New Frontier

My camera died so I had to make an unexpected purchase. After withdrawing all the money from my bank account, I came up with the Canon 40D which I negotiated from a local retailer for $885. I would have preferred to get the 50D, with its enhanced ISO, but I didn't have the extra $250 to pull it in.

It's going to be a long month. Tomorrow's dinner will be the only remaining food in the house: pasta shells and coconut milk. Should be an interesting mixture!

Over the last week, I've had a chance to use the new camera extensively. My observation: the xxD series is miles ahead of the Digital Rebel series in every way. The focusing is precise and the light meter is more accurate (although the 40D sometimes underexposes by about a third of an f-stop; by contrast, the Rebel XT frequently overexposed by one- or two-thirds). Shooting in monochrome, I'm able to nearly mimic the look of black and white film. The shutter click is loud but not as grating as the XT. Noise at 3200 is a bit of a problem (that's the principal reason I would have preferred the 50D; the 50D has a listed ISO of 12,800, which means in practice it develops solid pictures at 3200, noisy but usable pictures at 6400, and TV static-style pictures at 12,800). For a very clear ISO sample of the 50D, try this website.

This one-f-stop difference is very significant in my case because of the frequency with which I do no-flash low-light photography. Other than that, though, I don't think there's much difference between the 40D and 50D (or the 20D or 30D, for that matter). The 50D does have 15 megapixels, but since I'm not into billboard photography just yet, this isn't a make-or-break priority right now. I'd like to have that extra file data, but I realize trying to dump that much onto my hard drive would cripple it (I'm going to have enough trouble managing the workflow with the 40D's 10 megapixels).

Camera manufacturers like to make it seem like they're re-inventing the wheel with every model that comes out, but truthfully an update is an update–if it was a new camera, they'd give it a new name. I looked at the specs of all three of the Digital Rebels that were released last year and I wasn't convinced that they weren't all the exact same camera with minor tweaking here and there (megapixels is a frequent distinguishing feature, but more megapixels often just means more noise).

One thing that does impress me about the 40D is the battery life... I've had several heavy shooting days, and the battery hasn't run down on me yet (only once did it drop to the halfway marker). With the Rebel XT, a heavy shooting day meant using the kit battery and two spares.

Another HUGE difference is the viewfinder. Working with the Rebel XT for the last three years, I didn't realize that I couldn't see what I was shooting. The 40D viewfinder is much larger and brighter and shows almost the entire image area. With this new range of view, I now have the option of manual focusing, something that wasn't very practical with the Rebel XT's pinhole-size eyepiece.

The 40D is a bigger and heavier compared to my old machine, but I quickly got used to the added heft and didn't really notice it after a day or two. The wheel menu is a lot faster to use than punch buttons. I set the focus points on quick dial, which makes it much easier to adjust them on the go.

One thing I don't like: the only way to view the focus point is to change it; I'd like to be able to just glance at it and confirm what it is (today I was getting frustrated with poor autofocus, then realized that the focus point had been bounced to the top of the screen, I must have brushed against the quick dial).

Don't have much more to say about it. There's the update on my new right hand.


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