tonky
Well-known member
I only picked this body up a few days ago, so these are my initial impressions covering mainly the new features of this camera or those which are particularly important to me.. It's not in any way intended to be a full in- depth review - those are out there on the web anyway.
BODY
The body feels really solid and well built, with a more deeply sculpted slot for the second finger (right hand) very much like the Canon 1 Series, so a big improvement there. It's difficult to quantify the feel - I never had any complaints about the 20D build quality, but the 40D just feels more robust and solid, although I'm just not sure why. The battery grip just improves matters even more, giving a nice weighty feel which I like. The grip locks tightly to the body with no sign of looseness or flexing at all.
The new 3" screen is impressive to say the least and is visible out of doors when I'd normally be moving into the shade or indoors to review my shots properly. I can't really see the screen getting much bigger in subsequent models as they've used up every bit of free space around the screen to reposition the interface buttons. They'll still present no problem to 20D, 30D and 5D users though - despite their new locations they're much the same in use.
The much lauded weather sealing is limited to the CF compartment and battery doors and is obviously welcome but not that much of a big deal. Weather sealing has also been added to the (now silver) hot shoe, but you need the weather sealed 50EX 11 flash to take advantage of the feature.
VIEWFINDER
This is now noticeably larger and brighter with much bigger, bolder LCD exposure info at the bottom, with the ISO permanently displayed too (about time). ISO is also displayed on the top right screen. Spot metering is now added too - a welcome improvement as it was sadly lacking in the 20D.
SHUTTER
This is the quietest shutter I've ever heard on an SLR so it's a big bonus for wildlife photographers and it seems is due to the mirror now being damped upwards and downwards rather than just spring operated. A choice of two super quiet modes is also available and they really are whisper quiet but only available in Live View.... Bugger!
AUTOFOCUS
The 40D has the same 9 AF points as previous XXD models, but they're now all the cross type, so are sensitive vertically and horizontally. In addition the centre AF point has been given added sensitivity. Using this in Servo mode I was very impressed with the speed of tracking and the positive way it snapped into focus.
LIVE VIEW
I can take it or leave it to be truthful although I can see it has it's uses. If it had the swivelling screen we used to see in compact digicams it would be really beneficial, but this implementation doesn't really float my boat. What I will say though is that if you ever doubted the worth of image stabilisation, compose a shot in Live View with a long lens and watch that image dithering around until IS engages!!!
HIGHLIGHT TONE PRIORITY
A really useful feature this which you can choose to engage via Custom Functions and looks like being a boon when shooting in contrasty light or against the sky. Time will tell though..If you select ISO Expansion giving 3200 ISO at the high end and 100 ISO at the low end then you can't select Highlight Tone Priority.
CUSTOM SETTINGS
Three custom settings are now provided, C1, C2 and C3, all now selectable positions on the mode dial on the top left plate. You can now set the camera up for three different shooting situations and recall the settings instantly by a turn of the Mode Dial. The obvious thing for me is that Mirror Lock Up can now be assigned to one of these positions and is now only a click away instead of having to delve through the menus. I'm sure these user modes will be really useful when I've thought about how I want to set them up..
SENSOR
The 40D now outputs a file with the smallest pixel pitch and greatest pixel density of any camera in the Canon line up, so is the body to stick behind long lenses for maximum image quality, particularly with small birds etc.
It has a single Digic 3 processor and outputs 14 bit images which should show a big improvement in colour and tonal range in images. It's also claimed to perform better at higher ISOs and be usable up to 1600 ISO with no appreciable noise. From what I've seen so far, I'm encouraged that it delivers on it's promises.
AUTO ISO
I'm not sure I really want or need it, preferring to choose ISO myself, but having used it on Auto ISO this morning, I have say the system was making the same choices I would make myself so it seems a good intelligent inplementation and could prove a godsend - no more shooting with the wrong ISO because you forgot to change it.
I think I've covered the main points, so off to take some shots. The bad news is RSP doesn't support the 40D and no upgrades are available now, so I have to find a new RAW processor. The following shots though are jpegs shot in Neutral picture setting and processed and sharpened in Paint Shop Pro. All shots were at 700mm ( The 500 f4L plus 1.4X TC) and 800 ISO. Conditions were very dull so none are really taken with a fast enough shutter speed.
ROBIN
This shot is full frame, and I could have got 3 or 4 feet closer, so straight away I can see that I'll be doing a lot less cropping and full frame shots are now a real possibility for very small birds. The advantages for interpolating image library shots are obvious.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/2279553036_56dd18a8e4_o.jpg
FEMALE HOUSE SPARROW
Taken at about 30 feet. Quite a substantial crop, but much less than I'm used to, and showing far more fine detail than I usually would at this range. The bird is still far smaller than it is at 1:1
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/2279552968_48f5570264_o.jpg
MALE HOUSE SPARROW
Taken at around 35 feet. I rarely get usable images at this dark location due to noise in the dark areas and subsequent cropping just intensifies the noise and loses too much definition for the images to be usable, so I'm particularly pleased with this result which looks very encouraging. No noise reduction has been used on any of these shots, so I have to say the decreased noise at high ISO claims seem well justified.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2138/2279553120_9081916459_o.jpg
So I'm feeling pretty chuffed at this early stage. If you really need the weather sealing and bouncabilty of a 1 Series body, or you just want one and can't live another day without one - there's nothing for it but to get one. If not though, do yourself a favour, spend the wonga on glass and get a 40D.
Hope this helps anyone hovering over a body purchase.
Since I wrote this for another board I've taken shots at 1600 and 3200 ISO which show that the camera really is usable at these ISO settings, and comparison shots with the 1DMK2 n which clearly show the frame- filling advantages of this camera with the new pixel density, Digic 3 processor and 1.6X crop sensor. I'll post them up ASAP.
