Canon EOS 20D 8.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EOS 20D 8.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
Customer Review: This is a great camera - even for beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently decided to get serious about digital photography when I attempted to photograph my son playing guitar at a concert with a point and shoot digital camera. I missed all of the great shots due to the delay in shooting that is inherent in most point and shoot cameras. I became very interested in a more expensive setup when the Canon Rebel XT had a dramatic price drop to ~$800. But after going to the store and holding it in my hand, it felt way too small and I didn't like the plastic feel of the camera. To help me figure out which camera would be best for me, I determined my main areas of interest for photography and stuck to that while evaluating all possible cameras. My main interests in photography are portraits and my kids' sporting events. Because of this, I knew I needed something with burst capability and a fast write to disk capability, which this camera has. I also wanted easy to access shutter and aperture controls that didn't require me to go into a menu to change - again, this camera is very easy to adjust and use in manual setting with controls for both right on the outside frame of the camera. I'm new to both digital and film photography, but I've been having success in using the manual mode because I've read a couple of books on exposure and the controls on this camera are so easy to use. In terms of support for portraits, I knew I needed a lens that supported an optical range between 85-105mm. That didn't end up affecting my camera body purchase decision.
This is going to sound very superficial, but I really liked the feel of the Canon 20D in my hand. It is not too heavy, and it is very solid. All of the controls are very easy to access and are intuitive. Don't discount the importance of the feel of the camera in your hand. If you do one thing in your search, be sure to go to a store and hold whatever camera you're thinking about purchasing in your hand. Shoot a couple of shots in the store with it. You'll be amazed at your reaction to simply holding the camera in your hand and the impact it can have on you.
I recently joined a photography club at work and about 80% of the people in the club have this exact camera. I purchased this camera before I joined the club. I was amazed. There is a lot of support for new users of this camera in the community - lots of books, videos, and clubs. It's so helpful when you see demos that are based on your exact camera. Don't get me wrong - there is a ton of support for Nikon cameras as well. In fact, Nikon and Canon run neck and neck in terms of quality and continued improvement in their overall camera lines.
I decided not to opt for the Canon 30D because it was more than I really needed, and to be honest, I wanted to save money for some really great lenses. In terms of "glass" recommendations, I bought two lenses to start with - the EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (for portraits and every day shooting), and you can actually get this lens as an optional kit lens with the Canon 20D. B+H Video in NY offers it with the body as a kit lens and I highly recommend this over the standard poor quality kit lens that is more commonly offered. The other lens I purchased was the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM for shooting sports. This is such a great lens - I can't say enough positive comments about this lens. Worth every penny. I highly recommend the Speedlite 580EX external flash for great indoor candids and excellent indoor portraits. I point the speedlite at the ceiling and bounce the light to get very natural, diffused lighting. Don't use the built in flash on this camera - it is not going to give you good results. Your shots will look like normal point and shoot pictures if you use the built in flash. Also, get at least a 2 GB memory card - the Ultra II SanDisks are the way to go because they have a fast enough write speed to support shooting sports. I can fit about 450 JPEG-Fine shots on a single disk, which is more than enough for an amateur like me. I'm going to move to RAW pretty soon once I learn the basics of Photoshop Elements 5.0, and I'll probably fit ~30% less shots on the disk, so I'll probably spring for a back up disk.
I've shot at least 4000 shots so far with this camera since purchasing it on Labor Day of 2006 and have had no problems whatsoever. It is a great camera body that I'm sure will serve me well for years to come.
Customer Review: Hey, Nice camera!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a 10D user for about 1.5 years. The 10D takes great pictures so why bother upgrading right? Well, now that I have messed around with the 20D a bit it was clearly the right choice... although not totally perfect.
The useful improvements for me have been 1. Faster time from turning on the camera to taking a picture. It's virtually instantaneous. The 10D took a few seconds to get going. 2. Faster writing to the CF card. This feature is nice when you are in a hurry to take several shots and then get the pics to your computer. 3. Built-in black and white mode that allows for photo filters to be digitally applied in camera with pretty darn good results. Although I prefer to apply filters in Photoshop. 4. The taller pop-up flash works better with my 17-40mm canon lens. The 10D would leave a half circle blackout between 17-24mm due to the top of the lens blocking the flash. The taller pop-up flash shoots right over it. 5. Super low noise at ISO400 and ISO800. It's even pretty good at ISO1600. With ISO expansion on you can go to 3200 but it was pretty grainy. My 10D shows noise at 400 and above.
Things I didn't realize were going to happen: My digital workflow is a bit messed up now. I usually shoot in RAW, and I use the Macintosh OS to process images. Image capture application in MAC OS 10.3.5 does not support the raw files (now .CR2 files instead of .CRW files in the 10D). 10.3.6 update now allows image capture to recognize the .CR2 files, but it won't build previews for them. That means you have to use a file browser to manage the files. iPhoto will not read the .CR2 files. The new Camera Raw Plug-in (v2.3) for Photoshop CS supports the 20D images (but is not on the list of supported cameras.) So I now use the Photoshop CS filebrowser to look at my files and figure out which ones are good. However, I still can't build icon previews for the .CR2 files so it's a bit hard to find the pics you want in a file folder. I make contact sheets for each shoot and store them with the raw files. None of these problems exist if you shoot in any of the .JPG modes.
