Canon 40D Review

Overview

Canon EOS 40D
Overview

by Shawn Barnett, Dave Etchells, and Siegfried Weidelich
Preview Date: August 20, 2007
Full Review: October 24, 2007

Hardcore Canon digital SLR fans need wait no more for their next camera. The Canon 40D has arrived. Some updates that appear on the 40D are a little late, others are a sign of the times.

With the same rugged, conservative shape, the Canon EOS 40D will be mostly familiar, save for a few moved controls, an extra button or two, and a very large 3.0-inch LCD.

Its 10.1-megapixel sensor finally gives Canon's semi-pro digital camera parity with the majority of its competitors, and a 6.5-frame-per-second continuous mode helps speed things up over the current competition at this price level.

The Canon 40D also has an improved viewfinder, an enhanced Live View mode, better dust sealing, and the DIGIC III image processor that allows 14-bit analog to digital conversion for better color rendition. Canon's improved upon the standard 9-point AF array on the EOS 40D by making all points Cross-type, which, combined with other improvements, results in a claimed 30% greater AF speed.

Other additions on the Canon 40D include interchangeable focusing screens, a much-needed AF-ON button, the EOS Integrated Cleaning System for sensor dust reduction, and three new optional accessories: an IS version of the 18-55mm kit lens; a new backward-compatible, weather-sealed battery grip; and a new Wireless File Transmitter that will allow remote control of the camera as well as transmission of a Live View image from the camera to the computer.

At first blush, the Canon 40D consists mostly of incremental improvements, once again. The EOS 40D is not as groundbreaking as some would like, but it's arguable that serious photographers don't want to have to learn whole new ways using their main tools. It's also important to note that Canon's semi-pro SLRs, both the 20D and 30D, are much loved by their owners, producing excellent image quality despite the "mere" 8-megapixel sensor. The line in general has never been about sex-appeal, but about solid, reliable performance.

History. Canon's EOS SLR system is the oldest and still the largest lens line where the focus motor is built into the lens itself, with no mechanical coupling between the lens and camera body. Other lines, like Nikon, Pentax, and Minolta/Sony, have a mixture of "screw-drive" lenses and electronically coupled lenses. Dating back to 1987, the EOS (Electro-Optical System) line has a huge and growing selection of lenses, some of which Canon has recently updated to meet the greater demands of digital imaging technology.

As the first major manufacturer to use large CMOS sensors in their SLRs, Canon was an early leader in delivering amazing image quality from its sensors even at high ISO. Canon was also the first to deliver a digital SLR with a full-frame sensor, and they delivered it years before anyone else in the form of the 11.4-megapixel EOS-1Ds, which shipped in 2003 (see our preview of the latest in this line, the 1Ds Mark III, announced simultaneously with the EOS 40D). As of this writing, Canon is the only SLR manufacturer to ship a full-frame (35mm-sized) digital SLR.

And Canon was the first SLR manufacturer to introduce a digital SLR priced under $1,000, the EOS Digital Rebel (300D). That revolutionary SLR was also introduced on August 20, back in 2003.

Subsequent semi-pro SLRs from Canon got nearer the $1,000 mark, dropping from the EOS 10D's $2,000 to the 20D's $1,499. The 30D dropped to $1,399, and now the EOS 40D debuts at $1,299. Its price and improved functionality allow it to compete more favorably against both the more expensive Nikon D200 and less expensive Nikon D80, both of which had the 30D surrounded with a long list of impressive features, if not necessarily superior image quality (though both certainly have higher resolution than the 30D).

Canon EOS 40D User Report

by Shawn Barnett

A little bigger in so many ways, the Canon EOS 40D is nevertheless familiar. Canon made important additions, some to keep up with the market, and others to meet needs expressed by users. The final product is a mostly improved high-end digital SLR camera that, while not a compelling upgrade for most 20D and 30D owners, is a great digital SLR camera.

Look and feel. True to the line, the Canon EOS 40D appears very similar to its predecessors, especially the EOS 30D and 5D. From the back, however, there is one very large difference: the 3.0-inch LCD. Its influence on the back control layout is so great that they had to move four of the buttons that are usually arrayed to the left of the screen to the bottom, under the LCD. When it comes to viewing images, composing in Live View, or changing menu settings, the large LCD is great to have.

The Canon 40D's Rear Command dial and the Multi-controller joystick are roughly where they are on other models, including the 30D, EOS-5D, and EOS-1D Mark III.

Prominent on the back of the Canon 40D is one new button heretofore only seen on the 1D Mark III: the AF-ON button. Perched about where it is on the Nikon D200, this button's purpose is obvious: it activates autofocus. By default when shooting in Creative zone modes (Program, Shutter, etc.), it works much the same as a half-press of the shutter button.

Also of note from the back and top image below is the gasket around the hot shoe, designed to mate with and weather-seal the 580EX II flash, introduced earlier this year with the 1D Mark III.

Status. Click for callouts.

The top deck of the Canon 40D is more familiar, with only a few differences. The mode dial on the left has a few extra icons, C1, C2, and C3, which are convenient storage areas for oft-used configurations; a welcome addition. On the right, the major difference is a special area on the Status LCD dedicated to constant display of the current ISO, also optimized for the word "Auto," another interesting addition to the 40D's "Creative Mode" abilities (Auto ISO is the default in Full Auto and Scene modes). On past models, you had to press the ISO button to see the current setting.

Also new is a B/W icon to indicate Black and White mode, as well as a two-digit buffer capacity counter.

Grip. There's a nice comfortable divot for the long finger, and the front of the body has some sculpted relief as well.

Heft & Grip. The EOS 40D feels similar to the EOS 30D, weighing only 1.4 ounces more than its predecessor, and it's also very slightly larger in all dimensions, most noticeable is its height. The grip has a good-sized indent for the middle finger, as we've enjoyed on the EOS 5D and other recent SLRs we've handled. The indent on the 40D seems a little broader than the 5D, and a lot bigger than the 1D-series. Regardless of size, this divot improves control, and better centers the hand for the right grip every time.

Body. The Canon EOS 40D's body is still magnesium alloy, but Canon says they've improved seals against dust and water. New seals protect connection ports, the battery compartment, and the compact flash door. The frame is stainless steel, and the mirror box is high-strength engineering plastic. Holding the Canon 40D is like gripping a well-sculpted rock: solid, with no twisting or creaking. The EF lens mount is metal, compatible with all Canon EOS EF and EF-S lenses.

Canon EOS 40D vs Canon 20D

40D vs 20D. The 40D is a little larger in all dimensions, but not as noticeable except in the vertical height of the grip. The bright chrome of the Canon 40D's hot shoe really stands out in the top view.

Canon EOS 40D vs Digital Rebel XTi

Bigger difference. I thought I'd toss this one view in for Rebel XTi owners considering the upgrade. It is a significant difference stepping up from the XTi to the Canon 40D. And if you use an infrared remote on your XTi, note that you'll lose that capability with the 40D, because it has no infrared remote sensor. I've long thought this an incomprehensible omission, especially considering that to add a wireless remote to this series of prosumer Canon SLRs requires a ~$400 optional accessory, while Rebel owners can have this functionality with a $25 RC-1 remote control.

LCD. Also stepping up in size from the EOS 30D is the main color LCD display, now at 3.0 inches. The brightness has been raised as well, to help with bright sunlit conditions, and they both broadened the available color gamut of the display and narrowed the available viewing angle to 140 degrees. Canon says this concentrates more of the light in a smaller cone, rather than spreading it out over a 170 degree area. That means fewer people can crowd around you to see your pictures -- which could be a good thing -- but those who find room will see a brighter image. It also means that you have a dimmer view of the LCD when holding the camera at extreme angles and shooting in Live View mode.

Live View. Speaking of Live View, the Canon EOS 40D's implementation is enhanced when compared to Canon's first Live View camera, the 1D Mark III. If you set C.Fn III-6-1, you can press the AF-ON button to close the mirror and autofocus; release it and Live View returns. This is the same basic technique we've seen on the Olympus E-510, except the Canon 40D doesn't display the selected focus points like the Olympus models do; you can see them if you look through the viewfinder, but that rather defeats the purpose.

You can also magnify the image by five or ten times to check and fine-tune focus in Live View mode, and move the magnification area around with the Multi-controller. This works remarkably well. Once you've achieved focus, either press the Enlarge button again to return and frame, or trip the shutter, and you're shown the captured image and returned to the non-magnified view.

