40D Owners - Things you love and hate

FM Forum Rules
Canon SLRs, primes, and zooms lenses reviews

FM Forums \| Canon-mount SLRs \| Join Upload & Sell	Search Used
1 2 3 4 end

Archive 2008 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

EOS20
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

Ok here's a question for all the 40D owners as I thought it would make a interesting discussion.

What have been the best things you like from your camera, And the things you dislike. Are there anything you miss from previous models, Or other cameras you may have owned before, Or do you like everything Canon has done with this model.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Apr 25, 2008 at 01:49 PM

trenchmonkey
Online
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I keep mine around for the 1.6 crop, like it better than all the models that it replaced...
but even the improved AF can't touch a 1 Series.

Edited by trenchmonkey on Apr 25, 2008 at 07:47 AM GMT

Edited on Apr 25, 2008 at 02:47 PM

Apr 25, 2008 at 02:35 PM

jxsq
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

What I don't like when I use it for birds,

1. Don't have contrast AF during Live View.
2. image a tad soft, compare to other bodies. (AA filter?)
3. AF could be better, Al servo sensitivity should be adjustable.
4. no way to turn off 14 bits and use 12 bits instead.

Overall I think it is a very fine camera, and I love it.

Edited on Apr 25, 2008 at 02:47 PM

Apr 25, 2008 at 02:45 PM

Luis Pacheco
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love my 40D (far better than my 20D). It shines with all my L lenses.
And I love live view, sensor auto cleaning and so forth.
The LCD is nice but it could be better, though.

Apr 25, 2008 at 03:04 PM

sirimiri
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #5 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I played with a Nikon D3 the other day....by comparison, the 40D's screen is pretty poor.

Different cameras, I know, but I'd gladly tack another $150 onto the 40D for that quality screen, with that many pixels.

Apr 25, 2008 at 03:09 PM

EOS20
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

What I like:

*The larger sized viewfinder!
*The 3 "C" Modes.
*Anti dust sensor (Seems to work).
*Live view (Would be better if it had contrast AF mode).
*The Exposure simulator mode in liveview mode.
*The hand grip design.
*Interchangeable focusing screens.

What I don't like:

*The menu system, I liked the 20D menu where I could use the control wheel to scroll through the pages.

*The red write light being on during long exposures, And during any exposure. FWIR the 20D would only write to the card after the exposure was taken. (Really annoying when doing long exposures having the red light constantly on).

*The positioning of the menu button (Top left hand corner, Above the LCD). They should have put the stupid print button up there, And put the menu button with the other buttons that we actually use!

*The Soft images on the LCD screen (Canon really should have used a higher resolution LCD, Just like Nikon did on the D300).

*No Live view AF.
*The On/Off switch is not as good as the one on the 20D.
*The "Weathersealing" is a joke!

Edited on Apr 25, 2008 at 03:16 PM

Apr 25, 2008 at 03:12 PM

elader
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #7 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love the responsiveness and focus abbility, customization and ergonomics.

I hate questions like this. I dislike the LCD.

Apr 25, 2008 at 03:45 PM

Chris Beaumont
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love -

* The FPS
* The viewfinder
* That I can actually use the outer AF points now
* The AF-ON button
* The battery compartment door (I haven't bought a BG-E2N yet, so my BG-E2 is constantly swapping between my 30D and 40D)
* Quieter shooting mode in live view
* The finger groove
* The incredible detail sharpness when using my 85 1.8 or 24-70

I dislike -

* The red colour cast on my LCD screen
* That RAW files are now twice the size of my 30D ones
* The tiny, cheap feeling little buttons under the screen
* The CFs being broken down into 4 groups, so I can never remember which one contains MLU or HTP when I need it in a hurry
* The much louder "clack" when using DoF preview
* That they've changed the order of the buttons by the top LCD, and changed the layout so I have to remember whether I'm using 30D or 40D when I want to change ISO
* How Canon have rejigged the CPS membership requirements so I can't specify it as a "pro" camera and join like I could the 30D (not really the 40Ds fault

)

Apr 25, 2008 at 03:55 PM

colinandrew
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #9 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love the 1.6 crop factor

I hate the 1.6 crop factor

Apr 25, 2008 at 04:14 PM

drew.bowser
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #10 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love everything about it (Upgraded from a 10D) except for the poor resolution on the display.

Apr 25, 2008 at 05:03 PM

johnlo
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #11 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

better than the 20D i had. love the live view, too bad you cant AF unless the screen is off. LOVE the extra button "AF-ON". faster then 20D, overall it was worth the upgrade for me. and love the sensor cleaning. and shooting at higher ISO w/ less noise comparing to the 20D.

Apr 25, 2008 at 05:12 PM

kapytalyst
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #12 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

OK - opening myself up to some flames here but - using film terminology - colors from the 40d seem 'satiny' to me compared to my 10d, which seems to produce 'glossier' colors. To me my 40d's colors compare to those of the 1dM2, which is to say more realistic than those produced by my trusty, beloved old 10d. I've played around with the settings on my 40d, but can't produce the same color, eh, feel, as those from the 10d.

Anyone care to join me out here on the ledge?

