In less than a year, I found myself buying my 3rd DSLR. I started off with the Digital Rebel early this year. Whilst I still think that it is a good camera, I find it a tad slow for my purpose, which is photographing birds in the wild. After missing many shots due to its slow continuous shooting speed and low buffer, I upgraded to a 10D.

Again, don't get me wrong, the 10D is also a fabulous camera for most purposes. Except for the 2s start up time, I really have very little to complain about the 10D. I managed to get most of the shots with its faster continuous shooting speed and 9 frames buffer.

However, after reading all the reviews on the 20D, the thing that struck me the most was the supposed low noise pictures even at high ISO. So I went ahead and bought one to see what the big hoohah's about.

After using the 20D for about a month and some 2,500 shots later, I only have one word to describe this camera: INCREDIBLE!

It is really fast, from start up to shooting continuously. You should really get a big CF card for this baby, 2GB at least. This is especially so if you, like me, like to shoot in continuous mode. Once, I found my freshly formatted 1 GB card full only after about 15 mins of shooting!

The 20D is a wildlife photographer's dream camera for the following reasons:

1. 8MP sensor. This allows more room for cropping your final images.

2. 1.6x focal length multiplier. This gives you more reach. Using my 400mm lens, I get an effective focal length of 640mm, 35mm equivalent.

3. Incredibly low noise pictures. On the 10D, I usually don't shoot above ISO 400 as I find the noise level above that intolerable. With the 20D, I regularly shoot at ISO 800 and 1600 and still get very clean pictures.

4. 5fps continuous shooting up to 23 shots. This ensures that that fleeting moment or "perfect" pose of your subject can be captured.

5. Lighting fast AF. The AF on this baby is noticeably faster than that on the 10D on all lenses I have tried so far.

6. Better low light AF. I also noticed that the AF could get locked a lot easier in low light compared to the 10D.

7. Faster writing speed (to CF) compared to the 10D. This means you will hardly miss any shots as you will not need to wait around for the camera to be ready for the next shot.

8. Much better placed built-in flash. The flash is position a lot higher compared with the 10D. I have hardly any need to use my external 550EX flash for fill in. Most shots taken with the built-in flash are spot on. This is probably because of the new E-TTLII system in the camera.

9. Incredible battery life. I shot 2,300 pictures on one full charge of the 511A battery that came with the camera! That's right, it's not a typo. And I wasn't even paying attention to battery conservation tricks such as switching off preview etc.

True, as everyone else has mentioned, the shutter sounds loud. I thought it was really loud at the beginning but it really doesn't bother me anymore. Trust me, it is very easy to get used to the sound. Although it is louder than the other DSLRs, it is certainly not unbearably loud. Hey, if my wild subjects are ok with it, so am I!

You really have to be super picky to come out with cons for this baby. What others consider cons, I find inconsequential. Basically the pros of this camera way out weigh all the cons.

Did I mention I am really happy with the 20D?;)

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1,500
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional