Ricardo, one of You Should Be Dancing's instructors, and Alexandra, one of You Should Be Dancing's desk people, graciously volunteered to improvise for me in the Latin Room under party lighting conditions. Set at ISO 6400, the Canon EOS 1D Mark III achieves decent photos under reference lighting conditions at 1/125th of a second shutter speed and the aperture set to 2.2. This is a gain of a little more than a half of a stop over the Canon 30D (See a test of the Canon 30D at Club 412). Given that the Canon 40D is reported to have one stop better performance compared to the 30D in terms of graininess, one can infer that the Canon EOS 1D Mark III and the Canon 40D should have similar low light, non flash performance for dance photography. The Canon EOS 1D Mark III is bigger and heavier than the 40D. It also costs about $4500 for the body alone, compared to about $1300 for the 40D. Based on my field tests to date, there are reasons to prefer the Mark III, such as much larger file sizes (about 12 MB), but not in terms of low light performance by itself. Pending actually testing the 40D, it appears that the 40D's newer technology matches the Mark III's ability to go to ISO 6400.

Please note that these photos are primarily intended as an exposure test.

See another test of the Mark III at Taj.

The next camera I am trying to test is the Nikon D3. This camera goes to ISO 25,600, but results, especially at high ISOs, are not exactly comparable from one camera family to another, so while theoretically the D3 should be able to perform in conditions that are two stops dimmer, I won't know for sure until I test it.

I rented the Canon EOS 1D Mark III from Fotocare along with a 24mm 1.4 lens. They had the camera ready to go with charged batteries, extra memory cards, and all of the helpful advice I could ask for. If you are a professional photographer or an advanced amateur, you can't go wrong with Fotocare for a wide range of your photographic needs.

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 3.2, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 2.8, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 2.5, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 2.2, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 2.0, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 1.8, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 1.6, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Test of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in the Club 412 Latin Room Camera: ISO 6400, 1/125, 1.4, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams

Swing 'n Salsa Party - Latin Room - Canon 30D Camera: ISO 3200, 1/125, 1.4, Brightness adjusted using Curves in Photoshop Photo © & courtesy of Robert Abrams