Canon also offers that using Live View on a tripod can reduce vibration by moving the mirror out of the way long before the exposure is made via the shutter mechanism. Unlike the E-510, the 40D doesn't drop the mirror to verify exposure and focus before firing, which should result in faster shutter lag times. Unfortunately that makes capturing moving subjects in Live View mode a little more difficult.

The Live View Function is only available in "Creative Zone" modes -- Program, Shutter, Aperture, and Manual modes -- not in Scene modes. Below is a sample shot that shows a few of the onscreen details in Live View mode.

To bring up the Histogram display, you have to turn on the Live View exposure simulation option under Custom Function IV: Operation/Others. Unfortunately, the histogram is not translucent as I'm used to seeing on digital cameras with live histograms, so it blocks a significant part of the frame. You can turn it on and off with a few presses of the Info button, however. Not shown in the photo above is the optional grid for framing and alignment.

As I've mentioned with the Four-Thirds cameras, Live View is great to have on occasion, but I don't recommend it for most of your shooting. Canon seems to have tuned the system to work more for tripod-mounted shooting. They've added two optional modes to reduce noise in Live View mode. Called "Silent Modes," the first leaves the first shutter curtain open while you fire off up to 6.5 frames per second.

First a little explanation. It turns out that the new CMOS sensor is a little more special than we thought, performing a trick more common on CCD sensors, yet still requiring a little assistance. Regardless of the camera, at high speeds, a mechanical shutter never fully exposes the sensor. On the 40D, in order to get a fast exposure above 1/250 second (the X-sync on the 40D), the second curtain has to follow right behind the first, creating a slit that moves across the sensor. Well, it turns out that the 40D's sensor can simulate the first part of this mechanical slit by scanning the pixels in a line from top to bottom. Then the second curtain does have to come into play to close off the slit and finish the exposure. That means you can open both mirror and shutter once to enter Live View mode, then fire off 6.5 frames with only the sound of the second shutter, because the mirror and first curtain don't move.

Mode 1 is quite fast, with less noise and vibration, both because the mirror's not flapping around, and because of the electronic first curtain trick. When shooting in RAW mode, it takes about 14 seconds for the final image to display and another two to return to Live View (this depends on the Review Time you have set).

The other quiet mode, Mode 2, is more about spreading the sounds out. It's a single-shot mode, regardless of what Drive mode you have set before you enter Live View. Just press and hold the shutter down. All you hear is a quick "tick." That's the second curtain shutting. The image appears onscreen for two seconds, and then the screen goes black, because the second curtain is still closed. Hold the shutter for as long as you like. When you decide to release it, the rest of the camera functions will run, resetting for the next shot, and Live View will return to the LCD. These reset sounds are also pretty quiet, so I'm sure Mode 2 would be helpful when photographing wildlife.

Like the 1D Mark III, the Canon 40D can be remote controlled via USB cable or WiFi with the included software, and a full Live View from the sensor can be displayed on a computer screen. This connection can be made via USB or via WiFi with the optional WFT-E3A (more on that below).

LCD Status Display. Because the Canon 40D has a monochrome Status LCD on the top deck, its LCD by default does not have a Status display like the Rebel XTi. But press the Info button, and you can see the camera's overall status, then a second press brings up a status display that's similar to the XTi's (you can set one or the other to display by default in the Setup Menu). You can't navigate it like you can with recent Olympus and Sony digital SLRs, but if you press certain buttons while in this mode, you'll get a corresponding screen for those items.

For example, press the Metering Mode/White Balance Selection button, and you can use the Main dial on the top deck to adjust the Metering Mode, and the Quick Control dial on the back to adjust White Balance. In some circumstances, like when operating the camera high on a tripod, this is helpful, removing the need to peer up over the back of the camera to the other status display. Because it leaves the LCD backlight on, however, it will burn a little more power. Unlike the XTi, there are no infrared sensors on the back of the Canon 40D to sense when you put your eye to the camera, so there will be a little extra glare to contend with when shooting with the Info display on.

Viewfinder. The 40D's viewfinder has also been improved, with a welcome magnification increase to 0.95x, up from the 30D's 0.90x magnification. The viewing angle is increased to 264 degrees, up from 251, and the eyepoint is raised by 2mm: 22mm instead of 20mm on the 30D. There is a slight difference when I use the Canon 40D with my glasses, as I don't have to squint as much as I do with the 20D or Rebel XTi. For the record, the XTi is actually even less magnified than the 20D, something I can see clearly when holding both cameras up to my eyes. I don't recommend doing this in public, because you look pretty silly, but you can take my word that it is indeed a good, if subtle, improvement over both past cameras.

Though the viewfinder display is similar to the 30D, Canon has added a constant ISO display, a Black and White shooting mode icon, and a two-digit maximum burst display counter. These improvements bring the 40D more in line with current benefits found in the Nikon D200. It is nice to be able to change the ISO on the fly without having to take your eye out of the viewfinder. Once you know your button locations by touch, it all comes together. See the Viewfinder section under the Operation tab.

Focusing Screens. Finally, Canon has added the ability to change the 40D's focusing screen. Two optional "Ef" focusing screens are available in addition to the standard screen (which is called "Ef-A"). The Ef-D screen is a precision matte design with a grid overlay, for verifying horizon lines and perspective. The Ef-S screen has a Super Precision Matte design that should allow for finer focusing with fast lenses (those with maximum apertures under f/2.8). Both are priced at $45 each.

Sensor. The Canon 40D's sensor is based on the 10.1 megapixel unit in the Digital Rebel XTi. Each pixel is 5.7 microns, down from the 30D's 6.4 microns, but Canon has compensated with a finer grid array that allows for larger microlenses. The added light gathering ability enables inclusion of ISO 3,200, which was left out of the Digital Rebel XTi. I admire Canon's care when deciding what maximum ISO to allow on a given camera. In an era when companies are overreaching in pixels and ISO numbers to pad the spec sheet, Canon seems to be making careful analysis, improving technology incrementally, and setting maximum limits to assure greater image quality.

Image sizes from the Canon 40D are identical to the XTi, recording a maximum image of 3,888 x 2,592 pixels. The focal length crop factor remains 1.6x.

The Canon 40D's sensor has obviously been enhanced to support Live View mode as well.

Canon says one of the ways they've gained speed with the 40D is by adding a four-channel-per-line sensor readout. Faster readout makes for faster followup shots, and surely helps with Live View.

A new sRAW mode captures a "small-RAW" image, with all the benefits of RAW capture, but at a smaller size. Some photographers have requested sRAW for shooting pictures that they know they won't be printing large, but that they know they're going to need to adjust after capture. Wedding photographers in particular will use RAW for portraits, but switch to sRAW for candids. Then they don't have to burn the massive amounts of card and post-capture disk space on snapshots that will never be printed larger than 4x6 inches. The buffer can also hold more in sRAW mode, so it's a smart option, even if it's only for a few 40D customers.

Shutter. The shutter and mirror mechanisms in the Canon EOS 40D have also been beefed up to support 6.5 frames per second. Each now has its own motor dedicated to its function, probably both to speed things up and enable Live View's quiet modes without the shutter being dependent on the motor for the mirror mechanism. The overall shutter mechanism has an expected life of 100,000 cycles. It's also Canon's quietest shutter to date, with no annoying winding sound.

Processor. Image quality is further improved on the 40D thanks to the new DIGIC III processor, which enables 14-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion. This means that the saved images are formed from four times the color information than was available to the Canon EOS 30D, which was only able to recognize 4,096 colors per channel. The 40D can recognize 16,384 colors per channel, which should mean smoother tones and more accurate color overall. Though JPEGs will still be saved as 8-bit color, RAW images will benefit from the 14-bit depth, making for more accurate 16-bit images in programs like Photoshop.

DIGIC III is also expected to deliver 1.7 times faster signal processing, and lower power consumption.

Highlight Tone Priority. The new DIGIC III processor also allows the 40D the same Highlight Tone Priority (HTP) mode first seen in the 1D Mark III, introduced earlier this year. HTP is designed to keep highlights from blowing in brightly lit scenes, a common problem with digital cameras.

HTP starts at ISO 200, and while it will improve retention of highlights, it will introduce more noise in the shadows, as shown below. To see the benefits of HTP, see the Exposure tab.

Highlight Tone Priority Disabled. Note that this is the deep shadow area of our simulated outdoor shot with the mids turned way up (2.66). It's actually pretty impressive detail retention, considering that his area is very dark. ISO is set to 100.	Highlight Tone Priority Enabled. Here you can see where the detail is lost in the shadows thanks to greater noise, since HTP mode shifts most of the dynamic range to the brighter end of the histogram. Because the model moved here, there was actually more light hitting the fingers, which should have produced more detail. ISO is set to 200, the lowest available in HTP mode.

