The end of history and the last camera

I like to take pictures of old things, disappearing things, and things at night. If I come across an old, disappearing thing at night, even better. Problem is, I don't like tripods and I don't like flashes, which makes night photography a real challenge. I use the most light sensitive lenses I can afford and the most light sensitive digital cameras available. I've been pretty happy with the lenses, but the cameras stalled at ISO 3200 (a measure of light sensitivity) and stayed there for years. Finally, Nikon broke the barrier and Canon soon followed.
The other night, I got to try out the new Canon 50D, which sports not only 6400 ISO, but 12,800 ISO as well. I only had time to try it out in my suburban neighborhood, but I did get to try it at night, and with today's economy, the suburbs themselves (as we know them) could possibly be a disappearing thing, so I was reasonably happy.
The light sensitivity seems to be excellent, but it's noisy at the extreme end. Still, the first half hour of use was encouraging, but a dark cul-de-sac on a cloudy night isn't much of a proving ground. It will take some weeks or months to learn what this new machine can really do. The camera has other new features that I don't care much about, I know Canon makes a good dSLR - all I care about is light and noise. I like to joke that every camera I buy will be my last, but that time seems to be getting closer with the 50D.

Canon EOS 50D & EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens