Noise comparison: 30D to 5D Classic

In "real life" and for all practical purposes, how does the 5D Classic handle noise at 1600 and 3200 if (and most likely, when) required?

Currently using 30D, which will be backup to either used 5d or new 5D 2.

I'll try some of my own testing, as I think I'm picking up a 5D 1 this eve...I have 14 days for full return, and the price is actually quite good. Near new condition.

Weddings being the primary concern!

Thanks for input.

I have both at the mement. In my experience, with same output size, 5D has a little more than 1 stop of noise advantage over 30D on average, this is when exposure is properly done. When both are under exposure, you can push 5D image much further than 30D image. 5D will also capture more details so when you pass the image through noise reduction software, noise clean up better. Overall, the sensor in 5D is a upgrade to the sensor in 30D. It should improve your low light IQ.

Based on the price I was given for hte used 5D (near new they say), it's 2100 less. That's a nice 17-40 diff and then some!

Sounds like some good news.

eelnoraa wrote in post #8049999
I have both at the mement. In my experience, with same output size, 5D has a little more than 1 stop of noise advantage over 30D on average, this is when exposure is properly done. When both are under exposure, you can push 5D image much further than 30D image. 5D will also capture more details so when you pass the image through noise reduction software, noise clean up better. Overall, the sensor in 5D is a upgrade to the sensor in 30D. It should improve your low light IQ.

^^^Sounds about right to me and from my experience with the 5D which I had for about a week. I didn't notice much difference in properly exposed portions of an image but the shadow detail is better. I chose a 50D over a 5D though.

I started a thread a while ago there are some interesting shots, and a lot of flaming but you can just skip to the comparison images posted by others to get an idea of the real world differences people here found.

https://photography-on-the.net …5106&highlight=​5D+vs+crop

this might help:

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=3377851&po​stcount=31

click on the noise link in my sig. 20d and 30d are the same essentially. Mind you the whole link makes almost every camera look the same.

The 5D is much better at 3200. Not sure about 1600 and I'm too lazy to go look at my old photos...

From everything I've seen the 5D Classic is unbeatable in high ISO noise performance, about the only camera I've ever seen that might be better is the 1D Mark III.....even the 5D Mark II is arguably not much [If any] better than the 5D classic from what I've seen, but that could also be very high praise given its MUCH greater pixel density

Compared to the 30D, no contest, the 5D is amazing from what I've seen For low light shooting I'd say its the sub $2000 camera to have

The 30D isnt terrible at 1600 mind you, I use 1600 on it a lot actually....Even if it isnt the best it is usable if you keep right and choose your scenes carefully...

Dug back through some older pictures. The 5D outperformed my 40D in terms of noise, by a good amount at ISO 3200. The difference when underexposed by 1 stop and brought back up in post-processing was even more pronounced.

To be fair, I'm not sure that the 40D was quite as good as the 30D in terms of high-ISO noise. I never had the two at the same time to compare, though I think that the 30D had a little more latitude at higher ISO settings. Going by memory here so I can't really say for certain.

The 5D2 is better than the original 5D, but I don't think it's the proverbial 1-stop difference that many have cited. I'm thinking more like 2/3 of a stop. I think I posted something on this back in February or March when I first got the 5D2 but I can't remember if it was here or on another forum. I've got some old test shots, but I haven't converted to JPG or posted them on the net.

Two points on that comparison - in order to get the same exposure at the same ISO (3200 in this case) and f/stop, I had to shoot the 5D at 1/3 of a stop faster shutter. Not really an advantage, but I did take some care to equalize the exposure of the two cameras. The other point - while the 5D2 has slightly better ISO performance when comparing 100% crops between the two cameras (perhaps 1/3 stop better), when the image sizes are equalized (downsizing the 5D2 to match the pixel dimensions of the 5D), the difference is more pronounced.

On the 5DII: The biggest advantage of the Mark II over the original is a native ISO 3200 (and 6400, though it loses one stop of DR), so it should be noticeably cleaner at least at that ISO. There's a noticeable noise jump when going from 1600 to 3200 on the original, since you're pushing the exposure.