Canon 40d review

I’ve bought a Canon 40d digital camera on 04.15.2008, this article is a review of its specifications and where I found those specifications to be useful for my style of photography.

10.1 million Effective pixels

3:2 aspect ratio

Upgrading from a Canon G6, with images at an aspect ratio of 4:3, the format 3:2 is great for print; I no longer have to cut the images for a desired height (and sometimes discover that I composed the image for 4:3, not 3:2, and cutting more from some areas I wanted to keep)

Image processor, DIGIC III A/D conversion, 14 bit Image sizes = 3888 x 2592 (L; 10.1 MP)

The image processor is just awesome, the colors remind me of the days when I shoot film, I always find A LOT of detail in shadows.
The resolution is also great, I usually edit the files to a size of 3000 x 2000 PX, big enough for almost everything, and I simply don’t need more.

RAW (.CR2; 14-bit)

JPEG (EXIF 2.21) - Fine / Normal

The files shot in this mode (RAW) are HUGE, 8-12 MB, I usually prefer to shoot JPEG (Fine, 3-6 MB), I like the way in camera settings do a lot of work for me and deliver GREAT IMAGES.

Lenses - Canon EF / EF-S lens mount

I’ve bought 2 lenses, Tokina 12-24mm F/4 (equiv 19-39mm) and Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 (equiv 45-120mm). These are great and quite affordable lenses (considering the CANON alternatives for those focal lengths and aperture). The images produced are GREAT, apart from minor issues with CA’s from Tokina (easily fixed with a Photoshop plug-in called Debarrelizer). The Tamron, used most of the time at F/2.8, as a portrait lens, it’s simply superb. Both lenses focus fast and have quiet focus motors (even in low light situations, like poorly light churches). Considering the quality of the images, I would buy CANON L alternatives only for a FULL FRAME camera. On a 1.6 crop, I find my two lenses worth 2-3 times their cost of purchase.

“EOS Integrated Cleaning System”

Self-cleaning sensor unit (filter in front of sensor vibrates at high frequency at start-up and shutdown - can be disabled)

Dust Delete Data - Data from a test shot is used to ‘map’ dust spots and can be later removed using Canon DPP Software Auto focus, 9-point TTL CMOS sensor

After about 10000 shots in 2-3 months from my purchase, I have no problems with the dust so far. I’ll have to shoot more, and change lenses in various conditions, to gather more dust, but, so far, everything is OK.

All points cross-type for lenses of F5.6 or faster

Center point additionally sensitive with lenses of F2.8 or faster

AF working range: -0.5 - 18 EV (at 23°C, ISO 100) Focus modes

One shot AF

AI Servo AF

AI Focus AF

Considering the intention of CANON to use this camera at 6.5 frames/second, the focus speed is just mind blowing. I’ve shot test bursts of 15-25 images of speeding motorcycles or a running dog. The only out of focus images were those “produced” because of my failure to keep the focus point on the subject. The speed is just there when you need it, but most of the time I keep the camera on “One shot AF”. It’s fast and accurate, if I have a moving subject, I switch to “AI Servo AF”.

Manual focus AF point selection

There are 9 focus points, the selection of one of them is very simple and fast, most of the time I use the “multicontroller”.

Metering

TTL 35 zone SPC

Metering range: EV 0.0 - 20 EV

Metering modes

Evaluative 35 zone

Partial (9% at center)

Spot metering (approx. 3.8% at center)

Center-weighted average

Metering is great, I found myself not being able to overexpose a image. It’s that simple, in any of the shooting modes except full manual, I couldn’t overexpose a image. For example, if you have a reflective tin foil on a table, the camera will expose the image for the reflection of light from that tin foil. The rest of the image will be underexposed, but underexposed images can be more easily recovered in post-production than overexposed ones.

AE lock

Auto: One Shot AF with evaluative metering

Manual: AE lock button Exposure compensation, +/-2.0 EV

0.3 or 0.5 EV increments Exposure bracketing, +/- 2.0 EV

0.3 or 0.5 EV increments Sensitivity

Auto ISO

ISO 100 - 1600

0.3 or 1.0 EV increments

ISO 3200 (Enhanced H)

ISO 3200 is great! The most important thing is not to be afraid of high ISO noise; there are various tools that can handle that. Indoors, you can create great images just by using the ambient light.

Shutter

Focal-plane shutter

100,000 exposure durability

30 - 1/8000 sec

0.3 or 0.5 EV increments

Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec

Having such a high shutter speed means you can shoot portraits at F/2.8 outside to get a shallow depth of field. Also, with modern 430ex and 580ex Canon speedlights, the shutter speed can be synchronized up to 1/8000 sec.

Noise reduction

I’ve taken test images with the noise reduction function activated and also deactivated, I found that it is better to keep the function OFF, and use other tools in post production to get rid of noise.

White balance

Auto

Daylight

Shade

Cloudy

Tungsten

Fluorescent

Flash

Kelvin (2500 - 10000 K in 100 K steps)

WB bracketing, +/-3 levels

The most useful setting is white balance in Kelvin – when shooting indoors with a lot of incandescent light, 2500 K is what you need (assuming you don’t use flash, just ambient light). Having this possibility to modify the white balance as you like, means you can also better balance the ambient light with the flash.

Picture style

Standard

Portrait

Landscape

Neutral

Faithful

Monochrome

User def. 1

User def. 2

User def. 3

Custom image parameters

Sharpness: 0 to 7

Contrast: -4 to +4

Saturation: -4 to +4

Color tone: -4 to +4

B&W filter: N, Ye, Or, R, G

B&W tone: N, S, B, P, G

By default, image styles have quite conservative values; I’ve setup custom settings for each lens and shooting condition:

Tamron 28-75mm when used for portraits:
Sharpness at 5 | Contrast at +2 | Saturation at +1 | Color tone 0

Tamron 28-75mm when used for “almost macro” images (flowers, insects, fruits, etc.):
Sharpness at 7 | Contrast at +3 | Saturation at +2 | Color tone 0

Tokina 12-24mm when used for people photography:
Sharpness at 6 | Contrast at +2 | Saturation at +1 | Color tone 0

Tokina 12-24mm when used for landscapes:
Sharpness at 6 | Contrast at +2 | Saturation at +2 | Color tone 0

Viewfinder

Eye-level pentaprism

95% frame coverage

Magnification: 0.95x (-1 diopter with 50 mm lens at infinity)

Eyepoint: 22 mm

Interchangeable focusing screen Ef-A standard (2 other types optional)

Mirror lock-up (once or multiple exposures)

I wear eye glasses and I find the viewfinder very bright and it’s a real pleasure to take images when I have the feeling that “what I see is what I get”.

3.0 - TFT LCD

230,000 pixels

7 brightness levels

LCD Live view

The screen is HUGE, it covers almost half of the back of the camera, great for “chimping” and to show your subjects what kind of images you’ve produced. The colors are good, but the screen is not “sharp” at all.

Live TTL display of scene from CMOS image sensor

100% frame coverage

Almost never used Live VIEW, however is a good thing to have if you shoot products in the studio. In a fast moving situation, the viewfinder gets you the best results.

In-camera flash configuration (currently only 580 EX II)

Wireless multi-flash support

PC Sync Shooting modes

The camera can control the flash attached to it, but I’ve found the process too “button intensive”. It’s faster to use the controls on the flash itself.

Disclaimer:
Conclusion / recommendation / ratings are based on the opinions of the author, which are provided for use “as is” and without warranty of any kind, Canon, Tamron, Tokina are trademarks belonging to their respective owners.