Apr 25, 2008 at 05:54 PM

FKohl
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #13 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

Upgraded from a 20D:

Pros:

- The three custom modes (using two modes for my standard setups: C1 for flash, C2 for no flash; much quicker and safer to switch it, than to alter four or five settings manually each time I switch between the two setups; with the 20D it regularly happened to me that I forgot to change one of the settings required (e.g. ISO or Av/M ...) and noticed that too late)
- Anti-Dust (no more ugly specks after a day of shooting)
- LiveView (less creeping in the mud)
- silent shutter (compared to 20D)
- AF-ON button (in fact that button enables me to use AF sometimes - on the 20D you could move AF to the *-button, but that button is too exposed, so that I hit it accidentally too often, disastrous when it happens)
- Just one folder with images on the CF (not dozens at random as with the 20D)
- ISO in viewfinder
- returns to last viewed shot (not last taken) on the TFT

Cons:

- The TFT although much larger displays very soft data (I think it's not the TFT itself since I see the pixels, but the displayed preview data that lacks detail). I cannot judge if a shot is sharp based on what I see on the display - I see it first when processed by the RAW converter.
- Cannot disable shutter while the flash is recharging, so I get many black images (was the same with 20D)
- No AF-ON on BG-E2 so I cannot use AF when in portrait orientation; disturbing when the finger tries to find the button but it's not there.
- Three position on/off switch (same as with 20D; what's the purpose - annoying, since sometimes it's in the wrong position and I think the camera is ON, but it is partially OFF)

Overall the 40D is a great camera

Apr 25, 2008 at 06:38 PM

David Tognazzi
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #14 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

Pros: Pretty much what everyone else said. It's an awesome package.
Cons: The AA filter is too strong. Wish it was more like the 5D's AA filter.

Apr 25, 2008 at 07:02 PM

Esquire08
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love everything about the 40D at its price point. The feel is awesome, love love love the wheel, and the LCD on top is a great plus over the Rebel series.

Like noted, I'd improve the LCD, but that doesn't affect me.

You could suggest a lot of upgrades/updates, but that would increase the price.

Edited on Apr 25, 2008 at 07:05 PM

Apr 25, 2008 at 07:04 PM

Chris Beaumont
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #16 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

@FKohl - you can tell when the flash is recharged by the lightning icon in the viewfinder. Ok it's not the same as disabling shooting when the flash is recharging, but if you pay attention to it, you should avoid any black shots.

Chris

Apr 25, 2008 at 08:03 PM

Breitling65
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #17 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

EOS20 wrote:
Ok here's a question for all the 40D owners as I thought it would make a interesting discussion.

What have been the best things you like from your camera, And the things you dislike. Are there anything you miss from previous models, Or other cameras you may have owned before, Or do you like everything Canon has done with this model.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Main and only one thing in 40D that I don't like that shutter speed getting slower than on 5D with same conditions/aperture/ISO/lens. Especially bad with low lights and slow lens. Other than this it is excellent body for this money.

Apr 25, 2008 at 08:08 PM

Kelly Phillips
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #18 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

I love:
The menu system
Ability to change ISO while looking through the viewfinder
multidirectional thumb dial to select focus points
6.5 fps
IQ
The way it feels in my hands
alot of other stuff

I don't love:
LCD REsolution
thats about it

I don't use live view or the C1, C2, C3

Apr 25, 2008 at 08:25 PM

Mike Abbott
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #19 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

Positives:
*The viewfinder and it's 22mm eye relief. I'm a specs wearer...
* Better AF and general response / speed than my last body
* Generally feels good in the hand - if you're shooting 'landscape'.
* ISO in the viewfinder

Negatives:
* That LCD display - worse than useless for judging image sharpness - I feel the same way as FKohl on this matter.
* That the right hand side of the histogram is invisible in anything other than dim room lighting - so it can be difficult to judge optimum exposure.
* Poor fit and finish. My CF door has 'play' in it - which probably totally negates the effect of that sophisticated weather sealing Canon have applied... ('Cough')

Edited on Apr 25, 2008 at 08:46 PM

Apr 25, 2008 at 08:45 PM

FKohl
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #20 · 40D Owners - Things you love and hate

Chris Beaumont wrote:
@FKohl - you can tell when the flash is recharged by the lightning icon in the viewfinder. Ok it's not the same as disabling shooting when the flash is recharging, but if you pay attention to it, you should avoid any black shots.

Chris

That is true, but the problem is: I'm shooting insects and other small creatures, and usually they're small and they are moving more or less quickly, DOF is often less than a millimeter, so tracking e.g. a walking springtail with the MP-E takes 100% of my attention and still only about 20%-50% of the shots are properly focussed and properly composed, observing the various symbols in the viewfinder is just too much.
Also, when I see that e.g. a beetle will take off soon, I will try to press the shutter button in the very moment (in fact some fractions of a second before that...), so I will have to observe the beetle very carefully, and the probability is that I'm too quick at pressing the button, the flash takes some time to recharge, and I still have to observe the beetle, so I don't see the symbol down there indicating the flash status.

Apr 25, 2008 at 08:52 PM

1 2 3 4 end
FM Forums \| Canon-mount SLRs \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 3 4 end