When you set Highlight Tone Priority to Enable in the Custom Function menu (under Image), the Canon 40D's ISO is restricted to between 200 and 1,600. To let you know that you are in HTP mode, all ISO settings will read with smaller zeros: ISO 200 becomes ISO 2oo. This is true for the top Status display, the rear Status display, and the Viewfinder display, as well as when reviewing the images in Playback mode. Canon also notes that noise in shadow areas will be higher in HTP mode. For more on this see our Imatest page.

Dust cleaning. All new Canon SLRs from the XTi on include the EOS Integrated Cleaning System. Not only does the system shake dust from the low-pass filter, but the camera has been designed to shed less dust from its internal parts, so that the camera's creating less dust of its own. You can also clean the sensor yourself (as you'll inevitably need to do regardless of any built-in anti-dust system as of this date); but if you've found dust in your images and have no time to do a full manual cleaning, you can map the dust for later removal on a computer with Canon's Digital Photo Professional software, bundled with the camera.

Software. Both the 40D and 1Ds Mark III benefit from several new and improved items in the software bundle. The main new item is Canon's Picture Style Editor 1.0, an application that allows photographers to create their own processing parameters, as well as download them from Canon's website. Settings like style, color, and tone curves can be programmed to suit a given photographic situation and then be distributed among several cameras. The EOS 40D is already shipping, long before the 1Ds Mark III, so it will include Digital Photo Professional 3.1 and EOS Utility 2.1, which are necessary for Remote Live View mode and the Dust Delete Data function. The 1Ds Mark III will ship with DPP 3.2 and EOS Utility 2.2. These later versions are designed to speed up workflow, but will also offer improved image processing capability. A new Lens Aberration Correction Function can compensate for chromatic aberration, vignetting, color blur, and distortion. This version will initially be compatible with 11 other cameras and 29 EF and EF-S lenses.

Storage and Battery. Images are stored on CompactFlash cards, Type I or II, including Microdrives. No news here, except that buffer capacity is greater, handling up to 75 JPEG or 17 RAW images before slowing down. One caution I found in the manual is that Canon recommends against using Microdrives when shooting in Live View mode, as the drive's additional heat can combine with the heat generated by the sensor and start to degrade images. Worthy of note.

The Canon EOS 40D uses the same BP-511A that the EOS 30D uses, and is compatible with the BP-511 and BP-512. The DIGIC III processor is said to offer lower power usage, but that's likely taken up by other functions, like the bigger and brighter 3.0-inch LCD display. The 40D is expected to capture around 1,100 shots with the BP-511A, just like the 30D; reduced to around 800 shots at freezing temperatures. Since I've used Live View a lot in my testing, I was surprised to see the battery die more quickly than I'm used to. The good news for existing 20D and 30D owners is that they likely already have a few batteries at the ready to swap in if need be.

Autofocus. Still in a 9-point diamond array, the EOS 40D's f/5.6 autofocus points are all cross-type, meaning that they're all sensitive to vertical or horizontal lines. Nestled in the center is an additional precision AF sensor that is arrayed diagonally and comes into play when you mount a lens of f/2.8 or faster. It has the advantage of detecting both horizontal and vertical lines simultaneously, adding another dimension to the overall capability of the AF array.

Canon says that the various improvements make the EOS 40D's autofocus calculation speed 30 percent faster and more accurate than the EOS 30D, and better in low light. The 20D and 30D have what I consider to be the best low light AF system on the market for the price, focusing on a person lit only by a television screen, and it does seem that the 40D can best them in some situations.

However, there have been quite a few situations where the Canon 40D kept on seeking when the 20D just quickly found and locked focus, specifically when the 40D was in Multi-point AF mode. I've found a few situations where the Canon 40D just seeks and seeks, and never stops. Most cameras give up after a few seconds. This is the first autofocus SLR of any make that I've seen do this. You can turn Focus Seek off in the Custom Function menu, but that still doesn't stop the endless seeking. Oddly, this occurs more for me in vertical mode.

In horizontal mode, Dave had a heck of a time getting the Canon 40D's top center AF point to focus on Marti's hair during the indoor shots. Hair isn't the best place to focus, of course, but it works well enough when we do it with other cameras. In Dave's case, the camera said it was in focus, but it was either front- or back-focusing.

When shooting a soccer match in AI Servo mode recently, the Canon 40D had a hard time finding and keeping focus on my subject. It was usually okay if I could keep the player over the center point, but not always. It still randomly focused many yards behind a player for one frame, then snapped back to proper focus, then back out. Soccer is an extreme example -- and I am spoiled by shooting the 1D Mark II N, and even the 1D Mark III -- but the 20D does better than the 40D in these situations. I got better results shooting in AI Focus mode, which is probably more appropriate for a more random movement game like soccer.

Shooting. As one familiar with shooting everything from a Rebel XTi to a 1D Mark III, I find the Canon EOS 40D very easy to use. Many of its control features go back to the 3.25-megapixel Canon D30, Canon's original digital SLR (not to be confused with the 8-megapixel 30D), and most of those controls came from earlier EOS cameras; so if you're familiar with EOS, you'll probably find the Canon 40D as familiar as I do.

I like the grip change, and the big screen combined with the new navigation method (introduced on the 1D Mark III) make menus very easy to navigate. Since I regularly shoot a Rebel XTi and a 20D as well, I do have to readjust as I move from camera to camera. With the 20D I'm used to just spinning the Quick control dial on the back to get through the menus, using Jump to move from category to category. With the XTi, however, I have to use the navigator buttons for most menu selections. The 40D uses the Multi-controller more than the 20D or 30D did, and it's not always clear when one control will work and the other won't, so be aware that this will take some adjustment if you're upgrading from another EOS.

Once you get used it, it's quite a bit easier to navigate a tabbed menu when you don't have to scroll all the way to the top to move between tabs; instead, you just move the Multi-controller left and right. Perhaps more convenient, the last selected menu item stays highlighted as you move from tab to tab; that's helpful if you're adjusting the same parameter over and over.

Despite my problems with autofocus as mentioned above, I generally shoot with a single AF point selected; and mostly that's the center AF point. I haven't had nearly the trouble I had with the multi-point mode selected. In low light, the Canon 40D outperforms the EOS 20D and Rebel XTi. The 20D and 30D do better than the XTi with the same subjects and same lens, and the 40D bests them all. My former extreme test subject of a person in light from a television proved the 40D better than all three. Testing in the lab proved that the EOS 40D does even better than the company claims, focusing accurately at less than -0.5 EV (1/4 foot candle), all the way down to 1/16 foot candle, the lowest light level we test. Of course, that's with a high-contrast black and white test target, and we have no way of knowing what Canon's test conditions are.

Portrait shoot. Shot after shot with the Canon 40D and EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro was beautifully exposed and sharply focused. The Canon 40D performs very well in a controlled environment. (Click, and then click again to see the full-size image.) Download the 12.5MB CR2 RAW file here.

In summary, I've found the Canon 40D's AF system to be stronger in some ways and weaker in others when compared to the more predictable 20D and 30D AF system. I got more consistent results in single-point AF mode.

Image quality. As is typical of this particular line of Canon digital SLR cameras, images from the Canon 40D are excellent. High ISO images printed at 13x19 inches are usable from ISO 100 to 800, with little noticeable noise, and little evidence of noise suppression. You can see a more gradual degradation as you move up the ladder when viewing onscreen at 100 percent, but it's hardly noticeable when printed. Impressive.

I managed the time to shoot in my basement studio, and the results are quite crisp, made easier by the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens. The camera didn't miss a beat, and before long I had a few dozen shots of my daughter all gussied up. There were very few out-of-focus shots, which was a surprise after all the other experiences I had, but most cameras I test do well with my simple studio lighting setup.

Overall my experience with the Canon 40D was very good. The troubles I had with the Multi-point AF system disappeared when I switched to my usual single-point shooting mode, and I'm guessing that most photographers considering the 40D will care as much about the Multi-point AF problem as if I said that the Landscape mode underexposed by one stop (it doesn't; that's just an example). Most of the 40D's target audience won't use either mode. However, if you do use Multi-point AF on occasion, and especially if you're already used to a 20D or 30D, be prepared for an occasional mis-focus now and then. The older models weren't perfect, to be sure, but the 40D's behavior often caught me by surprise.

