The Canon EOS 20D, a semi-professional digital SLR camera, announced in August 2004, is a successor of the EOS 10D. Each new model of the Canon digital SLR lineup features something new, something that has not been seen before in models of this class.
Speaking of the Canon EOS-20D, first of all, it makes sense to talk about in what it distinguishes from its predecessor, because since the Canon EOS-10D release many nodes and modes have undergone significant changes.
The first and most significant improvement is a new 8.2 megapixel CMOS-matrix, which while maintaining the same size as the Canon EOS-10D, increases its resolution nearly 2 million pixels. Thus, the maximum resolution of the image makes up 3504x2336 pixels. In addition, owing to the use of new micro-lenses, the sensitivity has been greatly increased, and in comparison with the same values of sensitivity of its predecessor, the Canon EOS-20D matrix has a much smaller amount of color noise.
The time of start-up for the Canon EOS-20D has been significantly reduced as compared with the Canon EOS-10D, which time from activation the camera and up to the point when you can begin to operate is 2.5seconds, and with the Canon EOS-20D it takes only 0.2 seconds. The feature of continuous shooting has been greatly improved: the EOS 20D has a speed of continuous shooting of 5 frames per second, and duration of recording can be up to 23 frames. Such advancements are directly related to the fact that there is a new high-performance processor DIGIC II used in the EOS 20D. The Canon EOS-20D has a completely new 9-point autofocus system, previously not used. The layout of focus points in this new autofocus system resembles a crystal. The new system allows you to focus much faster and has greater range of sensitivity as compared to the Canon EOS-10D (detection limit in the new system is -0,5EV, against the previous 0,5EV).
The shutter has been also changed, which affected the range of exposures. The minimum shutter speed of the EOS 20D is now 1/8000 sec. (in the 10D it is 1/4000 sec.), and the flash X-sync speed becomes equal to 1/250 sec. unlike in the 10D with its 1/200 sec.
The custom menu has not changed fundamentally, except for its separate points and adding some new options. So, the option offering to set the level of contrast, color saturation, sharpness and color tone of the image has changed. Now these settings are separated from the color space, and the initial setting of each one has a higher value if compared with the Canon EOS-10D.
There is a new possibility in the user menu, which allows you to do settings for shooting black and white images. Moreover, in addition to black and white images you can produce toned images as well.
For you to conveniently operate with the white balance, and in particular with the balance bracketing, there has been developed a system of coordinates which helps to track the balance shift and set the appropriate value for adjustment or bracketing.
The set of user programs includes the opportunity to selectively disable the mode of noise suppression, occurring in the process of prolonged exposures.
Recording of image formats have not been changed, they are all the same JPEG, RAW, and RAW + JPEG. But the RAW + JPEG format has fundamentally changed. If this format previously was like the JPEG embedded in the RAW-file, now with each press of the shutter release button two different files are recorded simultaneously. They are JPEG-file (extension .JPG) and RAW-file (extension .CR2).
Transmission of information to a PC is now performed via the USB2.0 interface. Herewith the camera supports the PictBridge standard, which allows you to directly print photos, without using a computer.
Some changes have affected the design and ergonomics of the EOS 20D. The 20D is smaller and lighter than the 10D. The EOS 20D has a new battery grip BG-E2, which uses two Lithium-ion battery packs or six AA batteries. The built-in flash gets up almost twice as high, which slightly reduces the percentage of the red-eye effect in portraits. As well as an external flash, the built-in flash uses the E-TTL system to calculate the correct exposure, with accounting the distance to the object. The LED indicating an access to a memory card has changed its location. Now it is on the rear panel below the fast control dial.
The Canon EOS 20D features a huge number of professional functions and settings, but at the same time it can easily be used by a novice amateur. And the interest to this camera will not fade with years, as almost every day you can discover new modes and programs and experiment with them. So if you start shooting in scene modes (auto, sport, portrait, landscape, macro, night mode), when having mastered them, you can continue with creative modes, such as the shutter priority, aperture priority, manual mode, as well as the mode with the DOF priority.
Or shooting with the automatic white balance, you can gradually move to presets and manual adjustment of the balance. And the use of one or more external flashes can give you unexpected results, and it will be simply impossible for you to refrain from further experiments.
