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Canon EOS 20D

Quote-start

The best semi pro digital SLR

Quote-end

5 Apr 12th, 2005  (Apr 13th, 2005)

18 Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful

Advantages:
Excellent build quality, fantastic photos

Disadvantages:
none to write about

Recommendable Yes:

Detailed rating:

Picture Quality

Range & Quality of Features

Ease of Use

Durability

Value for Money

pefidler

pefidler

About me:

Is the review listing fixed? Wow, only a week to insert a 'ORDER BY Date' in the SQL code!

Member since:11.07.2000

Reviews:70

Members who trust:31

Having been an owner of the Canon 10D for over a year, common sense was thrown out of the window... I sold the 10D and bought the 20D and haven't looked back!

Firstly, price: in Sept of 2004, I bought this from Jessops for £1000 (Body only). Even now, that's still a good price!

When you first take the 20D out of it's box, the first thing you notice is the feel of it. It feels chunky but also feels well built, unlike the 300/ 350D, it's cheaper cousins. The semi metal body and the rubberiused grip feel great, and it's obvious canon have spent time placing all the buttons in the right place. Everything falls to hand, and you don't have to take your eye away from the camera to know what you are doing!

Speaking of which, the view finder. I have used cameras with brighter view finders, but, to be honest, it doesn't really matter as the auto focusing is great anyway (more of that later), and you can instantly view the pictures on the screen anyway! There is plenty of information displayed in there, and changes to the exposure are reflected instantly.

Now, many people write reviews about the AF function of a camera having just used either one lens or one manufacturer. I have used this camera with both Canon and Sigma lenses, from both prime and zoom lenses, and all have been fantastic at focusing. There are several focusing modes available, both servo and normal, and you are also able to select with focusing zone you wish the camera to focus on using the small joystick at the back of the camera! Focusing is quick, and is by far the most accurate of any camera I have used.

Exposure: Now, it's possibly how I have my camera set up, but I normally bracket a little when taking photo's. This is very simple if you have the camera set to P mode (the only mode bar manual I ever shoot in). This allows you, using the big wheel at the back of the camera to under or over expose with one movement of the thumb! How much you under / over expose is reflected in the view finder again, a feature I couldn't live without. There is also an exposure lock button just behind the body which allows you to do just that.

Flash: The flash is slightly different from the 10D in the fact that when retracted, it seems a longer way from the lens than before. This is perfect at reducing red eye, although there is a setting for this anyway (below). The exposure seems to be spot on with the flash, although I do prefer the more naturally lit shot.

Drive: Again, the speed and quality of the drive of the camera is fantastic. It can shoot at 3 frames a second, which is no mean feat. However, it can do this for up to 35 shots before it's ability to write to the memory card starts to slow down! The quality of the internals seems a little quieter than the 10D.

Custom functions: As with the 10D, there are a multitude of custom functions available to the user, so of which I use (such as the leading or trailing edge shutter flash fire one). You canb sit here for hours playing although most of mine are untouched.

Pictures: I only take in JPG mode, so you will have to excuse me for not writing about the quality of the TIFF images. However, the reason for this is that I haven't seen the need to publish in anything greater than JPG... My phyotos have been enlarged all the way up to A2 size, which for an 8 mega pixel camera is incredible. In photoshop, there are no JPG artifacts. You see the pixels and nothing else, even with challenging shots.

I am pretty sure there are many things I have missed off this review, but that is due to how well this camera works. You never seem to notice things when they work, it's only when they don't work that you notice them! However, you won't be disappointed with this camera. I won't be upgradining when the new one comes out: I don't need to!

 
Pictures of Canon EOS 20D
Canon EOS 20D Picture 678713 tb
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Comments about this review »

qwerty30 12.10.2007 21:04

This is a great review. How anyone could rate it just helpful is beyond me. I use the cheaper cousin you mentioned and find it to be pretty good for my needs, if this is better, then it must be excellent!

Craigshadow12 26.07.2007 16:25

Great review as allways :D, Craig ♥

Newboy3 04.07.2007 10:51

Wonderfully helpful. I'm presently looking at digital SLRs. The information given here has been very useful ~ Tony

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