Love it!
Written: Sep 26 '04
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Pros: Outstanding controls and picture quality. 8.2 megapixels. Extremely fast and nearly instant on.
Cons: No CF flash card included. Heavy with bigger lenses. No .TIF file mode.
The Bottom Line: If you can afford it and a good lens, it is an incredible value for a professionally featured camera that is easy to use.
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| mldavis2's Full Review: Canon EOS-20D Body only Digital Camera |
I began my semi-serious photography hobby back in 1969 with a new Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR, confined by finances to black & white darkroom work, and color slides. My interest in photography waned during the child rearing years due to job and time constraints. When the new digital cameras came out, I purchased a Canon S40 to play around with and my photography hobby was re-born. I could print 4x6's at home after tweaking in Photoshop. I drooled over the digital SLRs but resisted due to the high cost of the pro models that had the performance I thought necessary to move me from the 4 megapixel S40 up to the SLR I really wanted. I resisted the Canon 10D, but the 20D got me!
I'm not sure I can be totally objective in a review of this camera which I purchased on a pre-order from Ritz Camera. An SLR (and I'm assuming anyone reading this review will be conversant with generally accepted camera terminology...if not, you're in the wrong category here) is second nature to me, and the Canon S40 gave me some of the best color balanced (AWB) pictures compared to other manufacturers, so either the 10D or 20D was inevitable. I use a Nikon D1X at work, but I didn't own any Canon or Nikon lenses, so either brand would work from that standpoint since lenses would have to be purchased new in either case. In short, I chose Canon because of my positive experience with the S40 and several extremely positive pre-reviews from trusted independent reviewers, and because, although not cheap, the 20D seemed to be an outstanding bargain for it's set of features.
Canon has done an outstanding job of using the CMOS sensors where nearly everyone else is using some form of CCD sensors. Canon makes their own sensors, although Nikon seems to be moving to cameras with CMOS purchased from Sony, so Canon may be on to something. These cameras are far too complex to be adequately reviewed feature for feature, so here are some of my highly edited impressions based solely on my own photographic needs and experiences.
The 20D is heavy, not the boat anchor that the huge professional digital cameras are, but heavy none the less at 685 grams (24 oz.) without lens. That is both good and bad. Good because it is a magnesium body not plastic, bad because you hang a heavy lens on the front and it isn't your comfortable pocket camera anymore. It is described as a digital, single lens reflex, auto-focus, auto-exposure camera with built in flash. 8.2 megapixels gives you a lot of image to work with and is adequate for 11x14 prints or larger with some care. This also generates some very large files in the 30 megabyte range even on JPEG settings unless you reduce the image size in the settings.
The 20D has essentially all the features you can find on any upper level digital camera. On pocket cameras, most functions are accessed on the LCD screen by paging through menus. The 20D, on the other hand, has all the functions I use right outside where you can change them in an instant. This is accomplished by having dual function buttons and three function dials. I can instantly set ISO, shutter speed, aperture, AWB, metering mode, drive mode, auto focus mode, and exposure compensation simply by looking at the little icons by the buttons and picking the right dial. It is much easier that it sounds. You don't need a manual to use the camera the first time out, and I haven't had to access the back LCD panel for menus since I set the camera up the first time to my preferences. All your shooting information is displayed either in the top LCD and/or the viewfinder, thus saving the power consumption of the color LCD for menu changes.
The viewfinder is bright and clear with the usual information across the bottom. Auto focus is performed using a contrast differential method, not an IR beam. It can be set to read either individual points within the image area, or to a single point of your choice. AF is very quick and works in amazingly dim light. I was only able to confuse it by trying to focus on a totally blank wall where there was a lot of light and no contrasting information, not a likely subject in real life. But you can always focus manually and the viewfinder is plenty good for doing that. It can also be set to an AI mode that will "track" an object moving toward or away, calculate position bases on speed and distance and provide that information to the computer to pre-focus the shot when the shutter is pressed. Good for action sports and fast moving kids.
Exposure modes will give you a center 9% area, a center weighted full screen average, or an "evaluated" full screen average. I found I liked the 9% center setting most of the time. Automatic white balance is excellent but you can set any color you need including a custom balance function.