Kit Lens. Canon didn't get us one of the EF 28-135mm IS lenses that is bundled with the kit version of the 40D, but I was still able to shoot with my own. It's an older design, so it doesn't focus quite as fast as the newer 17-85mm EF-S lens, and its image stabilization system isn't as advanced as others, but it's a great optic in its own right, made better by the crop factor, which cuts out most corner softness. It also looks and feels great on the larger Canon 40D body, striking a good balance. The only major drawback is the lack of a true wide angle, since 28mm is roughly equal to a 45mm lens on a 35mm camera. On the plus side, the 135mm end is equivalent to a 216mm lens, which makes it a good medium-to-telephoto lens without a lot of chromatic aberration to worry about, all for only about $200 extra. It's a very good lens for the money, and doesn't suffer from the same magnitude of distortion and chromatic aberration found on the EF-S 17-85mm.

Though I prefer to shoot with primes when I can, this lens is an excellent all-around choice for general photography.

Accessories.

Vertical grip. You can expand the EOS 40D's battery capacity by adding the new optional Battery Grip: BG-E2N. The new grip is water and dust sealed, and doubles the number of shots possible when you load two BP-511A batteries. The BG-E2N also includes a tray for loading six AA batteries as a backup power solution. The pack serves as a vertical grip, with complete duplication of the controls found on the 40D's main grip. The new grip is also backward compatible with the EOS 20D and 30D. This accessory will be priced at $270.

Wireless grip. If you'd rather have WiFi than extra shots, you can opt for the Canon WFT-E3A. Also serving as a vertical grip for the Canon 40D, the WFT-E3A offers 802.11b/g compatibility via an access point or ad hoc (direct to a computer).

Expected range is 492 feet (150m), and supported protocols are FTP, PTP, and HTTP. Security methods include Open, shared key, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK with encryption options for WEP, TKIP, AES, and IPsec (they lost me at WEP, but the rest sounds important). You can use the USB 2.0 High-speed connection to attach GPS devices or flash memory keys; and an RJ-45 Ethernet 100 port is also built in. A small LCD reports the different available settings, what file sizes are being stored to an external device or computer, and signal and battery strength. The WFT-E3A is not backward compatible, but exclusive to the 40D.

Taking a brief look at the EOS 40D's bottom panel, you can see why. Unlike the battery grip, the Wireless grip doesn't provide power to the camera. Instead, both the camera and transmitter need their own BP-511A to operate. The WFT-E3A communicates with the camera via contacts under the rubber door you see in the bottom's upper left corner. Though we haven't received a WFT-E3A for testing yet, it appears you'll need to remove the unit to change batteries in the 40D.

Lenses. Introduced simultaneously with the Canon 40D is a third version of the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 that first debuted with the Digital Rebel. Oddly, however, this new image-stabilized lens won't be bundled with the EOS 40D. We're told that the new optic isn't much bigger, because they used one of the new smaller stabilizer motors from the PowerShot line of digicams. The system is supposed to deliver up to 4 stops of latitude when shooting in low light. The new lens is compatible with any EF-S camera, and will be available in October for $199.99.

Pricing and Availability. The Canon EOS 40D is available body-only for $1,299 suggested retail. It will also be bundled with the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM mentioned above for $1,499. That's only $200 more for a good quality, image-stabilized lens that retails for between $400 and $500. The Canon EOS 40D began shipping in September 2007.

Analysis. At long last Canon intermediate and pro photographers have a new tool, one with a quite a few advanced features and a little more resolution. It's still familiar, and works pretty well. Most important, though, is its excellent image quality. See the Exposure tab for more on that. This series of digital SLR has always been more practical and purposeful than flashy or showy. It's somewhat analogous to a Milwaukee Sawzall, a funny looking saw that doesn't seem too useful or appealing until you see it open a door by ripping through its hinges, something it does in mere seconds. Now that's a saw. The Canon 40D doesn't blow your mind when you first see it or run through its specs, but wait until you see the photos: You'll be hooked.

For me, it's not about Live View or the larger LCD, nor even the higher resolution, but the faster frame rate is good, the sealed body is reassuring, and the larger viewfinder is always welcome. The new menu is easier to use and the grip is a pleasure to hold. The final bit of excellence is how many aspects of the Canon 40D are similar to previous models. Because, frankly, they weren't broke and didn't need fixin'.

Canon 40D Basic Features

• 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor
• Kit lens EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
• Optical Viewfinder plus Live View via LCD
• 3.0-inch LCD
• ISO range of 100 to 3,200
• Shutter speeds: 30 second to 1/8000
• Uses Compact Flash Type I and Type II, Microdrive
• Lithium-ion battery
• 5.7 x 4.3 x 2.9 inches (146 x 108 x 74mm)
• 29.7 ounces (844 grams)
• MSRP: $1,299 body-only, $1,499 kit

Canon 40D Special Features

• 6.5 fps continuous-mode speed (30D was 5 fps)
• 75 large/fine JPEG, 17 RAW buffer size (30D was 28 large/fine frames)
• sRAW mode, 1/4 resolution RAW format
• New Live View mode (similar to 1D Mark III, but enhanced)
• Live View mode allows AF by pressing AF-ON button (drops mirror to focus)
• Live View mode offers 5x/10x magnification to aid manual focusing
• Live View mode has electronic 1st-curtain shutter option for fast, quiet shutter release
• 14-bit digitization (up from 12-bit)
• Highlight Tone Priority mode
• All 9 AF points are cross-type
• Center AF point offers enhanced accuracy along both axes with lenses f/2.8 or faster
• Expanded metering range, down to EV 0 (30D went to EV 1)
• AE system adds 3 "Custom" modes
• LCD is brighter than 30D's, but viewing angle is reduced to 140 degrees from 170.
• 7-step LCD brightness adjust (30D was 5 steps)
• Expanded custom function menu (24 vs 17 for 30D)
• Menu format follows tabbed design of 1D Mark III
• Ultrasonic sensor cleaning system (Similar to Rebel XTi)
• DIGIC III processor (up from DIGIC II)
• Manual color temperature range extends down to 2,500K (30D was 2,800K)
• Viewfinder magnification 0.95x (up from 0.90x on 30D)
• Viewfinder eyepoint raised from 20 to 22mm
• Interchangeable focusing screen (30D's screen is fixed)
• More information in viewfinder readouts
• Compatible with Picture Style Editor (PSE) software to adjust style, color, and tone curves
• Compatible with latest Digital Photo Professional and EOS Utility 2.1 to support Remote Live View and Dust Delete Data functions

In the Box

The Canon EOS 40D ships with the following items in the box:

• EOS 40D body (plus 28-135mm lens if purchased as a kit)
• Body cap (plus front and back lens caps if kit is purchased)
• Wide Strap EW-100DGR
• Battery Charger CG-580
• Battery Pack BP-511A
• USB Interface Cable IFC-200U
• Video Cable VC-100
• Software, including Digital Photo Professional for RAW conversion

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity CompactFlash memory card. These days, a 1GB or 2GB card is inexpensive enough.
• Camera case for protection
• Accessory lenses

Conclusion

The new Canon 40D offers a very mature set of features in a camera that's priced lower than its predecessors. It also offers as much value and image quality as competing designs that are hundreds of dollars more. Canon's pro SLR designs have always been conservative, and they didn't try to leap-frog the market with a higher resolution sensor; instead they stuck to a 10-megapixel sensor size that would deliver the quality that Canon fans are used to.

Live View is the most significant advancement in technological terms in the Canon 40D, offering a true 100% view of the image, as well as the ability to zoom in either five or ten times to focus manually, or verify focus. You do have to enable the AF-ON button with a Custom Function, but once you do, you can autofocus in Live View mode with just a brief interruption of the LCD display. The 40D's new quiet shooting modes should make nature photography a little easier, thanks to the innovative electronic first curtain. The Canon 40D's faster frame rate of 6.5 frames per second is a nice speed improvement, and the larger image buffer means you can capture more images than before. Canon's inclusion of Highlight Tone Priority has made the EOS 40D even more suitable for portrait and wedding photography,

The Canon 40D's larger LCD is a welcome improvement as well, offering more space for image review, and a very clear look at menu items and the new Status display. The new menu system is easy to use once mastered, and the addition of ISO to both the monochrome Status display and viewfinder makes adjusting and monitoring the Canon 40D easy.

As I've said in the past about other cameras in the line, the Canon EOS 40D is an excellent photographic tool, slightly evolved to take advantage of recent technological advances. This time there are more bells and whistles, but they don't take away from the Canon 40D's ability to make great pictures. The Canon EOS 40D is a sure Dave's Pick.

Design

Canon EOS 40D Design

Roll-over the various controls and features with your mouse for a brief description.

