Canon 40D - First Impressions

[cedmondson]

My new 40D arrived today & I'm just back from my first outing with it. I'll post an image or two once I've figured out what I need to do with these 14 bit RAWs

First impressions though - it's light years ahead of the 300D it replaces.
It's solid & chunky. not much wider or deeper than the 300D but a bit taller. The LCD screen is lovely - far more useable than the old dinky 1.8inch one.
Everything is so much faster; it switches on instantaneously, focuses very quickly (esp. with my 24-105L) & the 6.5fps is incredible Many of the causes of missed shots in the past should be eradicated. Interesting that I can now see a much bigger difference in focusing speed between different lenses than I was previously aware of. My Sigma 70-300APO now seems slower than the others but it doesn't hunt as much as it did with the 300D.
The shutter sounds quieter and somehow smoother (?) - difficult to describe really.

I expected the controls would take a lot of getting used to - there are a couple of things I need to spend more time with but even after an hour it was starting to feel quite natural to control most things.

I had a very quick play with Liveview. I guess this will be really handy for those landscape shots where the camera is on a tripod a few inches from the ground & it's just about impossible to get my eye near the viewfinder. Also quite neat that you can use it to see a histogram then drop back to reguar mode to take the shot.

I'll reserve judgement till I've seen the IQ - but if nothing else it's a pleasure to use.

[Tobers]

Good stuff. I was wondering which of us would be the first to get one. Interested in more thoughts as you use it more (though I still want that 1D!!).

[SweetGirl]

Lets have some photos please

[Radiohead]

Originally Posted by SweetGirl

Lets have some photos please

What the lady said.

[stebbo2]

Mine will be here tommorow, expect impressions then

[technomong]

I've saved for ages, waiting for the 5D to come down in price, to be my first digital SLR. I wanted a full-frame, so I didn't have to get used to different focal lengths on my lenses

Anyway, just as I was about to bite the bullet, the 40D comes out. Still not full-frame, but it's bery hard to justify shelling out the extra for the 5 now

I think I'll be getting a 40D in the next couple of weeks

[Liquid101]

Originally Posted by technomong

I've saved for ages, waiting for the 5D to come down in price, to be my first digital SLR. I wanted a full-frame, so I didn't have to get used to different focal lengths on my lenses

Anyway, just as I was about to bite the bullet, the 40D comes out. Still not full-frame, but it's bery hard to justify shelling out the extra for the 5 now

I think I'll be getting a 40D in the next couple of weeks

Seems like a strange decision - if you wanted a full frame camera why be swayed by the 40D? what does it offer you that the 30D didn't that makes you change your mind?

[Radiohead]

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Seems like a strange decision - if you wanted a full frame camera why be swayed by the 40D? what does it offer you that the 30D didn't that makes you change your mind?

That's what I was just thinking.

[RobDickinson]

Especialy as the 5D isnt all that much more than a 40D now, refurbs are 800odd quid on ebay.

[allymac123]

...and you'll kick yourself for being impatient when the 5D mkII comes out...

[Tobers]

Get the 5D. Yummy.

[cedmondson]

First few images as requested:

Radiohead may recognise the location of this

...and one for Holowlegs

I seem to have picked up a reddish cast somewhere in PP. I'm unclear what effect the 'Picture Style' is having on these shots. I've left the setting on the camera as standard but assuming that a RAW should in any case be unaffected???
RAW conversion is via Canon DPP as Adobe doesn't yet support 14 bit files. As DPP seems very limited by comparison with Lightroom, I've made minimal adjustment before outputting a 16bit TIFF to Lightroom for further tweaking. More experimentation is needed.

[technomong]

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Seems like a strange decision - if you wanted a full frame camera why be swayed by the 40D? what does it offer you that the 30D didn't that makes you change your mind?

I know what you are saying (and subsequent posters - I don't know how to multi-quote on this forum..)

The point is that when the 5D mark II comes out, I'm back to not being able to afford it. And if I get the 5D now (still more expensive than the 40D) I have older technology: no sensor cleaning, lower fps, no liveview, smaller LCD screen. The IQ from the 40D is 'supposedly' comparable to the curent 5D, and I can get a 40D with a 17-85mm IS USM for a good whack less than the 5D, body only. I'll be buying in the US - 1600 dollars for the 40D kit versus 2300 for the 5D

In short the 40D seems such a good camera that ít's finally swayed me in the direction of the 1.6x magnification camera.

The 40D also has 10MP versus 8 in the 30D, so the gap there has narrowed

damn it, I'm still confused though!

[JohnG]

Thanks for the mini-review, it's good to hear that the autofocus doesn't hunt so much I've found on my 350D that it can hunt quite a bit on my Sigma 70-300 lens and even on my Canon IS 70-300 especially on certain kinds of wildlife - rooks, crows for example.
I'm thinking of a 40D for better autofocus and IQ for wildlife photos and flying birds etc, do you think it's worth it ?

[cedmondson]

@JohnG: It's my understanding based on what I've read that the 40D is a fair step forward in terms of AF. My brief trial yesterday was mostly about getting to know the new camera & as you'll see from my test shots, I didn't challenge the AF too much.
I'm happy with IQ so far but frustrated with Canon DPP - I'm not convinced I'm getting the best out it yet. I can see a clear improvement over the old 300D but I don't have other models to compare it against.

I'd be surprised if you didn't see very worthwhile improvements over a 350D though including (but not limited to) both AF & IQ.