This Canon is sure to fire
Written: May 24 '05 (Updated May 26 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
| Photo Quality: |
 |
|
| Shutter Lag |
|
|
|
Pros: Everything else
Cons: "cost", bulkiness, software, LCD size, ISO noise, viewfinder cover, loudness of shutter, ADEP mode
The Bottom Line: Buy it it's worth it.
|
|
|
| time4play's Full Review: Canon EOS-20D Body only Digital Camera |
Ok so I only had this camera for a couple of days as of the date of this review. This is my first dSLR but my second Canon SLR camera. I looked at the Rebel XT and the Nikon D70 cameras before even considering purchasing this camera. I loved the versatility of both camera's but I was leaning towards Canon since I had lenses from my first Canon camera that would save me $$. However the store salesman told me about the EOS 20D and I've also read rave reviews about it in magazines. After trying it out and doing more research on it I decided it was probably worth putting in a couple hundred dollars more into getting a "better" camera. When I received the camera I got it with a 18-125 mm Quantary lense. Well then let's go over what I thought about the camera.
Layout:
The layout of the camera is superb. It is easy to access many of the camera's functions with the dials which are excellently placed where the right thumb and forefinger can easily access to. These dials control the cameras shutter speeds and aperture settings (in the creative zone) as well as other things. The Mode dial has two major settings: the basic zone and the creative zone.
Camera info:
This camera is a single lense reflex (SLR) 8.2 effective megapixel digital SLR (dSLR). It can record JPEG/RAW images on a Compact Flash (CF) card and I recommend getting a fast data transfer CF card with at least 1 GB storage capacity. The camera has 9 White Balance (WB) settings but I will not list any of them, 9 Auto Focus (AF) points in which you can select which point you want the camera to focus on (1->9), 1/8000-30 sec shutter speeds, 100-1600 ISO speeds, capable of handling 1-91 aperture settings, 5 frames per sec drive mode (as well as single and self-timer), and a whole *%#!load of other features. As mentioned before the camera has two basic settings: basic and creative.
The basic zone has full automatic, portrait, landscape, night, etc up to 7 modes. The creative zone allows you to either adjust the exposure, shutter speeds (shutter priority), aperture settings (aperture priority), depth of field, and of course full manual control of the camera. Overall I can say that this camera is easy to use yet allows the photographer full control of the camera. In other words this camera is good for amateurs and professionals.
The manual that comes with it can be rather intimidating, but as the manual suggests, you should try step by step play with the camera until you feel comfortable and that it's features are like second hand.
Field analysis:
Ok let's go with how it looks being tested out in the real world. Although I didn't have much time testing it out since I only had the camera a day here is what I did.
First I took pictures in full automatic mode of objects that I took with my film based Canon SLR Rebel. I used the pictures from the Rebel as the base. When I compared the two they were nearly identical in quality, but the contrast and vividness of the EOS 20D outshined the Rebel. Also the 20D was a bit crisper in the picture.
The second mode I used was the portrait mode. I took a picture of my g/f and compared that to a pic from my Rebel. The color was warm but the picture seemed a little soft. I tried setting the zoom mode to auto to see if that would help but it didn't help too much. I hear from others that they experience the same thing so I'm guessing the camera may be a little shaky in this area.
The 3rd mode was night portrait. Again I compared my pic of g/f with the one taken by Rebel. I tried setting the different ISO speeds but going beyond 400 seems downright rude to the subject. The pictures beyond 400 seemed grainy and lots of noise was present. However night portraits with a reasonable ISO was pretty good. I am impressed.
The last mode I tried was full manual exposure. Although I tinkered around with the Av, Tv, and ADEP modes I didn't really take pics to examine. In the full manual mode I tried all different settings my camera would allow to change aperture, shutter, and exposure settings. I did not have any pictures I could compare them to since the pictures I took with the Rebel did not have any information about the settings I took with them. So I started fresh and when I took some pictures I said wow. Many of the pictures taken were breathtaking, not the subject itself, but the actual picture taken.
Everything else:
1) Battery life: Lasts for hours and can take lots of pics if you don't use flash. One major reason for the long battery life is that the LCD screen isn't used to take pictures just to review so the juice is there.
2) Flexibility/Upgradeability: This thing is a monster at being able to add on seperate components. You can add remote switches, external flash, hook it up to your tv/pc, lenses of course, and a beavy of other things.
3) Durability: Although this thing is bulky it does feel like it can go through a twister without getting a scratch on it. The Rebel XT seems like cheap plastic compared to this.
4) Ease of use: As mentioned before this thing is easy to use and all of the buttons (except the depth of field preview button) are well placed. It shouldn't be a problem for people who use different manufacturer's SLR cameras.
5) Looks: well what can I say it looks like a camera.
6)
I am not going to rave on how good this camera is, but I will tell you that it is damn good. However let me tell you what I DON'T like about this camera.
1) software
I haven't really tested out the software bundle, but from what I tried already all I can say initially is that it is soft. There is a lot of features missing that could have been added and the versatility of it is annoying. More information will be provided once I test the software some more.
2) cost
Well I can't really say this is too negatively since it is priced reasonably but perhaps a tad too expensive.
3) bulkiness
This ain't the biggest camera out there but it does weigh down on you if you have it around your neck for a long period of time
4) LCD size
This is probably one of my major complaint about this camera. I have a point and shoot camera that is 2-3x smaller (length/height wise) than the EOS 20D yet it has a LCD that is bigger than the Canon's. Granted that the LCD should not be the determining factor when taking a picture but a larger LCD would have been nice.
5) ISO noise
Another major complaint about this camera. Having an ISO level of around 100-200 is good, but going beyond that your pictures may look too grainy which is normal in every camera but it seems to be more prominant here
6) loudness of shutter
the shutter is pretty loud and if I wanna take pictures of wildlife some may shy away from the sound.
7) viewfinder protective cover
what the heck is Canon thinking here? You have to remove the viewfinder hood in order to put the cover on. I would rather have it fit nicely into the viewfinder for protective reasons and self-timing pictures without having to remove the hood.
8) ADEP mode (not really a dislike rather I probably don't know what i'm doing wrong)
Ok I will try to explain this one. This mode (creative zone) allows you to take pictures of subjects who are not in the same focal plane from each other. For example if you have three people who are of different distances of each other but you want a picture of all three of them and you want them to be in focus then this is the mode you use. However it is automatic therefore there is limited control on what points you can focus and I am having a hard time doing this. Anyone have any pointers?
Conclusion:
Overall I have to say this camera is probably one of the best Canon has put out to date and one of the best in the market at this price. The pictures are clear and vivid, the layout is great, and other features on this camera make this a well rounded camera.
Kudos to Canon.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1200
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
time4play
|
|
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.