I have a new article on the Photo Cascadia blog detailing testing I did on ISO noise performance in the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Out of all the technological advances in digital cameras in recent years I feel that lower image noise at higher ISO settings has had the largest positive impact on my photography. It is amazing to be able to shoot hand held at small apertures or in low light and also to capture night sky images without star trails and produce images that are not destroyed by noise.

It turns out that there is more to the ISO/image noise story than I suspected. Even as cameras improved I assumed that regardless of how good the ISO performance was that lower ISO settings would always produce lower levels of image noise. Noise tests with the Canon EOS 7D that were posted on the web by Tony Loentzen changed that logic. His tests showed that the 7D actually produced cleaner images at some higher ISO settings. For example, he found that ISO 640 produced almost as little noise as ISO 100!

Curious to find out if the Canon 5D Mark II behaved in a similar way I decided to conduct my own test. To see my test images and find out what I discovered you can read my article on PhotoCascadia.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback.