6d upgrade for less noise???

Currently I own a 7d with lenses capable going FF. I like my 7d except for the noise in low light situations it drives me crazy. I mainly use my camera for taking pics of storms and lightning (mostly night time), later this year I have a trip planned to Darwin to chase storms and want to come home happy with my pictures.

Will the 6d be much of a difference noise wise?

You'll find no better low light camera than the 6D. Purchase with confidence!

Yes, at least 2 stops I believe.

Up to ISO 1600 the 7D is comparable to the 6D, however at ISO 3200 and above the 7D noise becomes noticeable.

Lone Rider wrote in post #16880578
Up to ISO 1600 the 7D is comparable to the 6D, however at ISO 3200 and above the 7D noise becomes noticeable.

This may well be true for the subject matter you shoot and your exposure preferences. I find the 6D completely noiseless at 1600. My 6D is better at 6400 than my 60D is at 1600. Noise control and tolerance is quite individual.

I don't fear using my 60D at 12,800, if necessary. For stationary subject matter, I can get better results from my 6D at 102,400 than the 60D does at 12,800. The 60D gets a lot of chroma noise at 6400 and higher. I don't think I've ever seen chroma noise in a 6D frame.

To the OP: The combination of 6D and fast glass will give you the best results in low-light conditions, at least with respect to noise.

I am finding with the subject I shoot there is such a huge variation between the bolt being super bright and everything else I don't go over iso 800. Even from iso640 I get too much noise in shadows, clouds etc.

As in any photo, exposure is a compromise dictated by what YOU want properly exposed. Lightning at night is simply too wide a range of brightness to get everything in one shot. I don't think any camera can do that well in one shot. One solution may be a tripod and shooting a background shot with NO lightning, then getting a shot WITH lightning and combining the two in post.

Ree23 wrote in post #16880563
Currently I own a 7d with lenses capable going FF. I like my 7d except for the noise in low light situations it drives me crazy. I mainly use my camera for taking pics of storms and lightning (mostly night time), later this year I have a trip planned to Darwin to chase storms and want to come home happy with my pictures.

Will the 6d be much of a difference noise wise?

Huge difference. Definitely go 6D based on what you're doing.

Very best,

The noise will be much better on the 6d, but you will be trading 19 cross AF points for 1. If you are really only shooting static/landscape type shots then the 6d will be a great upgrade for you. If you also shoot action/moving subjects then just be aware that you will need to shoot with the center point

Lone Rider wrote in post #16880578
Up to ISO 1600 the 7D is comparable to the 6D, however at ISO 3200 and above the 7D noise becomes noticeable.

Eh?!

I have both a 5D3 and 7D and the former is far better than the latter even at modest ISOs of 1600 and below. One of the things which disappointed me about the 7D was its noise performance at modest ISOs of around 800-1600, even compared to my old 40D.

The 6D is marginally better still than even the 5D3.

The Canon 7D offers four settings for noise reduction, off, low, standard and strong, I find standard works best for me under low light. Also I find ISO settings 160 - 320 - 640 - 1250 - 2500 - 5000 best. One of the best ways to reduce noise is accurate exposure and shoot RAW. Canon developed the 7D as a sports camera, not a low light landscape unit, other models are designed for those conditions.
Not saying the 7D does not have some noise when pushing ISO, but lets remember if we want the camera to do everything perfect for us, without experience / learning knowledge, some should just buy a point & shoot not a SLR camera.

I shoot lightning at ISO100 and can leave it wide open for 30 seconds without overexposing. Way less noise at 100, and lightning is THE best flash on earth, just my humble two cents based on my experience.

TJays wrote in post #16881403
The Canon 7D offers four settings for noise reduction, off, low, standard and strong, I find standard works best for me under low light. Also I find ISO settings 160 - 320 - 640 - 1250 - 2500 - 5000 best. One of the best ways to reduce noise is accurate exposure and shoot RAW.

So you shoot RAW? You do realise the camera's NR settings have no effect on RAW files? Or are you processing in DPP afterward, which I believe respects the camera's settings when processing the RAW?

Alnitak wrote in post #16881416
I shoot lightning at ISO100 and can leave it wide open for 30 seconds without overexposing. Way less noise at 100, and lightning is THE best flash on earth, just my humble two cents based on my experience.

This response isn't just directed at you, but you brought it up directly...

OP never mentioned anything about high ISO, he asked if the 6D would offer less noise during long exposures, the answer is absolutely, yes. As an added bonus, it will absolutely offer much less noise when using high ISO as well.