Front. The front of the Canon EOS 40D has the same basic set of controls found on other models in the line. The grip is great, with a nice divot for the middle finger and a good rubber surface. Though there's a textured grip surface on the left, it's too tapered for easy holding with the left hand (see top view).

Left. Here on the left side are the new rubber doors, similar to the doors on the EOS 5D. They're a little neater and easier to use than the doors on the 20D and 30D.

Right. Here you can see the grip indent. The CF card door is pretty similar to other doors in the line, and swings freely rather than springing open.

Top. Here you can see another traditional layout that will be familiar to most anyone familiar with other prosumer Canon SLRs.

Back. Here you can see the radical departure from the normal array of buttons on the left of the display. They've been pushed down under the LCD, a change that may explain the extra overall height to the Canon 40D. The only other major change is the addition of the AF-ON button and the seal around the hot shoe, which mates to the new 580EX II flash introduced earlier this year.

Bottom. Here there are two changes, one visible, and one hidden. To the lower right is the new rubber door that conceals the WiFi grip ports. The hidden item is the far simpler design to the battery door hinge. The old design had a springloaded steel pin holding the battery door in place, but the 40D's door hinge uses a plastic cam design commonly found on Nikon SLRs: Just open the door about 45 degrees and pull straight out. It's not nearly as confidence-inspiring, but will probably serve just fine if you're careful.

Operation

Canon EOS 40D Operation

The Canon 40D has an enhanced interface, with both the traditional monochrome Status LCD and viewfinder LED display, and a rear Status display that can be brought up on the 3-inch LCD. Finally, Live View mode also has a Status display, including a live histogram.

The control layout is also revamped somewhat to make room for the larger rear LCD. Fortunately, except for the buttons left of the LCD, button placement is almost identical to past models in the series, which makes adding the 40D to your collection that much easier. However, menu navigation is different, employing both the Multi-controller and the Quick command dial on the back. The Set button in the middle of the Quick command dial also serves to activate Live View mode. Let's go over a few aspects of the new interface.

Canon EOS 40D Top-Panel LCD Display

The Canon 40D features a top-panel LCD display, which reports practically all of the camera's main exposure and menu settings. The display is black and white, and only shows the settings that are applicable during use, though the illustration below shows the full range of settings that can appear. (Illustration courtesy Canon USA.)

The 40D's rear panel LCD monitor also offers two information displays: One that's similar to the Status display on the Canon Rebel XTi, and a broader overview display that uses more text than icons.

Additionally, the EOS 40D's rear-panel LCD monitor can be used as a viewfinder, via the camera's Live View mode (see the Viewfinder tab). A small sampling of exposure information appears on-screen, and if the Exposure Simulation option is enabled, the image display reflects what the expected exposure outcome will be. An optional histogram can display, but unfortunately it isn't translucent, completely blocking that upper right quadrant.

Canon EOS 40D Playback Displays

The display mode used in Record Review is the same as was last used in Playback mode, or you can hit the DISP button to cycle to a different mode. Likewise, in Playback mode, you can cycle between the available display options by pressing the DISP button repeatedly. You can also select between the normal luminance-based histogram and the new RGB histogram option via a Playback-mode menu item. The screenshots below show the various displays and options available.

Canon EOS 40D Image Display Options
This is the default display in playback mode. The file number is displayed upper right, the shutter speed and aperture are shown to the left.	Pressing the INFO button cycles through the three available displays. This is the second option, which adds an overlay of the resolution and quality settings, as well as the file number in the series.
The EOS 40D's third playback display option adds a luminance histogram and more detailed exposure information.	The fourth playback display includes an RGB histogram in addition to the luminance histogram, but with less overall information.
You can also zoom in on an image, up to 10x at the highest resolution. The small navigator window in the lower right-hand corner shows you what part of the larger image you're currently viewing. The arrow keys let you navigate around the full image, and the zoom in / zoom out keys increase or decrease the magnification level.
If you press the Zoom Out button while viewing a single image on the LCD screen, it'll take you to a four-image, then a nine-image thumbnail display. The arrow keys let you navigate among the thumbnail images. The overlay text displays the same basic exposure info for the currently-selected image as does the default single-image display.	Pressing the Jump button allows you to jump by 1 image, 10 images, 100 images, by screen, or by capture date.

Optics

Canon EOS 40D Optics

Lens Compatibility

The Canon EOS 40D will work with pretty much any EF-mount lens ever made, as well as with the special EF-S lenses designed for cameras with APS-C size sensors. Designed with a smaller image circle (the area covered by the image on the film/sensor plane), EF-S lenses tend to be smaller and lighter than full-frame models with the same focal length and maximum aperture. EF-S lenses can't be used on full-frame Canon cameras, nor on their models with 1.3x crop factors, like the current EOS-1D Mark III, but small-sensor cameras like the 40D can use any full-frame lenses in Canon's arsenal.

The sub-frame sensor on the Canon 40D means that it has a smaller angle of view (by a factor of 1/1.6x) than a full-frame camera with any given lens. While most properly called a "crop factor", the 1.6x ratio is most commonly referred to as the "focal length multiplier" since that's how it works in practice: Any lens used on the Canon 40D will have the same field of view as one with a 1.6x greater focal length will when attached to a 35mm camera. For example, a 100mm lens on the Canon 40D will show the same field of view as a 160mm lens on a camera with a 35mm frame size.

Unlike most kit lenses, the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens that ships with the Canon 40D kit is actually better quality than the 18-55mm that ships with the Canon Rebel XTi, with a longer zoom range. It's not as wide as the 18-55, but it performs surprisingly well in our tests on SLRgear.com, and comes with image stabilization. It's priced at an average of $450 on its own, and reflects only about $200 difference between the kit and body-only suggested retail. To see more on this lens, visit our SLRgear.com review on the 28-135mm IS lens by clicking here. Be sure to click on the Blur Index chart for an interactive look at how the lens performs across its range of apertures and zoom settings, as well as our reports on its chromatic aberration, vignetting, and distortion characteristics.

Autofocus Improvements

Sensor arrangement. These diagrams shows the basic sensor layout, first in the viewfinder, then on the AF sensor itself. In the bottom diagram, each opposite pair makes one element of the cross-type AF point. The diagonal f/2.8 sensors are further apart than the f/5.6 sensors, which is essential to their greater overall sensitivity. The two yellow sensors in the middle are special, as they're essentially reprogrammable on the fly, can be considered as part of each of the three center AF points, or taken as one large sensor for extremely out-of-focus subjects. As for their zig-zag arrangement, that just means that one sensor is slightly offset from the other, such that if you were to look at them magnified, one pixel would be slightly off from the other, zig-zagging back and forth like tires on an endurance course. Thus horizontal lines that would have been missed by one sensor would be picked up by the other.

Though there are still only nine AF points in the Canon 40D, each has gotten more sophisticated, especially that center AF point. Not only is that one cross-type for f/5.6 lenses, but it also has an f/2.8 sensor in the center that's arrayed in an X-formation, for greater compatibility with both horizontal and vertical lines. The f/5.6 sensor in the center, though arrayed more traditionally, is also doubled and arranged in a zig-zag pattern for greater accuracy, according to Canon.

All other AF points are cross-type in the more traditional sense, more or less. The diagram top right shows some odd arrangements that don't seem to agree with the diagram below, which has neat little plus symbols over each point. If the diagram at right is correct, they're more like T shapes that interlock. That double zig-zag center sensor array, the one that runs from top to bottom down the center (marked in yellow at right), serves the top, center, and bottom AF points. It's an unusual looking arrangement, but then most sensor layouts are odd, caused partly by the lens system that splits up the image.

SLR autofocus accuracy is governed in part by how far apart you can space the sensor elements for a single AF point. The wider this "baseline," the more accurately the AF point can determine focus. What limits the AF baseline spacing in a camera system is the lens aperture. You can build sensors with wider baselines, but that also restricts the range of lenses they can be used with. Camera manufacturers have set f/5.6 as the minimum aperture their AF systems will work with, and most lenses comply by gathering at least that much light at telephoto. Lenses with wide-open apertures smaller than f/5.6 just won't focus.

Canon added a twist to the f/2.8 sensor on the EOS 40D, arranging them in a diagonal orientation, which both allows better detection of horizontal and vertical lines and lets them fit on a smaller die size. Since an f/2.8 lens permits almost a 2x increase in baseline spacing, AF precision increases proportionately when using them.

The AF points on the Canon 40D cover about 60% of the frame width, and about 50% of the frame height. The illustration above shows the relative spacing between the various AF points, with the distances between them marked in millimeters, at the focal plane. (Illustrations courtesy Canon USA.)

