50D or Not 50D?

[carlday555]

Hi All,

I thinking of upgrading my Canon 400D in the near future and I am considering the new Canon 50D, however I feel a bit put off with the apparent noise problem people are experiencing.. has anyone experienced this?.... is it really a problem?

I'll be using a Canon 300MM F4 L IS + 1.4EXT with it, so if anyones shooting with this setup already I would appreciate seeing your results.

Thanks in advance for any comment's.
Carl

[Flavio Rose]

This article http://theory.uchicago.edu/~ejm/pix/20d/posts/tests/D300_40D_tests/ suggests that on one important fundamental measure of noise, electrons captured per pixel, the 50D is somewhat behind the 400D (aka XTi). See third table from bottom in the article. However, if you instead look at a per unit area measure (second table from bottom) to give the 50D credit for its high pixel density, the 50D is somewhat ahead (.100 to .083 for the 400D).

There is also unfortunately this article: http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng...sensor-quality It claims that the 50D red sensors are unusually sensitive to green. This would tend to increase noise and worsen signal to noise ratio in the red parts of the demosaicked image.

Many people will take the viewpoint that the noise in the original image doesn't matter, only the result of applying their preferred noise reduction workflow to that image, so it's hard to get a real consensus about a camera's noise performance.

(I like you have a 400D and am thinking of upgrading to a 50D.)

[John Chardine]

Hi Carl- Well first, the 50D isn't new any more, at least not in the digital camera market, which turns over rather quickly whether we like it or not. You may want to wait for the 7D, which is in my opinion is a beefed-up 50D, despite what Canon claims- that it's a new line of cameras for them.

I have used the 50D for a year now and am very happy with it. The bottom line on noise is that you can make noise on any camera body you choose. It all depends on your exposure and the ISO setting. IMO the 50D produces no more noise than the 40D (which I owned), so considering it's a 15 mp camera versus 10 mp, this is pretty darn good. I use my 50D at 400 ISO and sometimes 800 and produce clean images. Even at ISO 1600 and 3200, the images are more than useable. If NR is needed I run Noise Ninja or a soft blur brush and it goes away.

[Ed Cordes]

I thought about the 50D for quite some time. Finally I ordered a 7D. If you have an older camera to trade in Canon is selling refurb 50Ds for a good price if you trade in an older camera. Even some of the old P&S can qualify. Check it out at Canon upgrades on the Canon website.

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Carl:

Check out this thread. I think it will answer your questions. http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=39814

I purchasd the 50D in March and planned to use my 40D as a back up. Sold the 50D not long after due to noise issues.

Good luck with your decision.

[Don Lacy]

If you are interested in a 50D order one online from a reputable dealer that has a return window shoot with it if and if you like it keep it. This is what I did and I ended up returning it because at the time I thought my 40D produced nicer images. Since I had used it on a trip I still had a bunch of images to work on and as I got used to working on the 50D files I was able to produce images just as nice as my 40D. Are the 50D images nosier at 100% when first opened yes are they nosier at finale output either for the web or print IMHO no. One other point when using a camera with this much resolution it takes optimal technique to get all that it is capable of and is one of the reasons that the more experience photographers are able to produce stunning images with it.

[arash_hazeghi]

Carl,

At this point it is better to wait for 7D due to its supposedly superior AF, faster frame rate and all other new features if you can afford it. 50D is noisier than 400D and 40D (IMO), but the amount of noise you will end with in the final image, well depends on your work flow and how you process the CR2 files, and at the end of the day it is a subjective matter. Some people have found noise performance of 50D to be fantastic and some people have found it completely unacceptable, they are all accomplished photographers so the division in opinion is a result of different tolerances people have for noise and different work flows.
Nevertheless 50D is an upgrade to 400D due to its AF 6fps burst, large buffer and better finder. So it is a better overall choice for birding, despite its noisier sensor.
You will hear many divergent opinions here, my recommendation to you is to rent the camera for a few days, take some photos and then process the RAW files based on your work flow and then decide if it is good enough for you or not.

