Canon 50D Rises To Occasion In Race For High ISO Performance

August 27, 2008

Okay, I take back what I’ve blogged in April, “Wow! Might As Well Canon Throw In The White Towel In The Race For High ISO Performance“.

I was wrong. Canon is taking note of the development in the industry, and has come back strongly in the race for high ISO performance after Nikon made a huge headway with it through its flagship high end DSLR camera, the Nikon D3.

Canon is doing that it the medium-range segment of the DSLR market, with the release of the Canon 50D which now tops a whopping ISO 12800.

Canon has been the leader in producing clean images at high ISO performance, unrivalled by any DSLR camera just a couple of years ago.

But the release of Nikon D3 — and the upcoming D700 — has rewritten the rule of the game. Now Canon itself is rewriting the rules in the mid-range DSLR segment.

I just hope the race for the high ISO will trickle down to the entry level segment sooner rather than later.

The Nikon D90 — a high-end entry level DSLR or shall I call it the low-end mid-range DSLR — is seems to be doing just that, pushing the ceiling up to ISO 6400 when others are still stuck either at ISO 1600 or 3200.