AF-Assist Illuminator

The Canon 40D uses the built-in flash head as its AF-assist illuminator, rather than a bright light built into the camera's body. This works well (as you'd expect, the flash is quite bright, and probably has a longer range than an on-body illuminator bulb). Unlike Canon 30D, you can disable the 40D's internal flash (or external Speedlite) by going into the Flash Control menu, which still lets the AF-assist pulses to fire; but then you lose your flash capability until you turn it back on. If you attach a 550EX, 580EX or 580EX II external flash unit to the Canon 40D, its internal infrared AF-assist illuminator can be used instead of the flash head itself, providing a useful working range of about 50 feet with a less obtrusive light source. For non-flash photography, Canon's ST-E2 wireless sync transmitter can apparently also be used for AF assist, a handy trick. The ST-E2's AF-assist light has a useful range of about 25 feet.

Dust Reduction Technology

First introduced on the Canon Rebel XTi, Canon's system-wide approach to reducing the impact of dust on the image sensor is also included on the Canon 40D. From the beginning, every DSLR has offered a sensor-cleaning mode, in which the mirror is locked up and the shutter opened to permit the sensor to be cleaned with compressed air, a solvent-carrying swab or other means. As the market has matured and more DSLRs have found their way into the hands of novice users, it has become clear that some automated way of dealing with sensor cleaning is needed.

A key feature of Digital SLRs is the ability for the user to easily swap lenses. This expands creative options enormously, but every time the lens is removed, dust from the environment is free to enter the camera body. From there, it's only a matter of time before some of it makes its way to the surface of the sensor where it casts shadows that appear as dark blobs in your images. In truth, it's the anti-aliasing filter that collects dust, rather than the sensor itself, but common parlance refers to "sensor cleaning." For the sake of familiarity, we'll generally refer to sensor cleaning here, but will make mention of the anti-alias or low-pass filter as seems appropriate.

The principal approach other manufacturers have used to deal with dust has been to make the system self-cleaning, by rapidly vibrating either the anti-aliasing filter itself or a protective cover glass lying above it, to shake loose adhering dust particles. Once dislodged, a strip of sticky material at the bottom of the sensor cavity or mirror box catches and holds them. This approach was pioneered by Olympus, but has recently been adopted by Canon, Sony, and Nikon.

In typical fashion, Canon's camera engineers took a deeper look at the issue of sensor contamination, and have come up with a multifaceted, system-wide approach to reducing the impact of dust on users' photographs.

Canon's approach uses a vibratory cleaning method as a primary part of the overall strategy, but they've introduced several refinements as well. Here's what they've done:

Shooting Priority: Shutter Button Overrides Cleaning Cycle

It's critical for a digital camera to power up and be able to capture the first shot quickly, to avoid missing the action when first starting up. Some cameras with integrated cleaning systems can take a second or two for the cleaning cycle to complete before they're ready to capture an image. To avoid this problem, the Canon 40D aborts its normal power-on cleaning cycle as soon as the user touches the shutter button. This insures that you won't miss a critical shot

Special Shutter Coating/Construction

It turns out that only some of the dust that appears in DSLR images comes from outside the camera: As they age, normal wear and tear can make shutter curtains shed microscopic particles that eventually end up on the sensor. In the Canon 40D, Canon has introduced a special shutter-curtain coating designed to greatly reduce the shedding of particles.

Along with the specially treated shutter, Canon has also begun using a different plastic in their DSLR body caps, one less prone to creating shavings that can drop into the mirror box.

Split Anti-Aliasing Filter

Rather than introducing a separate cover glass into the optical chain, Canon has split the Canon 40D'S anti-aliasing filter into two parts. One element sits right above the sensor, while the other is positioned further away. It's this outer element that's vibrated during the cleaning cycle.

In describing the technology, Canon notes that the outer anti-aliasing element is positioned further from the sensor surface (a millimeter or so) than is normally the case. This greater distance reduces the effect of any dust that does adhere, by making the shadow cast by each dust particle larger and softer-edged.

Anti-Static Coating

To make it harder for dust to gain a foothold in the first place, the outer anti-alias filter element bears an anti-static coating. Dust particles frequently carry static charges, so the anti-static coating avoids one of the key mechanisms by which dust particles adhere.

Dust Delete Image Processing

No matter how good an automatic cleaning system, there are going to be some stubborn dust particles that it can't dislodge. To deal with these, the Canon 40D has the ability to shoot a dust reference photo, and then transfer that information to Canon's Digital Photo Professional software, which can use it to eliminate the shadows cast by dust particles on the images.

This sort of image processing to eliminate dust isn't an entirely new development, it's been a feature of Nikon's Capture software for some time. Canon's implementation has some additional wrinkles that make it somewhat more useful. Primary among these is that Canon's "Dust Delete" processing works for both JPEG and RAW format files. (Nikon's works only with RAW images.) This really expands the utility of the anti-dust processing, and makes it more accessible to amateur users who shoot exclusively or primarily in JPEG format.

Canon's anti-dust approach is also different in that the dust map ("Dust Delete data") that the software uses to perform its magic is stored in the headers of the JPEG or RAW files created by the camera. There's thus no need to keep track of a separate dust image file, the information is always available in the file headers, assuming you've actually performed the dust-mapping process. You can update the Dust Delete data any time you think the camera might have been exposed to dust, or after you've manually cleaned the sensor. The latest dust map is automatically incorporated into the EXIF headers of all JPEG images, or the headers of any RAW files. While we don't have any technical details on how the dust map is stored, Canon claims that the encoding scheme used for it is very efficient, so the dust map information adds very little to the file size.

The screenshots above show the steps in capturing a Dust Delete reference image. Starting in the upper left from Shooting Menu Screen 2, selecting Dust Delete Data produces a screen that shows when the last Dust Delete reference image was captured. Selecting OK on this screen initiates a cleaning cycle, after which the camera prompts you to take a picture of a blank white surface. (The camera automatically defocuses the lens and sets the aperture appropriately, to produce the best possible dust image.) The camera then processes this data, and reports whether it was successful or not. If the surface you used to capture the image wasn't sufficiently uniform, you'll get an error message, but if the image was good, you'll see the confirmation screen as shown above in step 6. The Dust Delete Data just generated will now be included in the headers of any JPEG or RAW images captured, until you decided to capture a new dust reference image.

We don't have any quantitative way of evaluating dust-removal systems, but based on Canon's description of it, their anti-dust technology does appear to go a step or two beyond anything else currently on the market, providing a more comprehensive solution to the problem of dust in DSLR images than we've seen to date.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS 40D Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Canon EOS 40D Exposure

The Canon 40D provides as little or as much exposure control as you could want. Standard exposure modes include the usual Program, Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and full Manual modes, as well as some "Image Zone" (scene-based preset) modes, an Automatic Depth-of-Field mode, and three Custom modes, which users can program for quick access to their favorite functions. The "Image Zone" exposure modes include Portrait, Landscape, Close-up (macro), Sports, Night Portrait, and Flash Off modes. These modes preset a variety of camera parameters to make it easier for non-expert photographers to achieve good exposures in a variety of standard shooting situations. The Flash Off mode simply disables the flash and external Speedlite (if attached), and puts the camera under automatic exposure control. The full Auto mode takes over all camera functions, turning the Canon 40D into a very easy to use point-and-shoot camera, albeit a very capable one.

The Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority modes work much the same as on any other camera, allowing you to adjust one exposure variable while the Canon 40D selects the other for the best exposure. Program mode keeps both variables under automatic control, while Manual mode gives you full control over everything. The Automatic Depth-of-Field mode (A-DEP) uses all nine autofocus zones to determine the depth of field in the active subject area. Once the Canon 40D has determined the range of focusing distances present across the nine zones, it automatically computes the combination of aperture and shutter speed needed to render the nearest and furthest points in sharp focus.

Canon 40D Metering & ISO Options

Exposure metering options include Evaluative, Partial, Spot, and Center-weighted options. The Canon 40D offers variable light sensitivity, with ISO equivalents of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,600, and 3,200 (Hi), or you can set it to move between settings in 1/3 stops (100, 125, 160...).

For adjusting the exposure, the Canon 40D's Exposure Compensation setting increases or decreases overall exposure from +/-2 EV in one-third or one-half EV increments.

An automatic exposure bracketing feature lets you set the total exposure variation (across three shots) at anywhere from +/- one-third or one-half EV all the way up to +/- 2 EV. The nice part is that the automatic variation is centered around whatever level of manual exposure compensation you have dialed in. Thus, you could manually set a positive exposure compensation of 0.7 EV, and then have the camera give you a variation of +/- 2/3 EV around that point.