BODY
The body feels really solid and well built, with a more deeply sculpted slot for the second finger (right hand) very much like the Canon 1 Series, so a big improvement there. It's difficult to quantify the feel - I never had any complaints about the 20D build quality, but the 40D just feels more robust and solid, although I'm just not sure why. The battery grip just improves matters even more, giving a nice weighty feel which I like. The grip locks tightly to the body with no sign of looseness or flexing at all.
The new 3" screen is impressive to say the least and is visible out of doors when I'd normally be moving into the shade or indoors to review my shots properly. I can't really see the screen getting much bigger in subsequent models as they've used up every bit of free space around the screen to reposition the interface buttons. They'll still present no problem to 20D, 30D and 5D users though - despite their new locations they're much the same in use.
The much lauded weather sealing is limited to the CF compartment and battery doors and is obviously welcome but not that much of a big deal. Weather sealing has also been added to the (now silver) hot shoe, but you need the weather sealed 50EX 11 flash to take advantage of the feature.
VIEWFINDER
This is now noticeably larger and brighter with much bigger, bolder LCD exposure info at the bottom, with the ISO permanently displayed too (about time). ISO is also displayed on the top right screen. Spot metering is now added too - a welcome improvement as it was sadly lacking in the 20D.
SHUTTER
This is the quietest shutter I've ever heard on an SLR so it's a big bonus for wildlife photographers and it seems is due to the mirror now being damped upwards and downwards rather than just spring operated. A choice of two super quiet modes is also available and they really are whisper quiet but only available in Live View.... Bugger!
AUTOFOCUS
The 40D has the same 9 AF points as previous XXD models, but they're now all the cross type, so are sensitive vertically and horizontally. In addition the centre AF point has been given added sensitivity. Using this in Servo mode I was very impressed with the speed of tracking and the positive way it snapped into focus.
LIVE VIEW
I can take it or leave it to be truthful although I can see it has it's uses. If it had the swivelling screen we used to see in compact digicams it would be really beneficial, but this implementation doesn't really float my boat. What I will say though is that if you ever doubted the worth of image stabilisation, compose a shot in Live View with a long lens and watch that image dithering around until IS engages!!!
HIGHLIGHT TONE PRIORITY
A really useful feature this which you can choose to engage via Custom Functions and looks like being a boon when shooting in contrasty light or against the sky. Time will tell though..If you select ISO Expansion giving 3200 ISO at the high end and 100 ISO at the low end then you can't select Highlight Tone Priority.
CUSTOM SETTINGS
Three custom settings are now provided, C1, C2 and C3, all now selectable positions on the mode dial on the top left plate. You can now set the camera up for three different shooting situations and recall the settings instantly by a turn of the Mode Dial. The obvious thing for me is that Mirror Lock Up can now be assigned to one of these positions and is now only a click away instead of having to delve through the menus. I'm sure these user modes will be really useful when I've thought about how I want to set them up..
SENSOR
The 40D now outputs a file with the smallest pixel pitch and greatest pixel density of any camera in the Canon line up, so is the body to stick behind long lenses for maximum image quality, particularly with small birds etc.
It has a single Digic 3 processor and outputs 14 bit images which should show a big improvement in colour and tonal range in images. It's also claimed to perform better at higher ISOs and be usable up to 1600 ISO with no appreciable noise. From what I've seen so far, I'm encouraged that it delivers on it's promises.
AUTO ISO
I'm not sure I really want or need it, preferring to choose ISO myself, but having used it on Auto ISO this morning, I have say the system was making the same choices I would make myself so it seems a good intelligent inplementation and could prove a godsend - no more shooting with the wrong ISO because you forgot to change it.
I think I've covered the main points, so off to take some shots. The bad news is RSP doesn't support the 40D and no upgrades are available now, so I have to find a new RAW processor. The following shots though are jpegs shot in Neutral picture setting and processed and sharpened in Paint Shop Pro. All shots were at 700mm ( The 500 f4L plus 1.4X TC) and 800 ISO. Conditions were very dull so none are really taken with a fast enough shutter speed.
ROBIN
This shot is full frame, and I could have got 3 or 4 feet closer, so straight away I can see that I'll be doing a lot less cropping and full frame shots are now a real possibility for very small birds. The advantages for interpolating image library shots are obvious.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/2279553036_56dd18a8e4_o.jpg
FEMALE HOUSE SPARROW
Taken at about 30 feet. Quite a substantial crop, but much less than I'm used to, and showing far more fine detail than I usually would at this range. The bird is still far smaller than it is at 1:1
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/2279552968_48f5570264_o.jpg
MALE HOUSE SPARROW
Taken at around 35 feet. I rarely get usable images at this dark location due to noise in the dark areas and subsequent cropping just intensifies the noise and loses too much definition for the images to be usable, so I'm particularly pleased with this result which looks very encouraging. No noise reduction has been used on any of these shots, so I have to say the decreased noise at high ISO claims seem well justified.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2138/2279553120_9081916459_o.jpg
So I'm feeling pretty chuffed at this early stage. If you really need the weather sealing and bouncabilty of a 1 Series body, or you just want one and can't live another day without one - there's nothing for it but to get one. If not though, do yourself a favour, spend the wonga on glass and get a 40D.
Hope this helps anyone hovering over a body purchase.
Since I wrote this for another board I've taken shots at 1600 and 3200 ISO which show that the camera really is usable at these ISO settings, and comparison shots with the 1DMK2 n which clearly show the frame- filling advantages of this camera with the new pixel density, Digic 3 processor and 1.6X crop sensor. I'll post them up ASAP.
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