full shot

I planned on saving the high ISO tests for the video review, but I’ve received enough requests that I’ll go ahead and post my early ISO results between the Canon 6d and Canon 5d mark III. I am by no means a testing expert when it comes to resolution or high ISO testing, instead I simply take shots of a scene at different ISO’s with each camera and look at the 100% crops to see what looks better to my eye. If you want to dig deeper into my settings and images you can download all 340mb of raw files here.

The image above was scaled down from the 5d mark III at ISO 12800 just to demonstrate how clean that high ISO can look if you’re final images are bound for the web. If you’re final destination requires an image less then 1000×667 pixels, ISO 12800 and 25600 are very usable. If you need to go larger then that stay clear of ISO 25600. ISO 12800 is still pretty usable up to about 2000×1333 but you’re right at the edge of what I would consider acceptable unless you want to start using denoise software.

These are 100% crops of each image at ISO 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800, and 25600. The images were captured using a Canon 50mm f1.2 lens and the focus point was set to the little green guys chin. The Canon 6d seemed to focus forward slightly compared to the 5d mark III and I’m not really sure why. This could be operator error or camera error, but I don’t really have time to run the test again. Either way by the time you get to high ISO settings I’m shooting at f6.3 and f7.1 which makes this a mute point.

To my eye it looks like the two cameras are neck and neck up to about ISO 3200. After that it looks to me like the Canon 6d started to pull ahead just a little bit and by the time you get to ISO 25600 it seems that there is a noticeable difference in clarity.  The 5d mark III looks like it has more of a blotchy pattern while the noise in the 6d seems to have a finer grain. It also seemed like the 6d held on to a little more detail then the 5d mark III and that blacks in the 6d image at ISO 25600 have less overall noise.

It’s close, but if I had to pick a winner, I would lean towards the Canon 6d in the low light category. So if you were on the fence about the 6d and low light is the only thing on your check list, there is your answer. But if you are really serous about these test results be sure to download the raw files and let me know what your opinion is.


Canon 6D

Buy the Canon 6D
 


 

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