1dx mkii

[Jonathan Huyer]

I own the 1DX II and had a good chance to test the high-ISO noise performance last year in Patagonia. This shot was taken at ISO 8000, for example (with noise reduction applied in post):



I have found the Mark II is a very slight improvement over the Mark I that owned previously. Maybe half a stop better? I also have the 5D Mark IV and it is almost as good as the 1DX II. The noise is slightly more obvious but it is very fine-grained, probably owing to the high megapixel count. To me the raw image noise is almost irrelevant --- what really matters is the quality of the image after processing. When you remove noise, the picture will inevitably lose sharpness. So a camera that has more megapixels is likely to be noisier, but maybe it can also withstand a higher degree of noise reduction before the image quality suffers noticeably (please correct me if I'm wrong). So which camera gives the best post-processed image? I'm not actually sure. But I'm definitely happy with the 1DX II.

[Topgardenboy]

I use the MK II primarily for birds and in low light to get a high shutter speed the ISO is up very high. And I don’t think that the raw image noise is irrelevant, because after post processing yes noise reduction software does reduce the noise but the finished image might not look bad maybe up to a 10X8 but go to A3 and to me it looks dull. Also I thought that the higher megapixel meant less noise in the raw image, although maybe I am mistaken. However I am really pleased with the MK II, I just love pin sharp nature pics so I will have to take them in the sunshine or wait for Canon to bring out a noise free camera.