Chuck Westfall Statement

I thought this would be of interest. If already posted sorry.

http://www.pdngearguide.com/gearguide/content_display/news/e3ib06feef71f62cc176182978d9e395dbe

1. Mr. Westfall,

Thanks for making yourself available for this.

Can you tell us how many stops of high ISO (1600-3200) noise improvement there is with the 50D versus the 40D? For RAW given equal NR settings? For JPG?

Chuck's Answer: At default camera settings for in-camera JPEGs, and assuming equalized output sizes in order to gain the benefit of the EOS 50D’s increased resolution, there is approximately a 1 stop improvement in noise reduction for the 50D compared to the 40D. Run the comparisons and see for yourself. For RAW images, the difference in image quality between the two cameras is almost entirely dependent on the user’s choice of processing techniques.
2. Hi Chuck,

Thank you so much for taking your time out for this Q/A.

I don't mean to be rude with this question but I hope you do get a chance to answer this.

1. Would you share any light on what happened with the 50D release? and High ISO noise levels compared to 40D? There has been much discussion and evidence showing that the 50D is worse.

Canon has directly stated a 1.5 stop noise advantage over 40D.....This is hardly true...

I myself am a proud 40D and 50D owner, I too notice this difference, done many tests etc with it. Having spent so much money and blindly upgrading by Trusting Canon, I kind of do feel hurt a little. As Image Quality is the most important than ANY OTHER FEATURE.

No doubt, I still support Canon fully and have invested so much money but knowing this trust I was hoping for better support and trust back from canon.

Again thanks and sorry if this comes across the wrong way....

Jay
Jay at 10:49pm on Monday, November 03, 2008
3. Hi, Jay:

Thanks for your message. I agree with you that the improvement of image quality is a top priority for any new EOS Digital SLR. My statement of an approximate 1 to 1.5 stop improvement in noise levels for EOS 50D vs. 40D was made on the basis of the default settings for image quality with both cameras, in other words Large/Fine JPEGs. As I stated in my answer to question 70 above:

"At default camera settings for in-camera JPEGs, and assuming equalized output sizes in order to gain the benefit of the EOS 50D’s increased resolution, there is approximately a 1 stop improvement in noise reduction for the 50D compared to the 40D. Run the comparisons and see for yourself. For RAW images, the difference in image quality between the two cameras is almost entirely dependent on the user’s choice of processing techniques."

Independent tests of the EOS 50D's image quality are starting to appear on many different web sites, including the Imaging Resource. Shawn Barnett says: "Judging from our test images, Canon has indeed managed to improve image quality while raising ISO and increasing resolution at the same time."

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E50D/E50DA.HTM

The same web page also displays a direct comparison of EOS 50D vs. EOS 40D set to Large/Fine JPEG at ISO 3200, with 100% pixel magnification crops, as well as a comparison of each of the 50D's High ISO noise reduction settings when used at ISO 3200. Both of these comparisons do a good job of showing users real-world examples of the image quality from the EOS 50D, at least to the extent that's it's possible to do so on the Web. The 50D vs. 40D comparison in particular shows that both the accuracy of color reproduction and the level of detail are similar for bothe cameras, while noise is noticeably reduced with the 50D. The only area where the comparison falls short is that it does not equalize the output size to realize the benefits of the 50D's increased resolution. However, printing the files to an equal size would accomplish that objective and make the comparison as fair as possible.

To summarize, the EOS 50D's improvement in image quality compared to the EOS 40D at ISO 3200 is clear and demonstrable at each camera's default settings for in-camera JPEGs when output size is equalized. That was the basis of my original statement when the 50D was announced, and I believe the results speak for themselves.

Best Regards,

Chuck Westfall
Technical Advisor/Professional Products Marketing Division
Consumer Imaging Group/Canon U.S.A., Inc.