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09/08/2007 07:01:12 PM · #1 |
One of my local Best Buy stores had one in stock, so I caved in to the instant gratification need and brought it home. It came with the 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM lens which I didn't need but they wouldn't sell without it. Here are my first impressions.
High Points:
It's going to take a little bit of adjustment to get used to the control placement on it compared to my Rebel, but I'm sure it is nothing a little practice won't fix. Ultimately the layout should make for easier access to a lot of the functions.
The 6.5 frames per second is very impressive. It's so fast it sounds like a machine gun firing.
The live preview and large LCD are very nice features.
I haven't had a chance to put the new focusing points to the test with the 100-400mm lens and a distant bird, but I'm hoping it does a better job than the Rebel.
Low Points:
My hot shoe flash doesn't work with it! I got this flash a few months ago and it works great with the Digital Rebel, but the 40D doesn't recognize it. I suppose this is what I get for cheaping out and not getting the Sigma or Canon.
The shutter is not as quiet as the reviews I read led me to believe. I think it is actually louder than the 300D.
The lens hasn't impressed me. I've only used it indoors so far taking low light pictures and I can't tell that the image stabilization is doing much of anything. I got sharper pictures with the Tamron 28-75mm at f/2.8 unstabilized than I did with the 28-135mm stabilized at f/5.6. I'm inclined to give it a chance, but I may end up selling it if I still prefer the Tamron.
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09/08/2007 09:14:37 PM · #2 |
Congrats. Yeah, I'd take a 2.8 lens over a 5.6 with IS any day.. if your subjects move, IS is useless.
Sell the 28-135 and get a 550EX! (or a 580 for a little extra) |
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09/08/2007 09:23:59 PM · #3 |
When I bought the 20D, it came with a 17-85mm EF-S lens with IS on it. The two things I liked about it ... at 17mm it was wide enough for the 1.6x crop sensor to still feel wide. And at 17-85mm it was a decent "range" for a single lens
The IS, on the other hand, seemed like a total waste. At 17mm I could easily hand hold most anything I want to shoot anyway. And 85mm isn't really much different. IS *really* matters on the long lenses 200mm on up.
So, yeah... on the wide end of that lens, I bet you don't hardly tell any difference at all. Maybe at 135mm you'll be able to see the difference though. But if it were me ... I'd probably stick to the Tamron except when you need the extra reach.
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09/09/2007 12:04:25 AM · #4 |
I, too, just took delivery of a new 40D. I wanted just the body, but they (Samy's Camera) only received a kit. So I'm using the 28-135mm IS EF lens. I also bought the "Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM" lens. I haven't had those lenses long enough to comment on them.
However, as for the 40D, the "rapid fire" (continuous drive) is great. It does sound like a machine gun--almost like a EOS 1D Mark III, but not quite. I just went through all the custom settings screens and, boy, is my head spinning!
The body is larger, heavier, and definitely more sturdy than my Pentax K100D. Although the knobs and buttons are all different than what I'm used to, they just feel better. They feel like they are all in the "right places".
Anyway, more feedback forthcoming..
Message edited by author 2007-09-09 00:13:03.
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09/09/2007 01:12:25 AM · #5 |
Got my 40D yesterday and worked it hard tonight - it's first wedding.
Compared to a 30D (or a 20 which I have, but i use the 30 90% of the time)
Focus - faster, especially in low light.
Focus Points - the center has been a cross point and the others pretty much useless in the dark or in some other situations. Not any more - every point is not a cross point and WOW, what an improvement!
ISO - testing yesterday shows me about 1 1/2 stop improvement of the 30D - I'd go to 1000 or 1250 but only very reluctantly shoot at 1600 and never at 3200. Not so with the 40D - 3200 is as good or better than 1250 on the 30D.
The shutter sounds very different than the 30D. Best description I've heard is that is sounds like a toilet flapper valve LOL
Highlight tone priority is awesome.
The much larger RAW files are PITA, but I suppose a nessecity. On the 30D i'd get 225 or so files on a 2Gb card. The 40D cuts that in about half at higher ISO. A 4Gb card, freshly formatted, offered me 261 shots! That ain't much in shots, but a lot in storage!
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09/09/2007 01:23:41 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Highlight tone priority is awesome. |
I have a ton of questions about my new 40D. What is Highlight Tone Priority? Where is that set?
Thanks!
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09/09/2007 10:59:47 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by AperturePriority:
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Highlight tone priority is awesome. |
I have a ton of questions about my new 40D. What is Highlight Tone Priority? Where is that set?
Thanks! |
It was introduced on the 1D Mk3 so I read about it a few months ago. It's in the menus...don't ask me where, I put it on my custom menu BECAUSE when it's enables you lose the ablility to use ISO 100 and 3200. It keeps the highlights from blowing out - and it seems to work well.
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09/09/2007 02:15:25 PM · #8 |
I went out to the local wildlife refuge this overcast morning to put the 40D focusing and image noise performance to the test.
Here is an untouched original of a song sparrow.
I set the focus to the center point only and aimed it right at the bird and fired off a burst of shots. The camera didn't have too much trouble focusing on the bird and not the branches in front or behind. I think the slight blur in the image is due to lens shake and not focus problems. (Handheld at 400mm and 1/50 shutter speed is pushing the limits of IS.)
Here is an unedited 100% crop of the same image.
The noise performance here is fantastic. A little USM sharpens this right up.
Here is a Northern Harrier in flight.
The camera was plenty fast with the focus. I had more trouble tracking the bird at 400mm. If I had more time, I would have set this to spot metering to expose the bird correctly. The lighter sky caused the bird to be underexposed. I adjusted in photoshop to correct this.
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