Canon 5D Mark II vs Canon 1D Mark II Noise Test

DigitalDSLR — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:48:37 +0000

After getting enough “play” time in with the 5D Mark II, I decided to do a quick noise test. I wanted to see whether the 5D Mark II would best the 1D Mark III noise control. After doing some unscientific shots with the 5D Mark II, I was convinced that the 5D Mark II was at least a full stop better than the 1D Mark II in terms of noise control. So was I right? Lets see.

Keep in mind, all shots were done on a tripod and shutter activated via self timer. The lens used for the test was the Canon 27-70 2.8. All shots are done at f/5.6 and at 51mm. I tried ISO 100 – 6400 since that is the limit of the 1D Mark III will go without using any exposure compensation or pushing it via post processing. One final note that is that no in camera or post processing noise reduction was done to any of the photos.

	Canon 5D Mark II	Canon 1D Mark III
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400

After performing this first real test, I must say that I take back my initial observation in that the 5D Mark II was at least a stop better than the 1D Mark III. Certainly this is a color chart test and not exactly real world tests.

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Canon 5D Mark II vs Canon 1D Mark II Noise Test