Higher Speed and Less Noise?

[Mark Muntean]

Is the new Canon 1D Mk II the utimate "low grain" / high speed DSLR?

Does the Canon 1D Mk II at ISO 800 actually generate a cleaner image (less digital noise) than the Canon 1Ds at ISO 100?!?

I use a 1Ds for equestrian events (examples at www.mm-photography.com).  While high shutter speeds are important for the action, I find the quality of the image from the 1Ds falls off above ISO 400 due to increasing the digital noise.  I am always facing the difficult trade off of stopping motion versus generating digital noise, particularly in dimmer lighting.

The recent review on this site of the new 1D Mk II includes DXO measurements that report the signal to noise ratios for the 1Ds, 10D, and the 1D Mk II at various ISO settings.  Reading these numbers suggests that the images from the 1D Mk II at ISO 800 are actually "cleaner" than those from the 1Ds at ISO 100.

Has anyone seen sample files from both the 1Ds and 1D Mk II and can qualitatively confirm this data?  Does apparent image quality track the reported DXO test data in practice?  I must say I am very hopeful, but also skeptical - this would be wonderful if true.

I have both a 1Ds and a 10D, and my experience with these is consistent with the DXO data in the review - the 10D does seem to produce cleaner images at higher ISO settings, and the 1Ds image quality falls off noticably above ISO 400.
Mark Muntean Photography Web Site