Best Canon EF camera for low light situations

I’m looking for a EF mount Canon camera for low light photography.
I recently traded my 6D Mk.II for other gear, and realised that I now have nothing that’s good for high ISO.
Suggestions?

What will you be shooting? My shortlist for low light would be the 35LII, 85LIS and 135L.

tcphoto1 wrote in post #19373059
What will you be shooting? My shortlist for low light would be the 35LII, 85LIS and 135L.

Those are my choices as well. But I was asking about a camera body.

Sometimes I shoot in places like museums and churches. In those places something with better ISO capabilities than my 1D4 would be appreciated.

6D MKII again or 5D MKIV. Lens with IS or 50 1.2 EF .
With 50L I never had problems with 5D @ ISO1600.

The 5DIV is the best low light Canon camera I have ever used. Not as good as the Nikon D850, but really close. From what I have heard, the R6 is better than the 5DIV but I have never gotten to play with one. With my 5DIC, ISO 25600 is like ISO 3200 with my older 5DII.

If you want to do some side by side comparisons, THIS site is a nice tool to do so.

As old as it is the original 6D is stil a good low light EF option.

If you want a good DSLR at a fairly low price then get the 5D4. ISO performance is great to 12800 ISO

the next best would be the 1Dx2 and that has usable ISO to about 16000 ISO- a little noisy but its usable with some LR Noise clean. 5D4 and 1Dx2 are super close and I own both bodies

The best in Canons line up is the 1Dx3. You will get 25000 ISO files that can be used very easily

From what I have seen, And I have not used one...but the R6 has the best ISO performance in canons line up

I have not switched over to a mirrorless body as I still prefer a DSLR.....BUT......If i were buying a body for ISO performance I would forgo the 5D4 and get the R6....the difference in price BT a used low count 5D4 and a new R6 is about $700 and you will need an adapter for EF glass for the mirrorless

hope this helps

My bad, I currently own two 5DIV's and they've done well in low light but I do miss my 1Dx which performed well in those conditions.

As Mike said, 5D4 and 1DX2 are almost identical. 5D4 vs 1DX, 5D4 wins.
Assuming your 5D4s perform normally, if you judge 1DX to be better, you're basing that judgement on viewing images at 100%. As the 5D4 has more pixels, that means you are viewing a comparatively magnified result compared to lower pixel 1DX. Viewed normalised, 5D4 should have less noise. 5D4 and 1DX2 were the first bodies of their line to have the newer sensor, with on chip analogue to digital conversion. 80D was the first in it's line. For all those new sensor bodies, noise improvement was noticeable. Noise was also more random, ie, less objectional to most people.

Choderboy wrote in post #19373699
As Mike said, 5D4 and 1DX2 are almost identical. 5D4 vs 1DX, 5D4 wins.
Assuming your 5D4s perform normally, if you judge 1DX to be better, you're basing that judgement on viewing images at 100%. As the 5D4 has more pixels, that means you are viewing a comparatively magnified result compared to lower pixel 1DX. Viewed normalised, 5D4 should have less noise. 5D4 and 1DX2 were the first bodies of their line to have the newer sensor, with on chip analogue to digital conversion. 80D was the first in it's line. For all those new sensor bodies, noise improvement was noticeable. Noise was also more random, ie, less objectional to most people.

This is an important point. Because of the quality of the noise, it cleans up much easier with way less 9impact on fine detail in an image. Of all Canon bodies that I have shot with, I have found that the 5DIV handles noise the best.

denstore wrote in post #19373055
I’m looking for a EF mount Canon camera for low light photography.
I recently traded my 6D Mk.II for other gear, and realised that I now have nothing that’s good for high ISO.
Suggestions?

I assume you would be comfortable scanning the forum classifieds for used gear? The EF mount DSLRs that are very, very close in ISO performance are going to be these:

- 5D4
- 1DX2/3
- R (mirrorless with EF adapter)

The next in line then would be:

- 6D
- 6D2
- RP (for mirrorless)

Notice the big gap at higher ISOs, you want to be lower in the graph at higher ISOs since that will mean better DR in the shadows (less electronic noise interference in pushed shadows). Those marked cameras are pretty close to being ISO-invariant, meaning there isn't too much of an IQ loss of shooting at lower ISOs and processing higher later vs shooting at higher native ISOs.

You could also look at the 5DS series too, they fit in this area somewhere as well, and you get all that resolution to boot.

This all being said, your 1D4 is actually no slouch in the low light ISO arena. If you shoot such that you push your exposure as far as you can to the right without clipping highlights, and then use judicious NS, or good 3rd party noise reduction, the images should be quite good.

How is the EOS RP compared to the 1DX, 1DX2, 5DiV and 6D2? I’ve seen a few of them for sale in the last month.

The old workhorse 6D for me. Still use it like a charm. Never failed me

Considering how low light it needs to focus, it may be the R3 with the Control ring mount adapter EF-EOS R.