kcphotoz: October 2007

The EOS 40D becomes the sixth Canon 'prosumer' digital SLR, a line which started back in 2000 with the EOS D30, and how far we've come. It's been eighteen months since the EOS 30D and although on the surface the 40D looks like a fairly subtle upgrade there's a lot that makes this an even better camera. Of course we expect a step up in megapixels, and so the 40D comes with a ten million pixel CMOS sensor with the same sort of dust reduction as the EOS 400D, an ultrasonic platform which shakes the low pass filter.

Other improvements bring the EOS 40D closer into line with the EOS-1D series, these include a move to the same page-by-page menu system, both RAW and sRAW (2.5 MP), 14-bit A/D converter and 14-bit RAW, cross-type AF points for F5.6 or faster lenses, a larger and brighter viewfinder, interchangeable focusing screens, a larger LCD monitor (3.0") and faster continuous shooting (6.5 fps).

The main changes and improvement with the 40D according to Canon are:-
1. 10.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, compared to the 8.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor in the 20D/30D.

2. 3 or 6.5fps continuous shooting, compared to 3 or 5 fps in 30D and 5fps in 20D. Canon also

claimed 30% greater focusing speed with the 40D.

3. 75 jpeg or 17 RAW burst, compared to 30 jpeg or 11 RAW with 30D and 23 jpeg or 6 RAW

with 20D.

4. New AF sensors, 9 sensors, all cross-type, compared to 9 AF sensors only center sensor is

cross-type in 20D/30D

5. Digic III image processor, Digic II in 20D /30D

6. 3″ LCD 230,000 pixels, 2.5″ 230,000 pixels LCD in 30D and 1.8″ 118,000 pixels in 20D

7. Live View mode.

8. Automatic sensor cleaning.

9. Increased size in viewfinder view.

10. Interchangeable focusing screen.