Although incredibly sharp , the files produced by my 1D seem to show more noise and banding than I expected . Maybe this is the way it works ? The correctly exposed areas are just fine but the underexposed ones show banding on every pic . Even at ISO200 .

Addendum : After running the files through NeatImage before editing and applying less contrast ( only curves and USM ) , the final image is much cleaner .

Second thought : As the worst noise and banding occured in underexposed areas , I did some search .... Scroll to the bottom , please.

Warning : large files ( up to 600Kb )

ISO Settings

Original files converted to Jpeg

100% crop

After Neat Image

ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600

Thanks to the help of nice people on dpreview , I got a better idea about the problem . I started to do the light metering on the darkest areas . As a 10D user , I thought this would blow out the highlight areas . Well , actually not at all ! The dynamic range of the 1D is incredible and , now , I get the smoothness of the 10D and the sharpness of the 1D . Still need to find out how this will work in extreme contrast conditions ( concert , theatre ... ). Stay tuned , I will update asap .

ISO 200
ISO 800

ISO 3200 ( f1.8 / f2 )
NeatImage applied