Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Noise Reduction (6.54)

With noise reduction turned off, the noise levels were a bit on the high side, hitting just over 2% at ISO 3200, though this is brought down to 1% if you crank the noise reduction all the way up. If any level of noise reduction is used, the noise is kept below 1% up to ISO 800, which is respectable.

We look at the different levels of noise between red, green, blue and luma (gray). Usually, these are very tightly grouped together; the T1i is unusual in having lower yellow and green noise levels than other types. More on how we test noise.

The noise levels on the Rebel T1i were a little higher than most cameras. It wasn’t very bad, but obviously squeezing 15-megapixels into the sensor have raised the noise levels a bit, putting it a touch worse than the Rebel XS and Nikon D90, but slightly better than the Pentax K2000. Turning on noise reduction mitigated this problem a little, but at the cost of losing a bit of image sharpness.

The noise test involves shooting the X-Rite ColorChecker chart at every available ISO that isn’t part of the ‘extended range’. From these images we calculate the amount of noise at each level of noise reduction using Imatest software.

The noise levels on the T1i ran a little higher than most others with the noise reduction turned off, especially above ISO 1600, where it ran above all the comparison cameras. Below 1600, that honor went to the Pentax K2000’s, with the T1i in second.

Once the noise reduction filter was set to its highest level, the T1i effectively reduced its noise levels to the point where it was lower than most other cameras. However, our scoring is based on overall performance, resulting in a ranking slightly below the competition.

ISO Options

The official ISO range on the Rebel T1i runs from 100 to 3200, but has an extended range that reaches up to ISO 12,800.

ISO Comparisons
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO Low
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 200	ISO 100
ISO 100	ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 200	ISO 100
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 200
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 400
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 800
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 1600
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 3200
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 6400
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000
ISO 12800
Canon EOS Rebel T1i	Canon EOS Rebel XS	Nikon D5000	Nikon D90	Pentax K2000

NOTE: The images above are not used in our testing or scoring, but are included here to show real-world examples of the differences between cameras at the various ISO settings.