I’ve just finished writing up my review of Canon’s latest innovation – the EOS 7D – and thought I’d share a few examples of the sort of image this camera produces at high ISOs.

Obviously, with Nikon stealing the show in this aspect up until now, the 7D has its work cut out if it’s going to compete. The good news is, Canon’s done a great job at keeping noise to a minimum, despite the megapixel hike, and I was impressed at just how clean the images I took at high ISOs (as well as nocturnal long-exposures) turned out to be.

Images taken at ISO 100-400 are clean as a whistle, with noise starting to appear from here upwards, but nothing obtrusive. Photos taken at up to ISO 6400 are perfectly usable (and ISO 3200 at a push). At top whack (equivalent to ISO 12,800) there is a lot of noise, but you can still make a usable shot if you really need to. The noise that is present aroudn the mid-upper sensitivity range is film-grain like, and can be used to creative effect, particularly if you like to convert to B&W.

Can it compete with its biggest rival, the Nikon D300S? You’ll have to check out our Head to Head review in issue 92 (on sale 28th January) to find out!

In the meantime, here are a few examples of the 7D’s low-noise capabilities: