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I liked the Canon EOS 10D enough that I bought one last year, my first digital
SLR. I’ve since shot more than 17,000 pictures with that camera (it keeps
count), and all in all have been quite happy with it.
Now Canon has introduced the 10D’s successor, the EOS 20D. The new camera
is much faster, has more megapixels and a better dynamic range, provides better
image quality (especially at higher ISO settings), has an improved flash system,
autofocuses in dimmer light, gets more shots per battery charge, and much more—for
the same $1500 street price!
Much as I like my 10D, I do have some gripes. The biggest is the two seconds-plus
it takes to start up, or to wake from sleep mode. I’ve missed many a “magic
moment” among my favorite bird subjects because the camera just wasn’t
ready to shoot when it occurred. Canon has resolved this and a lot more with
the EOS 20D. The 20D’s start-up/wake-up time is just 0.2 second—11
times faster than the 10D, and actually a bit faster than the pro EOS-1d Mark
II. The 20D also will shoot up to 23 full-res JPEGs or 6 RAW images at 5 fps
(vs. 9 shots at 3 fps for the 10D), features a fastest-in-class 0.65-millisecond
release lag time, has a top shutter speed of 1¼8000 and a maximum flash-sync
speed of 1¼250 (up from the 10D’s 1¼4000 and 1¼200),
and raises the resolution from 6.3 to 8.2 megapixels. Way cool.
On learning that the 20D has 8.2 megapixels, one might assume that Canon simply
put the 8.2-megapixel sensor from the EOS-1d Mark II in the EOS 10D body. But
in fact, the EOS 20D is a new camera, with new body and a new chip. The body
is smaller than the 10D’s, and the sensor is smaller than the Mark II’s
(it’s the same size as the 10D’s, with the same 1.6X crop factor).
The 20D has a chassis of stainless steel and engineering plastic, with magnesium-alloy
top, front and rear covers, and contains nearly 100 fewer parts than the 10D.
My 10D has survived the aforementioned 17,000 exposures (nearly all in harsh
field conditions, including a couple of tumbles off mountain trails) in the
year-plus I’ve had it, and the simpler, more-compact 20D should be even
hardier.
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Besides
its action and low-light talents, the EOS 20D is a fine general-purpose
digital SLR, good for everything from landscapes to studio still
lifes. Higher resolution, much quicker start-up time and lots
more make the 20D even better than the excellent EOS 10D.
Photo by Lynne Eodice
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Focusing
Like the 10D, the new 20D provides three AF modes: One-Shot, AI Servo (continuous
predictive AF), and AI Focus, which provides automatic switching between One
Shot and AI Servo. (Of course, you can also focus manually via the lens’s
focusing ring.) But where the 10D has seven AF areas, the 20D has nine, and
where the 10D’s AF system operates in light levels down to EV 0.5, the
20D’s operates in light levels as low as EV –0.5—it’s
a full stop more sensitive. The central AF sensor is a cross-type as in the
10D, but now features a dual-line vertical component with twice as many pixels
for horizontal line detection, for increased autofocusing precision. The cross-type
sensor functions with lenses as slow as f/5.6; its dual-line component requires
lenses of f/2.8 and faster. The eight surrounding AF points are single-axis
sensors that function with lenses of f/5.6 and faster.
You can select any AF point manually by pressing the AF-point selector button
and rotating the Quick Control Dial on the camera back as with the 10D, but
the 20D also offers a new Multi-controller above the Quick Control Dial that
lets you select the AF point more quickly and directly: just move the lever
toward the AF point you wish to select (pressing the lever straight in will
quickly select the center AF point). You can also let the camera select the
AF point (which will be the one covering the closest object to fall under any
of the points).
A high-performance 32-bit RISC microcomputer and parallel processing speed AF
performance, which seems quicker than the 10D’s (which is very quick),
but not quite as quick as the $4500 EOS-1d Mark II’s.
Exposure
The 20D shares the same metering systems and exposure modes as the 10D, but
images are better overall because the new image sensor has a better dynamic
range, color reproduction and noise reduction to go with the additional megapixels.
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The
20D has a PC terminal so you can connect studio flash systems.
With that, 8.2-megapixel resolution and “flash” white-balance
setting, it’s a fine studio camera.
Photo by Lynne Eodice
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Three metering systems are available at the touch of a button and twist of
a dial. I’ve found Canon’s multi-zone evaluative metering to be
excellent across the EOS line, and the 20D’s 35-zone evaluative metering
(linked to the AF points) is no exception: it produces the highest percentage
of right-on exposures with the 20D as it does with my 10D. There’s also
9% partial metering for reading specific areas of a scene or subject, plus centerweighted
average metering.