AE/AF Lock

Another feature deserving comment is the Canon 40D's separation of the autoexposure and autofocus lock functions. In consumer-level digital cameras, half-pressing the Shutter button locks exposure and focus simultaneously. You can use this to deal with an off-center subject by pointing the camera at the subject, locking exposure and focus, and then reframing the picture before finally snapping the shutter. The only problem is that you sometimes need to perform a more radical recomposition of the subject in order to determine the proper exposure. For instance, you may want to zoom in on the subject, grab an exposure setting, and then zoom back out before taking the picture. Situations like that require locking the exposure independently of the focusing, and the Canon 40D provides for just such eventualities by way of a separate AE lock button on the back of the camera, right under your right thumb. Through the Canon 40D's Custom menu, you can specify the operation of the AE Lock button, as well as the AF/AE locking function of the Shutter button. A very handy feature indeed.

AF-ON button

New to the Canon semi-pro series, the AF-ON button, also called AF Start, allows you to set focus before depressing the shutter button. When in Live View mode, which has no default autofocus option, you can press the AF-ON button to have the camera flip the mirror down so it can focus and return to Live View mode. The LCD will be blank momentarily.

With Custom Functions, you can reprogram the behavior of the AF-ON button, as well as switch functions with the AE/AF Lock buttons.

White Balance Options

The Canon 40D offers a full range of White Balance settings, including six presets, an Auto setting, and a Custom setting. The six presets include Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Flash. The Custom setting bases color balance on a previous exposure, meaning you can snap an image of a white card and then base the color temperature on that image. A White Balance bracketing option snaps only one image, then writes three successive files from that single image. Bracketing steps are from -/+ 3 stops in whole-stop increments. (Each stop corresponds to five mireds of a color conversion filter, for a total range of +/- 15 mireds. This corresponds to about a +/- 500K shift at a normal daylight color temperature of 5,500K.)

The WB Bracketing is set on the same grid as the White Balance correction grid. Fairly sophisticated, the white balance correction tool lets you shift the color balance toward more or less green, amber, magenta, or blue, using a +/-9 step grid format. You move a highlighted square through the grid to adjust the color balance. It's a slightly more advanced interface than I'm used to seeing on digital cameras, but a useful one that greatly extends the camera's color corrective abilities.

The Canon 40D also offers a Picture Style option through the LCD menu, which lets you select from Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, or three User Defined settings. In each of the preset modes, the contrast, saturation, sharpness, and tone are set for specific conditions. The three User Defined options let you manually adjust each variable, then save it as a custom parameter. Finally, you can set the camera's color space to sRGB or Adobe RGB.

Continuous Shooting Mode and Self-Timer

The Canon 40D's Continuous Shooting mode is rated by Canon at 6.5 frames per second in high speed mode, for a total of 75 Large Fine JPEG shots or 17 RAW before the buffer fills; or 3 frames per second in low speed mode for a total of 205 Large Fine JPEG shots, or 20 RAW images before the buffer fills. Do note, though, that the number of consecutive shots could be limited by CompactFlash space, if your memory card is nearly full. Also, when shooting JPEGs of a very complex scene with a lot of sharp, fine detail may also compress less and result in lower buffer capacities.

The camera's Drive setting also accesses two Self-Timer modes, which open the shutter 10 or 2 seconds after the Shutter button is pressed, giving you time to dash around in front of the camera. A Remote Control mode works with the dedicated and wireless remote units as well.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS 40D Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Canon EOS 40D with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Canon EOS 40D Performance

Imaging

Canon EOS 40D Imaging

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Very good color and hue accuracy overall, though a tendency toward brighter reds and darker blues.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located towards the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center.

Saturation. The Canon EOS 40D does oversaturate color a little, particularly bright reds and dark blues, but the vibrant color will most likely be very appealing to many users. This approximates what we used to call "Canon color," but Canon has changed how most of their cameras see color since then. See our section on Picture Styles for more on the various color options available with the Canon 40D. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. Here, the 40D also did quite well, producing natural-looking skin tones. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The 40D did push cyan toward blue, and red toward orange a bit, but overall accuracy was still very good. (The blue to cyan shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) The other important part of color rendition is hue accuracy. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Saturation Adjustment
The Canon 40D lets you adjust the image saturation, contrast, and sharpness for each Picture Style, via a sub-menu off the Picture Style item in the main Record menu. A total of 9 settings are available, four above and four below the default. This covers a pretty wide range of saturation levels, really about as wide as you'd normally need for normal photography, apart from special effects that you'd probably be doing in software anyway. The fine steps between settings mean you can program the camera to just the level of saturation you prefer.

Saturation Adjustment Examples
-4	-3	-2
-1	0	+1
+2	+3	+4

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting

Warm casts with Auto and Incandescent white balance settings, but good results from the Manual and 2,700 Kelvin settings. Slightly above average positive exposure compensation required.

The Canon 40D's Auto white balance setting resulted in a very strong warm color cast indoors under incandescent lighting, and the Incandescent setting produced a warm cast as well. (The Incandescent white balance setting on pro-oriented SLRs is usually set to a color temperature of 3,200K, matching professional studio lighting.) The Manual white balance produced the most pleasing overall color, though the 2,700 Kelvin setting wasn't too far off the mark either. The camera required a +1.0 EV exposure compensation boost for a bright exposure (average or slightly above average for this shot) with all white balance settings. Overall color looks good, though the blue flowers look quite purplish, probably due to the 40D's tendency to punch up the reds in Standard Picture Style mode. (Many digital cameras reproduce these flowers with a dark, purplish tint, so the 40D's performance wasn't unusual.) Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Good color and exposure, though slightly high default contrast. Excellent preservation of highlight detail though, and Highlight Tone Priority does a superior job of holding onto highlights.

Outdoors, the Canon EOS 40D performed pretty well, with good color and only slight overexposure in the outdoor far-field house shot. The Canon 40D required less than the average amount of positive exposure compensation on the "sunlit" portrait test. Default contrast is on the high side, but fortunately, there's a very effective contrast adjustment to help compensate. At its lowest contrast setting, the 40D did an excellent job of preserving highlight detail and natural-looking skin tones, but did slightly increase the warmth of the color balance. Overall, very good results here, especially when the contrast setting is tweaked.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
High resolution, 1,500 ~ 1,700 lines of strong detail.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,700 lines per picture height horizontally and 1,500 vertically, with extinction occurring somewhere past 2,000. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Sharp images with excellent detail definition.

Sharpness. The Canon EOS 40D captures sharp images with excellent detail. Some very minor edge enhancement artifacts are visible on high-contrast subjects such as the crop above left, but results are very good. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows very little softening due to noise suppression at ISO 100. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

JPEG vs RAW

JPEG vs RAW Comparison
Camera JPEG	RAW via DPP	RAW via ACR

Mouse over the links to compare the difference in sharpness and detail from camera JPEG versus RAW file processed with Canon Digital Photo Profession and Adobe Camera Raw. Camera JPEG settings were Standard, which is the Canon 40D's default setting. We used the latest version of Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) 3.1.0.5, with the sharpening set to level 3. DPP gave the better result overall.

Competing Model RAW Comparison
Canon 40D RAW via ACR	Nikon D80 RAW via ACR	Sony A700 RAW via ACR

Here we compare sharpness and detail of RAW files from competing models, all processed using Adobe Camera Raw. Note that the Sony A700 is a 12 megapixel camera, so the image appears larger and should technically appear sharper.

ISO & Noise Performance
Low to moderate noise below ISO 1,600, but high levels at 3,200 equivalent.

The Canon 40D produced very low noise levels at low ISO settings, with very little loss of fine detail in areas of subtle contrast (where anti-noise processing takes its toll). Images stayed pretty clean as high as ISO 800, but with a progressive and noticeable loss of subtle detail as the ISO increased from there. At ISO 1,600, we start to see some blotchiness in the shadows, but detail is still quite good. At ISO 3,200 the grain pattern and chroma noise become more prominent, especially in the darker areas. All that said, the Canon 40D's high-ISO noise performance is really excellent; it does an excellent job of making the tradeoff between suppressing noise and preserving subject detail. See the Output Quality section below for more on how these results look when printed.

Noise Reduction vs Detail: Camera JPEGs vs RAW files
To our eyes, the Canon 40D does a better job of making the tradeoff between image noise and subject detail than most SLRs, but let your own eyes be the judge. The crops below show examples of image detail at ISO 3200 from the camera directly, from a RAW file via Bibble, using Bibble's built-in Noise Ninja function (settings of 20 and 0.8 for amount and level), and from Bibble with no noise reduction or other processing enabled.

