40D on the way!

samal · Mar 10, 2009

Well, after going to Medieval Times couple weeks ago and shooting at ISO 1600 and F/2.8 to get mu shutter speed remotely close to action shot numbers, I got frustrated and just bought a used Canon 40D from a a forum member here.

I love my XSI but I do find high ISO noise very unforgiving. I tried to underexpose shots to get rid of motion blur - but the noise after correcting the exposure in Lightroom was way out of wack!

So, I bit the bullet and went with Canon 40D - I hope the loss of 2 MP will not be noticeable.

I am looking forward to ISO 3200 and 6.5 fps

OOOPS - just noticed that I put 50D in title by mistake - no, I am not that rich - can moderators change the title please?

Montana · Mar 10, 2009

You will not like ISO 3200 on the 40D in my opinion....and the answer is, no to missing the 2 MP. You won't notice any difference there. I would have bought a used 5D if you wanted better ISO performance.

Sw1tchFX · Mar 10, 2009

Yeah, You'll appreciate the better build and speed, btu that's really about it.

RyanLilly · Mar 11, 2009

I have not seen High iso shots from, The xs/i, but I can say that 1600, and 3200 are both usable on my 20Ds, combined with NoiseWare, It looks quite good for my uses.

Montana · Mar 11, 2009

"Good for my uses"....glad you said that, as noise can be very subject to personal tastes. Also, the type of subject matter. I shoot wildlife, and cannot appreciate noise at high ISO's with my 40D. There are also types of shots that I think look great with a little noise. I think if the OP were using some sort of noise removal software, they would like the results of the XSi. (I think,...back to subjective). Personally, ISO 1600 and above on my 40D are "I gotta get this shot" last resorts.

Hobbes · Mar 11, 2009

It depends on what size of the images you are going to publish or print but at ISO 3200 even the smallest size would show very noticeable high ISO noise. I usually avoid using the highest ISO speed on my 40D. If you have money you should get Nikon D700 course I have heard that it has better high ISO performance than any dslrs made by Canon.

JustAnEngineer · Mar 11, 2009

Montana said:
Personally, ISO 1600 and above on my EOS 40D are "I gotta get this shot" last resorts.

I agree. Without any post processing, ISO 400 is gorgeous, ISO 800 is usually good enough, 1600 is noisy, and H(3200) is distractingly-noisy. Of course, if you're comparing to an entry-level Sony, then the EOS 40D's noise is extremely low.

bigtwinky · Mar 11, 2009

Wow, thanks for the useful posts in this thread.

I'm also an XSI owner who was thinking of upgrading for the same reason...ISO performance. I shot a theatre production at ISO 1600 using a 2.8 aperture on a lens with IS on and it was ok. No issues (well, none too noticable) at ISO 800.

I was thinking the 40D or 50D would offer better high ISO performance. Something like if my XSI is fine at 800 but not too good at 1600, then the 40D/50D would be fine at 1600 but not too good at 3200.

Overread · Mar 11, 2009

note that the 50D noise performance is about the same as the 40D - the difference is that the 50D has 15MP/

inTempus · Mar 11, 2009

bigtwinky said:
I was thinking the 40D or 50D would offer better high ISO performance. Something like if my XSI is fine at 800 but not too good at 1600, then the 40D/50D would be fine at 1600 but not too good at 3200.

I don't know if I would say that.

Here's an unedited (shot in RAW, converted to JPG with no processing aside from that) image shot with my 50D at 3200 ISO. I can give you larger sizes if you like for better comparison. This was shot using a EF-17-40 f/4L lens at 40mm:

Larger images:
http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/488414200_F2WbP-X2.jpg
http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/488414200_F2WbP-X3.jpg

Here's the same shot taken with my 5DMk2 using the same lens at the same distance using the same focal length. It too is shot at ISO 3200:

Here are some larger images for your review:
http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/488413995_TFrKZ-X2.jpg
http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/488413995_TFrKZ-X3.jpg

As you can see the 50D's image has more noise, but I wouldn't say it's unusable. With a little noise reduction the 50D image would be pretty clean. If you're going to use such a pic for a 4x7 or even an 8x10 the noise, once processed, shouldn't be an issue at all.