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Canon EOS 40D: Raising The Bar With The Canon EOS 40DWhat do you get if you redesign the body and menu system of the Canon EOS 30D and add a few technologies found in the EOS 1D Mark III? The answer: the new Canon EOS 40D. You can purchase the 40D in two ways: body only and a kit that includes an f/3.5-to-f/5.6, 28mm-to-135mm IS USM lens. The LCD gets an upgrade as well, jumping from 2.5 to 3 inches. The size and weight of the 40D is similar to that of the 30D. Unlike its cheaper counterparts (the Rebel series) the body feels quite solid and sturdy. The grip has been redesigned as well, with a curved indentation added just below the shutter button. The CompactFlash card slot is made dust-proof and a built-in sensor-cleaning system.
Controls The bigger LCD meant that some buttons have to be resized and moved around. The Review, Jump and Delete buttons were removed from the side and placed beneath the LCD. Some of the buttons are also smaller and flatter, making it hard to feel and press them. On the other hand, the 40D comes with a bigger mode dial. This dial has 3 slots for customized settings. Specifications The 40D is incorporated with nifty new features. Its Live View mode is even better than that of the 1D Mark III. While in Live View, you have access to auto-focus as well. It also offers 3 “silent shooting” modes that allows you to minimize the vibration and noise. The Auto ISO of the 40D now works in all modes past full Auto. Canon retained some of the features found in its predecessor, such as the three 9-point autofocus modes and four metering modes. Speed The speed of the 40D might not be exceptional, but it is still no slouch. You can go from a turned off camera to taking a shot in just 0.3 seconds. It comes with a slow and a high-speed burst mode - which one to use largely depends on the speed of your CF card. The slow-speed burst mode churns out 3.1 frames per second while the high-speed mode shoots 6.3 frames per second. On the other hand, don’t expect blazing speeds when shooting in low-light conditions. The 40D had a shooting lag of 1.2 seconds in dim environments. Performance Images taken with the 40D looked excellent. The highlights or shadows looked quite good. However, the artificial lights under the automatic white balance looked warm and too greenish even under manual. The 40D maxes out at ISO 3200 and noise was non-existent up until ISO 800. The metering modes showed very balanced exposures. The new and improved features make the Canon 40D a solid alternative to the 30D.
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