50D in da house

[AgingEyes]

Here's a quick shot at ISO 1600.

Uncropped image along with a crop at actual size (unresized).

:

The bird looks great, Loupey!

[rongarrett]

Looks like ISO 1600 is going to be the highest practical setting. The camera antomatically goes as high as this setting according to manual. Looks like Canon has come thru on their promise for this camera to have one stop better noise performance.

I would be very interested in it's low light focusing speed. This area is the only disappointment my 40D has given. I, like you use a 500mm range for birds, { I use a 400mm F/2.8 with a 1.4 extender which gives 560mm F/4.0 }. When using this combination in the full woods, where it is always shady, I often have issues with deer images.

I have a 50D on order, but it has not yet arrived.

[Loupey]

Looks like ISO 1600 is going to be the highest practical setting. The camera antomatically goes as high as this setting according to manual.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. In Manual, Tv, Av, and P, you have full choice of ISO's including H1 (ISO 6400) and H2 (ISO 12800).

Enabling Highlight tone priority, however, limits the high end to ISO 3200.

[Loupey]

Friday Night Football

Capture Mode: JPEG, Large/Fine (all)
ISO: 6400 (all)
Shutter Speed: 1/1000s (all)
Aperture: f/2.8 (#1 & #3), f/3.5 (#2)
AF/AE: manual/manual (all)
Picture Style: Standard (all)
High ISO Speed Noise Reduction: Standard (all)
Highlight Tone Priority: Off (all)
Crop: none (all)
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS (all)

[Loupey]

Marching Band:

Capture Mode: JPEG, Large/Fine (all)
ISO: 800 (#1), 3200 (#2, #3, #4, #5)
Shutter Speed: 1/250s (#1), 1/90s (#2), 1/125s (#3, #4, #5)
Aperture: f/2 (#1), f/4 (#2), f3.5 (#3, #4)
AF/AE: manual/manual (all)
Picture Style: Standard (all)
High ISO Speed Noise Reduction: Standard (all)
Highlight Tone Priority: Off (all)
Crop: none (all)
Lens: EF 35mm f/1.4L (#1), EF 24-105mm f/4L IS (#2), EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS (#3, #4, #5)

[Loupey]

Outdoor Festival

Capture Mode: JPEG, Large/Fine
ISO: 200 (#1, #4), 400 (#2, #3, #5)
Shutter Speed: 1/250s (#1), 1/500s (#2, #5), 1/750s (#3), 1/1000s (#4)
Aperture: f/5.6 (#1, #2, #4, #5), f/6.7 (#3)
AF/AE: manual/manual (all)
Picture Style: Standard (all)
High ISO Speed Noise Reduction: Standard (all)
Highlight Tone Priority: Off (#1), On (#2, #3, #4, #5)
Crop: Slight (#1, #3), none (#2, #4, #5)
Lens: EF 24-105mm f/4L IS (all)

[Loupey]

All in all, the 50D seems to deliver on Canon's promises.

The main difference I found right away was the LCD. The display is now beautiful, bright, and crystal clear. Not being one to use the LCD other than to check the histogram, I found myself thoroughly enjoying viewing the images.

The ISO performance was better than I expected at the high end (although the performance in the ISO 200~800 range seemed only marginally better than the 40D).

The image quality, SOOC, seemed to have that "3-D" look that is similar to the images from the 5D. Image quality, in general, is very good on this camera.

Are all the improvements worth going to the 50D over the 40D? Perhaps if you shoot a lot of low light or ambient light scenes and if you are one to really get use out of the jazzed up LCD or if you plan on doing really large blow-ups. For those looking to upgrade from the 10D, 20D, or 30D, this camera is definitely worth considering.


Helpful?

[kwc]

Are all the improvements worth going to the 50D over the 40D? Perhaps if you shoot a lot of low light or ambient light scenes and if you are one to really get use out of the jazzed up LCD or if you plan on doing really large blow-ups. For those looking to upgrade from the 10D, 20D, or 30D, this camera is definitely worth considering.

Helpful?

Very helpful, thanks. I've been pondering upgrading after spotting a 50D in the wild last weekend. As attractive as all your shots are, this is pushing me towards a pass on this generation (I have a 30D and 40D).

From your images it looks to me like ISO 1600 is about what I get with ISO 800 on my 40D -- is this what you're seeing as well? Thanks.

[Loupey]

From your images it looks to me like ISO 1600 is about what I get with ISO 800 on my 40D -- is this what you're seeing as well? Thanks.

Not sure yet - haven't shot enough at ISO 1600 with the noise reduction disabled to make that determination.

I would think (and hope) so as each upgrade I have made in the past yielded a one stop improvement in usable ISO performance (10D at ISO 200, 30D at ISO 400, 40D at ISO 800). And one stop is justification enough for me.

Perhaps in a few more days I will have something with which to compare directly.