Dark Noise Comparison of Digital SLR Cameras

This is a summary of all dark noise tests that I have performed on different DSLS cameras. Raw histograms of dark frames shot at 1/100s with all possible ISO settings were created for each camera and processed using draw and my rawhistogram program. Here is a list of likns to the individual tests.

The raw histogram creator program, some examples and discussion.
Canon EOS 1D Mark III test.
Canon EOS 5D test.
Canon EOS 5D MarkII test.
Canon EOS 7D test.
Canon EOS 40D test.
Canon EOS 30D test.
Canon EOS 400D (EOS Digital Rebel XTi) test.
Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 test.
Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 test.
Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D test.
Olympus E-510 test.

The graph below represents the signal/noise ratio as a function of ISO speed. If you prefer dB units to "counts" move your mouse over the image. Since this is a ratio of maximum signal to dark noise it essentially represents the dynamic range of each camera. Keep in mind that there are other sources of noise in addition to the dark noise measured here. A Google query should give you some quite good introductory information.

See the individual camera test pages for the details of the tests and the method in which the above graphs were created.