20D Vs. 30D what's your opinion?

[suemccartin]

I've had a 20D for awhile, love it, been wanting a second body (two lenses get used in shooting just easier) but I was torn between waiting for a 40D or plunging in with 30D. Well my decision got made for me the other night when I was wandering through circuit city and found a 30D with a 28-138 IS lens sitting on the floor model table for an ungodly low price (sub 800 bucks) with a full warranty on it of course--and it was pristine as well hardly even looked handled and had all the paperwork and cables etc. I thought if nothing else, since I already own one of that lens I could ebay the new one and recover the money from it and pay off the credit card somewhat.

I haven't had a LOT of chance to use the 30D yet, that comes the end of this month but what I've seen so far is....no more number of file limits in folders you can have one big folder on your cf card now, bigger lcd (and I do think it's a good bit clearer brighter etc. than the one on my 20D and a tendency to expose just a tad darker--at least in the shade outdoors, I'm also under the impression this one has the selectable 3 or 5 fps continuous shooting mode. Those are the big differences I've seen just in picking it up and shooting a few shots with it. I also saw a change in how you activate the iso 3200 mode. Noise Ninja has different noise profiles for the 30D so I would imagine they wouldn't bother to do that unless there were some other differences in exposures etc.

I would like to hear from anyone with both bodies as to what other differences you've noticed in the two bodies. Thanks.:)

[timmciglobal]

Spot metering and ISO in viewfinder.

The high speed/low speed thing doesn't change things for me, the picture styles since I shoot raw means nothing, the 30D's screen still sucks outdoors but it's bigger.

Spot metering and ISO in viewfinder is nice though. If only it was like D200 and always on ISO in viewfinder :/

Tim

[te1221]

I'd be careful with the floor models.

Sometimes they can sit around without the lens on it and get mishandled or smudges on the mirror. Definitely double check to make sure it's clean but just be sure to be cautious.

I work in retail and I do know some of the cameras sold in the store i work out of can sometimes be handled in that way.

:(

[Scott6]

I have recently discovered the joys of spot metering and exposer lock in Av mode. So spot metering is a major plus for the 20d to the 30d for me.

I like the big LCD alot, but the rest of the stuff like the picture styles I don't care for since I shoot RAW.


That would be nice if it put the ISO in the viewfinder! So many times I forget to check it and i'm cough running a unnecessarily high ISO for a few shot before I reize it... most of the time its a little flag that pops up in my head that says "these shutter seem high for this lighting"


All and all, I say wait for the 40D

[suemccartin]

I'd be careful with the floor models.

Sometimes they can sit around without the lens on it and get mishandled or smudges on the mirror. Definitely double check to make sure it's clean but just be sure to be cautious.

I work in retail and I do know some of the cameras sold in the store i work out of can sometimes be handled in that way.

:(

So far so good, I did look for smudges on the mirror etc. It was so clean it looked like it just came out of the box. It said "customer return or floor model" that "could have been repaired" on the label, either way I got a 30D for a bargain price and after I sell the lens it will be a bigger bargain. Shot about two hundred pictures with it and so far so good, it does seem to have a different personality than my 20D. I thought the shutter button was touchy on the 20D, this one is even more touchy (might have been one of the things it was returned for possibly) so far can't take less than two shots in 5fps mode even if I lightly touch it like I do my 20D. Minor issues if you ask me. Mostly these get used for snaps and 8X10 so I'm not even sure I care about the other two megapixel the 40D will have and I think the 40D is also getting away from C size sensor (am I right or wrong) so I may not want it anyway because of the EFS lenses I own that won't work on anything but a C sensor body.