Upgrade or find another body?

firststring74

I have a Canon 20D. I love my camera and it seems to work great for what I am doing, mostly shooting horse shows (action photos) and some portrait work (barn visits). But the 20D isn't made anymore and I feel that to make somethings easier I need a second body. So do I buy a used 20D (scary in my opinion) or do I "upgrade" to a newer model? If I upgrade what would any of you recommend?
Thanks for any and all input!

ziggy53

If you "love" the Canon 20D, you would probably "Love" the 40D. Everything is faster, bigger display (a lot bigger), larger buffer and a "live view" when you need it.

The user interface is a lot different, so it takes a bit to get used to it, but it's not too bad.

Aaron Jors

If you are happy with the 20D I would say just get another 20D. If you feel you need more features that the 30D or 40D offer than I would consider upgrading. You can find a used 20D for a very very good price. Try looking in the Buy and Sell section on fredmiranda.com.

sirsloop

ziggy53 wrote:

If you "love" the Canon 20D, you would probably "Love" the 40D. Everything is faster, bigger display (a lot bigger), larger buffer and a "live view" when you need it.

The user interface is a lot different, so it takes a bit to get used to it, but it's not too bad.

The 40D is very very similar to the 20D as far as controls, except they used the 1D interface... which only really takes a bit to get used to. There is no scrolling down so its just a matter of tabbing around. Like Ziggy mentioned, the viewfinder is much nicer, the display is much nicer, there's a larger buffer, there's a dedicated AF-On button, the camera won't delete your photos in buffer if you power off, and the camera will auto-rotate images on your computer. Yes, no more manually rotating 10000 files. Those are probably the most noticable improvements. Apparently AF has been improved on the camera for lenses f/2.8 and faster. From another post the 40D w/ grip was mentioned to be like "a mini 1D". Soo... FORGET the 20D and move on to new and improved!

btw... horsey's!

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kdog

sirsloop wrote:

the camera will auto-rotate images on your computer. Yes, no more manually rotating 10000 files.

The 20D already has auto-rotate. Don't tell me you manually rotated 10,000 images.

Cheers,
-joel

sirsloop

I musta been thinkin about my XT... 20D auto-rotates but doesnt let you not rotate on the LCD right? I've seriously manually rotated like 25,000 image on my xt... its silly. I should have upgraded that thing a year ago.

kdog

sirsloop wrote:

20D auto-rotates but doesnt let you not rotate on the LCD right?

Right, you get both or nothing. Does the 40D let you separate computer rotation from the LCD rotation? That would be a win. I don't like LCD rotation, but computer rotation is a must. I don't have your patience.

Glenn NK

sirsloop wrote:

The 40D is very very similar to the 20D as far as controls, except they used the 1D interface... which only really takes a bit to get used to. There is no scrolling down so its just a matter of tabbing around. Like Ziggy mentioned, the viewfinder is much nicer, the display is much nicer, there's a larger buffer, there's a dedicated AF-On button, the camera won't delete your photos in buffer if you power off, and the camera will auto-rotate images on your computer. Yes, no more manually rotating 10000 files. Those are probably the most noticable improvements. Apparently AF has been improved on the camera for lenses f/2.8 and faster. From another post the 40D w/ grip was mentioned to be like "a mini 1D". Soo... FORGET the 20D and move on to new and improved!

btw... horsey's!

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We haven't seen too many complaints at potn have we? It seems that the 40D is a fairly major upgrade from the 30D, let alone the 20D.

It almost makes me with I had waited a year, but then I wouldn't have had a camera for a year.

ken

kdog wrote:

Right, you get both or nothing. Does the 40D let you separate computer rotation from the LCD rotation? That would be a win. I don't like LCD rotation, but computer rotation is a must. I don't have your patience.

Yes, the 40D lets you rotate on the PC but leave them un rotated on the camera LCD. It's great

Nikolai

Clarification on rotation
20D:
two options:
rotate or not (no difference between camera's LCD or PC)

30D/40D:
three options:
do not rotate, rotate on PC only, rotate on both PC and LCD.

I'm not familiar with Rebel line

sirsloop

Rebel XT = lcd rotation but no pc rotation
Rebel XTi = LCD and PC rotation, selected seperately.

IDK.. it may not seen like a huge feature, but its on of those features that gets used literally every time you hit the button. It was a REAL PITFA with that XT. Penny was shooting with that camera for a while and I literally asked her to not shoot portrait. It was such a pain. :cry

The LCD is another one that doesn't seem to be that important, but going from an XT/20d sized screen to a XTi/30D was HUGE... and now the 40D and 1DIII go even larger! Its FANTASTIC. I know all of the 1D guys are out buying the markIII simply because the LCD is huge.

firststring74

Thanks guys for all your input. I'll look around and see what I can find. I am going to play with the 40D and see of I like it (prob. will with what everyone is saying!). You guys are great, thanks for not putting a newbie down!

Christina

TylerW

Glenn NK wrote:

We haven't seen too many complaints at potn have we? It seems that the 40D is a fairly major upgrade from the 30D, let alone the 20D.

Try making the upgrade from a 10D! I feel like I have god's own camera in my bag now!

(which reminds me, I need to upgrade my profile!)