K-5 Vs Canon 5D Vs 5D2 Vs 7D Dynamic Range Test and Measurement

Came across this earlier DR test of K-5 which also compares the DR of a 5D, 5D2 and 7D:-

http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/noisedr/

(Spanish, Google-translated English Page Here)

via http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=37056118

So, in short we have:-



And the dynamic range summary, by setting a 12 dB signal-to-noise ratio as the threshold limit:-



As we can see from the above, at the lowest ISO, K-5 has about 2EV more DR than the others. Do note that the advantage for the "dark" side only, but not for the highlights. That means that K-5 is able to keep about the same shadow noise level and maintain the SNR at -2 EVs more. Moreover, this advantage diminishes as ISO goes up, just say at ISO 1600, the 5D2 has 1 extra stop of DR than the K-5.