I can't say i've studied many magazine tests nor used many canons (apart from my 1dmk2) but my personal experience is a little different. I love my Nikons
because of their strong vibrant colours straight out of the camera.
The High iso thing is personal preference also - when eventually 1600 iso is as smooth and vibrant as 100iso, will you say the same thing? Indoors I will regularly shoot 1600iso as it's the only way to get the shot I want. Sure you can use flash but it's a totally different look and sadly not always possible when you have drivers or refs complaining..
Good high ISO noise performance is one of the best things about modern digital SLRs - it makes it possible to get shots that previously only super fast and expensive glass would allow.
as a disclaimer, I only photograph rc cars generally and only use a 'medium' quality jpeg - so perhaps I'm not the fussiest guy alive.
