Canon T1i vs. Nikon D5000 at high ISO

[Chris7]

According to the charts and sample images of the RAW photos of these two cameras (before noise reduction), it appears that the Nikon D5000 has a full 1 stop advantage at high ISO over the Canon T1i (e.g. the D5000 at ISO 3200 looks similar to ISO 1600 of the T1i.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos500d/page15.asp

Surely I'm missing something?

Thanks.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Why would you be missing something? The D5000 has a larger sensor and fewer pixels. Without normalization, you could very well see a whole stop of difference between them. It would be mitigated in practical purposes, though, since the extra resolution of the T1i would compensate for signal loss at higher sensitivities (resulting in extra detail in a printed image).

By the way, the D5000 uses the same sensor as the Pentax K-x. The latter has been crowned the king of dynamic range in its class, for what that info is worth.

 

[Chris7]

Thanks,
Chris