Canon EOS 20D

If you're looking for an affordable yet full-featured D-SLR - one you can grow into if you're a digital novice or use as a backup body if you're a Canon digital pro - the Canon EOS 20D is easily your best choice in today's competitive market. The new camera has an introductory price identical to that of its predecessor, the EOS 10D, but it is a major step up in terms of resolution, operating speed, autofocus, and many other important attributes.

The EOS 20D's single biggest enhancement is its 8.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor. Working in tandem with Canon's new DIGIC II image-processing engine, it produces amazingly smooth, detailed output. In fact, at 2,336x3,504 pixels, its image files are big enough to make perfect 10x15-inch inkjet prints without resizing in Photoshop.

Canon EOS 20D

Our favorite digital SLR Camera

The Canon EOS 20D also exhibit very little noise, the digital equivalent of film grain. Equivalent-speed settings of ISO 100 to 400 are virtually noiseless; ISO 800 and 1600 are pleasingly filmlike; and ISO 3200 is perfectly usable. In practice, you can easily enlarge EOS 20D files to 16x20 inches and beyond.

The quality of pictures from the EOS 20D is all the more remarkable given that its image sensor is physically smaller than the one in its more expensive but same-resolution sibling, the Canon EOS-1D Mark II. Canon addresses the issue with lenses specifically matched to the reduced sensor size. These lenses, which are designated EF-S and work exclusively with the EOS 20D and EOS Digital Rebel, can be made smaller, lighter, and more affordable. With the EOS 20D and the right EF-S lens, you can get the same wide-angle coverage as you would with a standard EF lens mounted on a 35mm EOS camera. The amazing ultrawide Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM zoom, for example, offers the same angle of view range as the bigger, more expensive EF 16-35mm f/2.8L. Of course, the Canon EOS 20D will accept more than 50 standard Canon EF lenses, so you get the best of both worlds.

What's more, the Canon EOS 20D is swifter than its predecessor in virtually every respect. Start-up time, at just two-tenths of a second, is essentially instantaneous. Shutter lag is a mere 65 milliseconds. And with its 5 frames-per-second shooting speed, the EOS 20D smokes everything else in its price range, matching or surpassing several costlier cameras. Even better, you can shoot dozens of consecutive frames at maximum resolution. In addition, the new USB 2.0 port dramatically speeds data transfer between camera and your computer.

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Though the EOS-1D Mark II clearly offers more pro features, another area in which the EOS 20D shows its prowess in its impressive array of creative controls. These include 12 exposure modes, three metering patterns, and 18 custom shooting functions. There's also white balance shift/bracketing, a menu item that you access on the camera's color LCD screen. This control, which augments the EOS 20D's standard white balance settings, is set using a graphical color-temperature and with two axes - blue/amber and green/magenta. The EOS 20D also adds a unique black-and-white shooting mode with its own set of image parameter adjustments.

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Update (10/18/05) - DELL Home has the Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR Camera (body only) for $1099.20 after 20% OFF code ?K0?WQS72H1W0V (exp 10/20 or 2000 uses) and rebate, shipped free.

Update (6/6/05) - Another price drop at Amazon - now $1299.94 after rebate, shipped free.

Update (5/21/05) - $40 price drop at Amazon - $1319.94 after rebate, shipped free.

Update (4/27/05) - Price at Amazon has dropped by $19 since last week. It is now $1359.94 after rebate, shipped free.