Camera Labs

I am comparing the jpeg output under common settings, and also the raw output without any noise reduction. This is to give an indication of what the raw data looks like before you start to apply noise reduction. Of course, the de-bayer software may have its own characteristics in this.

Environment
Indoor artificial lighting by energy saving type bulbs.
Approximately 1.5m or 5' from 50D to subjects. Approx 90cm or 3' for 5D to give around same subject size.
Cameras on tripod with corded remote release

Common settings
White balance: auto
Focus mode: single
Focus point: mid only on Miffy's nose
Exposure mode: aperture priority f/8
ISO: as below
jpeg: max quality

Canon 50D settings
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
Peripheral illumination correction: on
Picture style: standard
Long exposure NR: off
High ISO NR: standard
Highlight tone priority: off
Auto lighting optimiser: standard

Canon 5D settings
I left these as the camera's owner set it.
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
Picture style: neutral
Color Space: Adobe RGB
Long exposure NR: Auto
ISO expansion: on

jpeg processing: 100% lossless crops

raw processing: converted in ACR. White balance "as shot" for 50D, Auto for 5D as it would have too much yellow cast otherwise. Everything else set to zero where possible except exposure +1 for 50D, +1.5 for 5D. Saved as jpeg at high quality (10) then lossless cropped.

The big picture:



ISO50 - Order: 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO100 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO200 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO400 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO800 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO1600 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO3200 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw, 5D jpeg, 5D raw


ISO6400 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw


ISO12800 - Order: 50D jpeg, 50D raw

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

interesting. Seems to me like the 50D in-camera jpg processing is a lot better (or just more aggressive?) than the one of the 5D. However, when looking at the RAWs, it becomes clear the the 5D has around a 1-stop advantage.

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Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM | Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM | Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
...and a lot of lighting stuff. -> complete list of equipment

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Good job,popo!

So yes,the 50D has really excellent ISO perfomance for a cropped frame sensor camera.

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

Great comparison, Popo! Thanks!

Now... seeing the noise results at 6400 and 12800, I wonder WHY do they put those on the camera? Is that for marketing purposes? Because it's totally unusable, at least for me.

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Canon 40D and lots of lenses.
my Flickr

it could be marketing purpose, but it is also quite convenience to have that options. Sometimes we just need that picture taken. It is actually pretty good in 4x6 prints.

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RadiantLite - Cameras and Lenses Comparison Reviews, buying guide, photo taking techniques and other tips
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If you process those 6400 and 12800 RAWs, I'm fairly certain that you'll achieve acceptable results.

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PhilipGoh.com

I'd go the other way - why didn't they put the higher ISO modes in the original 5D? It would have handled it at least as well or better than the 5D.

6400 you wouldn't want to use regularly but you can get ok pics out of it if desperate. Note the comparison was done with all NR off in ACR, and would be a lot better with any NR on, particularly chroma NR. The limit is that banding starts to intrude in darker regions particularly if you use any form of shadow recovery and the jpeg shows random specks.

12800 does suffer from banding in dark regions unless you expose generously, which then rather negates the point of it...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

It just becomes marginally better than ISO 6400. Instead of gaining an extra stop advantage, you gain 1/3 stop since I'm assuming that you'll have to over-expose by 2/3 stops to get good results.

It's still better than nothing

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PhilipGoh.com