[John Chardine]

Carl,

At this point it is better to wait for 7D due to its supposedly superior AF, faster frame rate and all other new features if you can afford it. 50D is noisier than 400D and 40D (IMO), but the amount of noise you will end with in the final image, well depends on your work flow and how you process the CR2 files, and at the end of the day it is a subjective matter. Some people have found noise performance of 50D to be fantastic and some people have found it completely unacceptable, they are all accomplished photographers so the division in opinion is a result of different tolerances people have for noise and different work flows.
Nevertheless 50D is an upgrade to 400D due to its AF 6fps burst, large buffer and better finder. So it is a better overall choice for birding, despite its noisier sensor.
You will hear many divergent opinions here, my recommendation to you is to rent the camera for a few days, take some photos and then process the RAW files based on your work flow and then decide if it is good enough for you or not.

Arash- I would add that how you use the camera is crucial. Your exposure on the 50D will make the difference between a noisy image and a clean one. I think this is where a lot of the variance in opinion originates. Until you figure this out you might think it's noisy. I produce no more noisy images out of the camera with the 50D than I did with the 40D.

I think most people here at least have a pretty low tolerance to noise so I don't think this has a bearing on the subject.

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash- I would add that how you use the camera is crucial. Your exposure on the 50D will make the difference between a noisy image and a clean one. I think this is where a lot of the variance in opinion originates. Until you figure this out you might think it's noisy. I produce no more noisy images out of the camera with the 50D than I did with the 40D.

I think most people here at least have a pretty low tolerance to noise so I don't think this has a bearing on the subject.

Hi John,
Well, you can't always get rid of noise by overexposing an image and trying to recover it in post besides it is worth noting that it is only the case of 50D where such divergent opinions exist, have you ever heard someone complain about noise in their 5D, 5DMKII or 1DMKIII cameras? This is a bit like 1DMKIII AF that obviously had issues in early models (and therefore Canon introduced no less than 5 hardware fixes for it), at that time many also attributed the problems to incompetence of photographers in setting up the camera, but as we all know it was an actual defect.
Any ways, IMHO the best option for OP is to rent the camera and test for himself by running the CR2s thorough his favorite RAW converter and noise reduction software. After all, his tolerance for noise matters for his choice :) BTW, I did mentioned that 50D would be an upgrade regardless of its pure IQ due to the other features it has.

[Flavio Rose]

have you ever heard someone complain about noise in their 5D, 5DMKII or 1DMKIII cameras?

There are actually lots of complaints out there about the 5D Mark II. Type "5d mark ii" "banding noise" into Google to find them. Of course, since it's the Internet the possibility exists that all the people who are complaining are fantasizing, lying, or are just awful photographers. (This is one of the difficulties of trying to use the Internet as a guide for consumer purchases.) To the extent the 5D Mark II banding noise exists at all, it apparently becomes visible only when one raises shadows (something I occasionally do with curves or with the Shadow slider in DPP on the files out of my XTi).

I agree with you that noise is very subjective and that tolerance for noise, and for the side effects of noise reduction, matters.

[arash_hazeghi]

There are actually lots of complaints out there about the 5D Mark II. Type "5d mark ii" "banding noise" into Google to find them. Of course, since it's the Internet the possibility exists that all the people who are complaining are fantasizing, lying, or are just awful photographers. (This is one of the difficulties of trying to use the Internet as a guide for consumer purchases.) To the extent the 5D Mark II banding noise exists at all, it apparently becomes visible only when one raises shadows (something I occasionally do with curves or with the Shadow slider in DPP on the files out of my XTi).

I agree with you that noise is very subjective and that tolerance for noise, and for the side effects of noise reduction, matters.

Banding is a different issue. It does exist but only in isolated cases and poorly exposed photos, it's effects are in no way detrimental to 5DMKII's overall excellent image quality.

[Arthur Morris]

I thought about the 50D for quite some time. Finally I ordered a 7D. If you have an older camera to trade in Canon is selling refurb 50Ds for a good price if you trade in an older camera. Even some of the old P&S can qualify. Check it out at Canon upgrades on the Canon website.

Hi Ed,

Can you provide a link to that? (I tried but could not find it.)

Thanks!