As with the 10D, exposure modes are set directly via the Mode dial, and include
lots of choices for everyone from pro through snapshooter. For the serious shooter,
there are shiftable program AE, shutter- and aperture-priority AE, and metered
manual. Custom Function C.Fn-16 provides a handy safety shift in shutter- and
aperture-priority AE modes, which maintains the shutter speed or aperture you
set unless proper exposure cannot be produced at that setting, then changes
the setting to provide correct exposure. Because I do most of my shooting in
aperture-priority AE with the lens wide open (to get the fastest possible shutter
speed for action shots and hand-holding the equivalent of a 480mm focal length
with my 300mm lens), I found the safety shift feature quite handy for those
occasions where I don’t notice the sun come out from behind a cloud during
a sequence at ISO 400.
For the less-experienced user, the 20D provides several PIC (Programmed Image
Control) modes, which automatically set the camera for point-and-shooting portraits,
landscapes, close-ups, action, night portraits with flash, and flash-off images.
There’s also Canon’s exclusive Automatic Depth-of-Field AE, in which
the camera sets the focus point and aperture to get all subjects covered by
any of the AF points in focus (assuming that is possible with the current subject
distances, light level, lens focal length and ISO setting).
A convenient AE-lock button, ±2 stops of exposure compensation (settable
in 0.3- or 0.5-stop increments), and automatic exposure bracketing add exposure
versatility. I found myself using the AE lock and exposure compensation far
less with the 20D than with my 10D—uncorrected exposures seemed more accurate,
likely because the 20D’s image sensor has a greater dynamic range.
One of several advantages of digital cameras is the ability to set the optimal
ISO speed for each shot. In the PIC modes, the 20D automatically sets the ISO
speed from 100–400, but in the “serious” modes, you can set
it yourself. As with the 10D, you can set ISOs from 100–1600 (plus 3200,
via the LCD monitor menus). But image quality at any given ISO is noticeably
better with the 20D, thanks to the new sensor and systems (more on those in
the Digital Features section).
Flash
The flash system has been improved over the 10D’s in several ways. One
is that the 20D’s built-in unit pops up 18.6mm higher, providing more
distance between flashtube and lens axis. This reduces red-eye, and keeps large
lenses from blocking light from the flash unit off the bottom portion of the
image. I made a number of shots using the built-in flash with my long 300mm
f/4L IS lens (lens hood retracted), and saw no evidence of flash cutoff.
The 20D features Canon’s latest E-TTL II autoflash control, introduced
in the pro EOS-1d Mark II camera.
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While
I’ve been quite happy with my
EOS 10D’s AF performance, the 20D’s
is even better. This shot (cropped from a horizontal) was made
with the EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in aperture-priority AE; the
exposure was 1¼5000 at f/4 (at ISO 400).
Photo by Mike STensvold
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E-TTL II measures the ambient light, emits a preflash, and compares the ambient
and flash readings for each metering zone. Information on subject distance and
location in the frame (from lenses that provide this data) are also taken into
consideration using a new algorithm that is not dependent on the active AF point
covering the subject, resulting in very accurate flash exposures in a variety
of shooting situations.
The built-in flash (ISO 100 guide number 43/13 in feet/meters) covers the angle
of view of a 17mm lens (equivalent to a 27mm lens on a 35mm camera). There’s
also a hot-shoe that accepts dedicated Canon EX-series Speedlites (these also
can be linked together wirelessly via an optional transmitter or fired via a
compatible on-camera unit), and a PC terminal to connect studio flash systems.
Both the built-in unit and the newly announced Speedlite 580EX send color-temperature
data to the camera’s processor (taking into consideration such things
as battery condition and flash duration) for very accurate results.
More Features
Shutter speeds run from 30 seconds to 1¼8000, in 1¼3-stop increments,
with flash sync up to 1¼250. Bulb mode will keep the shutter open as
long as you keep the shutter button depressed (optional remote switches can
relieve you of having to hold the button down yourself).
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Image
quality at ISO 1600 is amazing, if you nail the exposure. If you
underexpose, quality will suffer. For this shot, I disrupted Apartment
Kitty’s dinner and shot using light coming in the open front
door behind me. The exposure at ISO 1600 was 1¼60 at f/5.6
in program AE mode, with the EF 28–135mm zoom set at 112mm.
It’s best to shoot high-ISO images in RAW mode
to minimize artifacts, but this was shot in highest-quality JPEG
mode. (Highest-quality JPEG mode produces excellent results with
the 20D and my 10D, and I do most of my shooting in highest-quality
JPEG.)
Photo by Mike STensvold
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