My top five good things and my one bad thing. I'm sure the one bad thing will go away after the camera has been out a while and becomes more popular. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who's graduated from their Digital Rebel and is wanting more.
3-2-05 **** update: iPhoto now supports .CR2 files directly from the camera or a CF card reader. You can drag them to your photoshop icon in the doc to edit the original or you can set a preference to have the jpg preview from iPhoto open in photoshop with a double click. iPhoto, image capture, Digital photo professional, phtoshop CS, photoshop 7, photoshop elements 2, 3 still will not build icon previews viewable in the finder for .CR2 files as of this update. At least iPhoto will allow me to browse photos without having to open them in DPP.
Customer Review: A good upgrade from the Digital Rebel
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the 20D as an upgrade from my Digital Rebel. The cost was certainly worth it.
This camera has many, many advantages to the Rebel (as I'm sure other reviewers will point out), but I thought three were worthy of mention:
ISO 1600 and 3200 have very, very low noise. This means that I am now able to get low-light shots that I never could before. For example, I often take pictures of crowded streets at night. Before, I needed to use a flash or else my shots would be blurred by camera shake and the motion of people walking. Now (with the help of a f1.8 lens) I can set the camera at ISO3200 and have the shutter speed be fast enough that I can get clear images. In fact, when I use the Black & White mode, the picture is virtually noise-free.
Rapid-Fire burst mode. When the "multi-shot" function is on, this camera fires like a machine gun. It also writes the images to the memory card much faster than the Rebel ever did. I shot a series of 25 shots in 5 seconds, and it still had them all on the card 6 seconds after I stopped shooting.
Black and White mode. Not just some toy feature, when you are saving as a JPG file (not RAW), the image is actully encoded as a B&W image--meaning a smaller file size. This means more shots per card, and also more shots being able to be held in the buffer. I was actully able to record 90 frames of B&W images (JPG-Large-Fine) at full speed (5 per second) without stopping (onto a 40x CF card).
Like I said before, I'm sure there are tons of other amazing features of the 20D, but I wanted you to know my favorites.
UPDATE: Over the past few months, there have been reports that the 20D locks up on occasion. I had that happen to me only once. Canon has posted a firmware upgrade on it's website that remedies this problem (as well as a few others). I upgraded, and have not had any problems since.
Customer Review: love it, but picked up a tiny sony cybershot too
Summary: 5 Stars
All of those concerns about poor results with the built in flash are true -- I'm just an amateur who loves taking photos, for whom this was a first SLR of any kind. So, I love fiddling with the options, and right now, black and white is my favorite mode. This camera makes picture taking a joy, I don't have to miss that fleeting moment anymore with the incredible number of continuous shots per second you can take. But 1 week after buying this camera I had to invest in the speedlite 580EX flash, and I bought the EF-S 17-85 lens as well. With those two additions, I can't take this camera anywhere without forethought. So now, I've gone back to a sony cybershot p200 for all those family pix when we're just hanging out. I would say skip the 18-55mm lens kit alltogether, since I was not impressed with the lens performance, and low light / indoor performance is much better with the 17-85mm EFS for all purpose use if you don't want to do too much post editing.
All things considered, 6 months later, I am planning on staying away from EF-S lenses in the future, since when I upgrade this camera a couple of years down the road, I want the lenses to be compatible with the full 35mm film size sensors of the EOS 1Ds Mark II equivalents. I am beginning to love the picture taking power afforded by an SLR and would love to have access to true wide angle. So if you don't want your $$$ to be wasted, stick to adding on L series lenses.
I would not hesitate at this point in time to buy the 20D again, i.e. I wouldn't wait for the next latest greatest camera, and truly for my use at home and school activities this is more than I'd dreamed of being able to do.
Customer Review: Love the Canon 20 D but don't buy from B & H Photo Video
Summary: 5 Stars
The camera is top of the line--no regrets here, except...I have purchased from B&H Photo Video (online)before and did not have a problem. My Husband placed a very big order for my surprise gift, and it turned into a nightmare for both of us. Maybe it's a fluke accident, hey it happens to the best of us, but the customer support service was TERRIBLE. After he placed an online order using his debit card, it automatically withdrew the amount from his bank. To confirm the order he called them...it took talking to 3 or 4 different people to actually locate the order, because according to them the order does not exist (remind you, that amount was already withdrawn from his account). It took them 4 days for the $$$ to be credited to his account. He wrote them a dissatisfaction email...but no response. This was a large order too over $2,300, so you think a company would do anything to keep a customer: maybe reenter the order for them, or atleast apologize and offer a discount, but they chose to ignore that this was actually their mistake. In the age of so many photography businesses and so much competition, their blatant indifference for making such a large sale shocks me. As a business owner myself, I'd say I would do everything in my power to leave a positive impression of myself and my company. Obviousle B&H Photo Video has grown their ego to such extent that they don't care if they lose customers. We will not be return shoppers here. Instead the Canon 20D was purchased from Amazon and it was shipped the same day!