This did not prevent the 5dII to be a smash hit, and diehard canonites were here to battle the banding wars to death (despite the numerous evidences that it existed). These facts probably partly explain why canon did not care to close the gap.