Upgrade from 30D for ISO performance?

I have been using a 30D for some time now as my only camera and I still love using it. One thing that I wish I could do however is use higher ISO settings for indoor shooting without getting excessively noisy images. Would an upgrade to someting like a 60D be worth it simply for this reason? How usable are the ISO settings above 800 with the newer crop bodies? I want to stick with a crop body so I can still use my EF-S lenses.

I have a T3i and have obtained excellent results with it up to ISO 3200.

At 6400 noise is present(can be reduced in PP with corresponding loss of sharpness) but still usable.

12800 is ok for snapshots.

I hear the T4i is even better.

I upgraded from the 30D to the 60D about a year ago. I found the 60D's high ISO settings to be much better than the 30D.

Typically with the 30D 800 and occasionally 1600 was the limit. With the 60D I do not mind shooting 3200 or sometimes even 6400 as long as I can get an accurate exposure.

60D is good. 5Dc is much better, if you don't need the modern accoutrements. Personally I'd rather have a 5Dc with fewer lenses, but it'd be quite a switch-over

What's your budget? If 60D is in your range, the 5Dc is doable. Well, I guess you have a bunch of EF-S lenses so you'd probably want to stick with crop.

h4ppydaze wrote in post #14584156
60D is good. 5Dc is much better, if you don't need the modern accoutrements. Personally I'd rather have a 5Dc with fewer lenses, but it'd be quite a switch-over

What's your budget? If 60D is in your range, the 5Dc is doable. Well, I guess you have a bunch of EF-S lenses so you'd probably want to stick with crop.

At this point making the switch to full frame is probably a step too far. I'm not making any money from this hobby (nor is it in any future plans of mine) just an amateur hoping to get some better indoor shots when I don't have flash available. Other than that I am more than happy with what my 30D gives me actually.

60D would be a nice upgrade then

Here is one at ISO 3200 from a 550d (T2i). They have the same sensor so should be pretty similar, its obviously noisy but I think still usable

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …n-done-before/6719605777/

Thanks everyone for the ISO information. I can't imagine having ISO3200 (or 6400 wow) as a viable option. That must open up quite a few creative options. I generally try to stay at 800 maximum with my 30D right now.

Now I just need to decide if I would rather have a new body or that 70-200 f/4 I have been looking at for the past six months!

Here is the only 3200 ISO shot from the 60D that I can find of mine at the moment. Not the greatest shot but shows very little noise, specially compared to the 30D.

I never owned a 5DC but I did use one off and on when I was in school in 07-09, I never felt impressed with its high ISO capabilities at the time compared to what I was shooting with then (XT, 30D, and gf's xti and 50D)

h4ppydaze wrote in post #14584156
60D is good. 5Dc is much better,

JoeyBowman wrote in post #14584947
I never owned a 5DC but I did use one off and on when I was in school in 07-09, I never felt impressed with its high ISO capabilities at the time compared to what I was shooting with then (XT, 30D, and gf's xti and 50D)

I would agree, and so did DPReview:
DPReview says

http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos5d/2​1

The 5Dc was a good camera in a number of ways, high ISO performance was not one of them.

DaveSt wrote in post #14584488
At this point making the switch to full frame is probably a step too far. I'm not making any money from this hobby (nor is it in any future plans of mine) just an amateur hoping to get some better indoor shots when I don't have flash available. Other than that I am more than happy with what my 30D gives me actually.

A second hand 5D is like the same cost as a 60D, so price definitely should not be the issue

I'd take a second hand 5D over a new 60D any day of the week!

JoeyBowman wrote in post #14584947
I never owned a 5DC but I did use one off and on when I was in school in 07-09, I never felt impressed with its high ISO capabilities at the time compared to what I was shooting with then (XT, 30D, and gf's xti and 50D)

d123 wrote in post #14585255
I would agree, and so did DPReview:
DPReview says
http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos5d/2​1

The 5Dc was a good camera in a number of ways, high ISO performance was not one of them.

The 5D was a groundbreaking camera, it starts to band at high ISO's but the files are still usable, and is well above the XTi, XT, 30D.

This is the 5D compared to Canon's 2nd best high ISO performing SLR, the 5D2. As you can see there is hardly any difference.

By extrapolation, that would mean you guys think the 5D2 performs the same as the XTi, XT, 30D etc. I'm not saying that's wrong, it just highlights the ambiguity when it comes to interpreting high ISO performance

My personal experience is that the 5D bands heavily at ISO 3200+ but the sharpness is held together quite well even past 6400, whereas XTi,XT,30D,40D etc. totally falls apart over 3200, it becomes a blurry, magenta mess

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d123 wrote in post #14585255
I would agree, and so did DPReview:
DPReview says
http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos5d/2​1

The 5Dc was a good camera in a number of ways, high ISO performance was not one of them.

Thats complete nonsense... Maybe in really good light. In actual low light situations the 5dc shines. Plus 100 crops of the 5dc are way tighter. also the noise is not blotchy, nice and even smooth grain. Much more pleasing than a 60d.

smorter wrote in post #14585398
A second hand 5D is like the same cost as a 60D, so price definitely should not be the issue

I'd take a second hand 5D over a new 60D any day of the week!

The cost of the body might not be an issue, but almost every lens I currently own is made specifically for crop body cameras. The cost of moving to a full frame camera plus decent glass to use on it might gain me a fantastic shooting setup but it would most likely lose me a marriage.