Sadly, it is no longer possible to buy a new 5DS R. With my 5D IV off to visit Peter at Accurate Instrument in Brisbane for servicing, I looked around to see what was available by way of a spare body. A second 5D IV would make a lot of sense - I really, really missed its amazing low-light focus ability in Sri Lanka when it went faulty early in the trip - but they are still very expensive. The Camera Exchange in Melbourne had a nice-looking 5DS in stock. I have dealt with Ryan there before (he bought my 70-300L and 500/4) and was happy to buy from him. The 5DS was advertised at $1750 but, being a nice bloke, he offered to express post it to me here in Tasmania free of charge and round the price down to $1700. Very happy with that.

The 5DS arrived promptly and is working fine. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the theoretically superior 5DS R.