FAST! The 20D virtually eliminates any complaints of digital lag. The camera seems to be always on, even when off since the LED will flash when a CF card is inserted. In the "on" position, sleep mode is awakened with a partial shutter button press in 0.2 seconds. AF is lightening quick and the picture can be made in easily less than one second from a "sleep" condition unless you have just switched lenses or gone from one extreme focus distance to the opposite.
I purchased my camera as a body only and added the new 17-85mm EF-S IS USM zoom lens. This is an autofocus (EF) in the new short backglass configuration (S) with image stabilization (IS) which uses the ultrasonic motor (USM). The image stabilization is being found on a few other cameras. This IS is built into the lens, not the 20D body so is not available unless you have an IS lens. It uses internal gyroscopes to stabilize the image to improve sharpness with slow shutter speeds. With IS turned on, you can see the image "tug" at the center of the viewfinder as you move away from it. You can turn it on or off to save a little battery power. I found this lens to be an excellent all around lens going from about 0.5X to 2.6X magnification. It is available in a "kit" with the camera body as an option. It's sharpness is excellent and I can only see some very slight chromatic abberation at the extreme edges at 17mm with the lens wide open. Highly recommended if you don't have other Canon lenses to use.
The CMOS sensor is far more power efficient than the CCD's. Canon claims up to 1000 shots with the factory fresh battery, 700 with 50% flash use at 68 degrees C. The flash is a pop up that now stands well above the lens to help eliminate red eye. It can be used as needed, as wanted, or not at all. There is a potentially annoying preflash that fires to help with the auto focus in low light, which you can turn off of course.
ISO speeds go from 100 to 3200. I have never seen any camera that so effectively utilizes all of it's ISO range as this one. 1600 and even 3200 are completely usable speeds with amazingly little digital noise. Using 3200 ISO, 50mm focal length with the IS lens, you can shoot with some unbelievably low light conditions and obtain very fine results! Canon seems to have found the full measure of their CMOS sensors in this camera! You can find some amazing examples of low light photos by doing a web search for 20D 1600.
You can lock an exposure setting for the next shot or for any number of next shots with a single button -- handy for shooting panoramas. You can choose between sRGB and Adobe colorspace. You can bracket AWB and exposure. It will fire at 5 fps for action work. It does not come with a CF card but you will probably want to purchase one of the new faster cards (60-80X) to compliment this very fast camera. I have two SanDisk 512 meg Ultra II cards.
Storage is limited to either JPEG, RAW or a combination of the two, no TIF. I have found that the large JPEG setting is almost lossless so perhaps that isn't much of an issue.
A previous review complained of the software. I received an EOS Viewer Utility, EOS Capture, and PhotoStitch. I probably won't use any of the software since I do any RAW mode work in Adobe Photoshop CS, use the Photoshop browser or Ifranview for viewing, and do my stitching by hand in Photoshop, which I find to be easier than using 3rd party software. I use a PC and it all works as advertised under WindowsXP, including camera to computer transfers, although I use a card reader for that.
Bottom line is that this is a camera that will do virtually everything the $7,000 pro cameras will do, or very nearly, at a fraction of that price. Be advised that it uses a smaller sensor than a full 35mm negative, so full size negative lenses will fit and work but will give effectively 1.6 times as large an image as they do on the 35mm body (called a crop factor). Your old Canon 50mm lens will become an 80mm portrait lens on this camera. It has all the usual digital "situation" settings such as portrait, outdoors, etc. as well as full manual and, yes, fully automatic for the kids to take a shot of mom and dad.
I can't find much to complain about. There have been some reports of a "lock up" problem on some of the photography forums in which the camera seems to lock up and not shoot after either a prolonged sleep time, or after a lens change. They are still trying to get a handle on that and are unable to reproduce the problem to troubleshoot it. It seems to be always overcome by removing the battery and effectively rebooting the camera's computer, but it could be annoying if you use the camera for a living. The diagnosis may be prolonged since none of the users are willing to return their cameras to Canon for analysis! My camera has survived 1,000 shots with total competence, so it may have been an early batch.
If you can afford the camera and a good lens, go to your local shop and ask to see this one. Outstanding!!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2100
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
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Epinions.com ID:
mldavis2
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Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 2 members
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