Canon EOS 40D

catza.net photos: Canon EOS 40D

Canon EOS 40D was my primary camera body from October 2007 to October 2009. It was a very good camera for my use. Changing from Canon 20D to 40D was partially an accident. I had a friend who needed a camera body at the same time when I was thinking whether to go with 20D for a year or so or to start looking for an upgrade. When the possiblity opened I decided to sell the 20D and then needed a replacement. The most logical choice was to get the new 40D that had just hit the market.

Canon 40D has an image quality and operation logic close to 20D. The minimal difference between 20D and 40D in image quality suggest that the development of DSLR bodies have been getting slower and the improvements have been getting smaller. If this goes on the body makers will have to focus even more on the marketing hype since the rational reasons for a body upgrade are getting smaller and smaller.

The larger LCD and a quieter operational sound are the first noticable changes from 20D. Some features has been added like in-camera JPEG high ISO noise reduction and the Live View function. The autofocus seems to get better hits at low light.

As far I as I can say Canon 40D is a very good camera body for advanced hobbyists. The main point worth mentioning here is the responsiviness: what ever you do the camera is almost as fast as you are. No need to wait for anything like it was with Canon 300D. But don't expect the image quality get radically better when you change your 20D, 30D, 350D or 400D to 40D. The improvements on the area of image quality are likely to be marginal.