Review of the Canon EOS 40D

Wednesday, 11th February 2009

For four lovely days last week I was a Canon user I had rented the Canon EOS 40D with a 24-70 mm 1:2.8 lens. I have to say that I expected to hate it. I expected to use it for an hour or less and then grab my Nikon for the rest of the weekend. That did not happen. I fell for this camera and I fell hard as I was putting it back in the case to return on Monday I was a little sad. On to the review:

1. Within five minutes of taking the camera out of the box have I taken a picture? I was able to do this without a problem. Figuring out the details of how to adjust the aperture or the ISO or the white balance required a quick glance over the manual but it was easy.
2. Camera weight and the scale of sturdiness – This camera was pretty heavy with the lens in a substantial way. Like my time with the D300 I liked the sturdiness that I felt while shooting with this camera.
3. Camera setting options – what does the camera have as far as features – The different settings with the icons were present on this model and I liked the option to play around with those presets. The 9 cross-type AF points, including center AF point was awesome – I didn’t realize how important this could be until I played around with the different auto focus points for about 45 minutes one night.

4. Continuous shoot speed – this was one fast camera and I had about 20 shots of my daughter mid-blink.

5. Shooting in low light test shots – I have to say this was one area that I felt the camera was a little weak – I really did not like the look of the shots I took with the flash on and in the low light situations even with a very high ISO I wasn’t getting the shots that I wanted. They were very grainy with a lot of noise. I would definitely want either a diffuser or an external flash if I were to buy this camera.

6. Thing I loved most – The way that the different settings are changed on this camera is really smart – it’s easy to adjust aperture and exposure without stopping what you’re doing and using both hands. I felt like I could really see the depth of field that I was getting with my shots in the viewfinder and that is an area my Nikon really struggles with.

7. Would this make a good first DSLR camera? I think it would. It’s easy enough to use and the auto mode delivers great photographs and it has the power, settings and functions to go with a photographer as skills are expanded. I do think an online class would help the user of this camera as there is a lot to learn.

Here are a handful of my favorite shots this weekend with the Canon EOS 40D

The auto white balance created really creamy skin tones.

This is our friend Bean and the camera loved this little girl.

The depth of field is great here – the cats were about 18 inches apart.

I played around with the focus points on these roses; this is one of about 50 shots.

This shot is a little grainy and speaks to why I felt the need for an external flash.