450d vs. 300d: high iso long exposure

Here's an interesting noise comparison between the Canon 450D/Rebel XSi (my new camera) and the Canon 300D/Rebel (my old camera):

ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmod450d11.html

While ISO 1600 for five minutes is not something I would ever expect to do outside of astrophotography, it is an interesting torture test. For instance, I've never seen the amp glow seen in the 300D full frame shot, not even in this ISO 200, 5½-minute exposure where the only lights were over 150 meters away:

Canon Digital Rebel
EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS
ISO 200, f/5.6, 329 sec.

Anyway, the comparison clearly shows the 450D has less noise than the 300D, even at greatly reduced web sizes, despite packing almost twice as many pixels in a slightly smaller sensor.

With all the head-to-head tests hitting the Web, I probably will not run noise tests when I get my own 450D. It would be impossible to do a controlled comparison with my 300D anyway, since it's already dead.

I will test the focus accuracy of my lenses though. The EF 50mm f/1.4 is quite dodgy wide open, and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS could stand a bit of tightening up as well. Hopefully, the new AF system will fix those - or at least the 50mm f/1.4.