It's a clunky old beast that's for sure! It's heavy and uses old battery tech. It also uses a "quaint" two button user interface, in that you have to hold down a button (or two) to access functions like ISO which you then change with a wheel whilst still holding the buttons down. It has a tiny rear screen as well. The shutter sound is like someone chambering a shotgun round, so it's not the most discrete of cameras
Having said that, I love the sound of the shutter and I only use the rear screen for histogram (there is no live view). The interface you get used to, although the ISO isn't displayed in the viewfinder when you are changing it which is annoying. So you do it by number of clicks or have to look at the top LCD.
The AF is decent, I find it on a par with the 7D. Although the 7D has many more modes, of which I find spot AF really useful. The 1Ds2 does allow you to have spot metering linked with the active AF point which is really useful.
ISO 1600 is the ceiling for the 1Ds2, that cleans up OK in LR but isn't for printing big. It does have expanded H (3200) but this is for emergencies only really, or B&W.
It's hard to recommend the 1Ds2, but I do like mine. It is however getting cheaper second hand and in that price bracket is the best FF option with decent AF. It was what I bought as a last try before I was going to change to Nikon and a D700, and was good enough to keep me with Canon.
I've used mine for weddings, lots of family and friends type events, rugby, motor sports and airshows. I do wish it had better high ISO but that's about it.
Edit: I've never shot astronomy (I don't shoot much landscape at all), but it is something I'm going to try in the New Year.