ISO 3200 Noise Reduction Comparison
Camera JPEG, High ISO NR On	RAW, Bibble NR On	Camera JPEG, High ISO NR Off	RAW, Bibble NR Off

As you can see from the crop furthest to the right, the Canon D40 makes surprisingly clean RAW files even at ISO 3200. The in-camera JPEGs (the crop at left above) do give up some subject detail in exchange for lower noise, but not nearly as much as some cameras we've seen. With a good noise-reduction program, you can achieve very good-looking images at ISO 3200, with surprisingly little evidence of noise or loss of detail. The left-center above used the Noise Ninja function built into Bibble to reduce noise while holding onto as much image detail as possible. (The full Noise Ninja application could probably do an even better job: The free version built into Bibble offers only basic capabilities: Full capabilities can be unlocked by entering a valid Noise Ninja license code.) The 40D does have an option for disabling high-ISO noise reduction in its JPEG files, the results of which are show in the right-center image above. There's clearly more subject detail and less noise present than in the default camera JPEG, but when you compare it to a RAW export from Bibble with all noise processing disabled (as seen at far right above), it's clear that the camera always does at least some noise-reduction processing.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
High resolution with good overall detail, but slightly high default contrast. Excellent low-light performance.

Sunlight. The Canon EOS 40D performed pretty well under the deliberately harsh lighting of this test, though contrast was a little high at its default setting. As mentioned previously however, the camera's contrast adjustment did a better than average job of handling the harsh lighting. Though the shirt is nearly blown at +0.7 EV at default contrast, I preferred it to the image at the +0.3 EV exposure, whose skin tones were under exposed. Depending on the photographer, you could lean one way or the other, for those 40D owners are going to want to just print an image, and the +0.7 image will produce a better print with little or no tweaking, for pros and fine art folks the +0.3 version retains more highlight detail.

As can be seen from the second set of images, Highlight Tone Priority mode was able to hold onto significantly more highlight and shadow detail, but limits the ISO to 200-1,600; and, like the reduced contrast setting, HTP mode resulted in a very slightly warmer overall tone. (In "real life" though, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.)

Note: Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast Adjustment Examples
-4	-3	-2
-1	0	+1
+2	+3	+4

The series of shots above show the results of the different contrast settings. While you can see the extremes, it's pretty hard to evaluate small differences in contrast on tiny thumbnails like these, click on any thumbnail to go to the full-size image.

Highlight Detail vs Contrast and Highlight Tone Priority Setting
Default Contrast (+0.7 EV)	Default Contrast Gamma = 0.25 (same image)
Lowest Contrast (+0.7 EV)	Lowest Contrast Gamma = 0.25 (same image)
Highlight Tone Priority (Normal Contrast, +0.3 EV)	Highlight Tone Priority Gamma = 0.25 (same image)

The crops above show how well the Canon 40D holds onto highlight detail with its default settings, and how much it improves with both the low contrast adjustment and the Highlight Tone Priority (HTP) option. In these shots, the 40D did a better than average job of holding highlight detail, using just its default settings. Dropping the contrast adjustment to its lowest setting produced a significantly better result though. Even with the low contrast setting though, some of the strongest highlights blew out. With Highlight Tone Priority though, full highlight detail was retained, even with the contrast adjustment set back to its normal level. Very impressive: HTP should be a godsend to wedding photographers in particular, where maintaining detail in white wedding dresses is critical.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 100	1.7 sec f2.8	3.4 sec f2.8	6.7 sec f2.8	11.3 sec f2.8	19 sec f2.8	19 sec f2.8
ISO 200	0.8 sec f2.8	1.7 sec f2.8	3.4 sec f2.8	5.7 sec f2.8	9.5 sec f2.8	9.5 sec f2.8
ISO 400	0.4 sec f2.8	0.8 sec f2.8	1.7 sec f2.8	2.8 sec f2.8	4.8 sec f2.8	4.8 sec f2.8
ISO 800	1/5 sec f2.8	0.4 sec f2.8	0.8 sec f2.8	1.4 sec f2.8	2.4 sec f2.8	2.4 sec f2.8
ISO 1600	1/9 sec f2.8	1/5 sec f2.8	0.4 sec f2.8	0.7 sec f2.8	1.2 sec f2.8	1.2 sec f2.8
ISO 3200	1/19 sec f2.8	1/10 sec f2.8	1/5 sec f2.8	0.4 sec f2.8	0.6 sec f2.8	0.6 sec f2.8

Low light. The Canon 40D performed well in our low light test, capturing reasonably bright images down to the lowest light level we test at, at all ISO settings. This equates to about 1/16 the brightness of average city street lighting at night, so the 40D should be able to take well-exposed photos in any environment you can see well enough to walk around in. Overall noise was really quite low to begin with, and the camera's Long Exposure Noise Reduction option reduced chroma noise to even lower levels at higher ISOs. The camera's autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to just below the 1/16 foot-candle light level unassisted, in line with its exposure system, but was not always accurate at the lowest levels, according to Luke, our senior lab technician. (The 40D does have an autofocus-assist light option, but it uses the camera's flash tube as the illuminator, and so requires the flash system to be engaged for it to work.)

A minor image-quality strike at high ISO and long exposures: The ISO 1,600 and 3,200 shots here show some evidence of horizontal banding in the dark areas at the lowest light levels. The crop at right shows the extent of this at ISO 3,200 with an 0.6 second exposure. The effect is subtle but visible, particularly when looking at the full image 1:1 onscreen. At ISO 1,600, the effect is less pronounced, but still detectable. Not what we'd call a serious problem, but it could be an issue for some users in critical applications, so we thought it important to call attention to.

How bright is a foot-candle? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) For such applications, you may have better luck with a digital SLR camera like the Canon 40D, but even there, you'll likely need to set the focus manually.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Excellent print quality at 13x19 inches, a little softer at 16x20. Up to ISO 800 are still great at 13x19 inches, and ISO 1,600 looks good at 8x10.

The Canon EOS 40D had enough resolution to make decent 13x19 inch prints, if a little soft on close inspection at the camera's defaults. Slight softness is standard from Canon digital SLRs at this level, as the company believes most photographers will prefer to sharpen after capture. Just a little unsharp mask makes 13x19 prints and even 16x20 prints look very good for wall display. RAW images are quite a bit sharper.

Indoor shots. Our most astonishing discovery after printing the Canon 40D's images is that quality is quite uniform up to ISO 800 at 13x19 inches, with the four settings almost indistinguishable from each other. Quality does drop off at 1,600, but these images are still excellent at 11x14. The step to ISO 3,200 makes a big difference, however, with its heavy chroma noise appearing evident at 11x14 and 8x10, not becoming negligible until 5x7. Shots at all of these ISO levels respond very well to post processing in programs like Photoshop and Bibble, making even ISO 3,200 quite useful for both indoor or outdoor shooting.

Daylight Still Life. All of the above is judged based on our tougher Indoor test, where noise in the blue channel usually makes matters harder for digital camera sensors. Our Daylight balanced test is quite a bit better, which is saying something. Here, ISO 1,600 shots were slightly soft but quite usable at 13x19 inches, and ISO 3,200 was surprisingly good at 11x14, with far less chroma noise than we saw in the Indoor shots. You're more likely to use ISO 3,200 indoors, of course, where lighting is more likely to be incandescent or fluorescent, so keep that in mind.

Color does decay just slightly at 1,600 and 3,200, but not as dramatically as we're used to seeing.

Where the rubber meets the road, as usual, the Canon 40D has what it takes to deliver excellent photographs.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro 9000, and on the Canon iP5200 here in the office. (See the Canon PIXMA Pro 9000 review for details on that model.)

Viewfinder

Canon EOS 40D Viewfinder

The Canon EOS 40D offers a reasonably accurate optical viewfinder, which Canon says will provide about 95% frame accuracy. Within the viewfinder display is an array of available AF points, as well as a lower information readout reporting basics such as exposure compensation, exposure settings, flash mode, focus status, etc.

Canon EOS 40D Live View

In addition to the EOS 40D's optical viewfinder, the camera features a Live View mode for its rear-panel LCD monitor. Unusual among digital SLRs, the Live View mode lets you use the LCD monitor for a larger viewfinder, and offers an exposure simulation option which displays the expected outcome of your chosen exposure settings (see below).

Like a larger version of the optical viewfinder display, the Live View display reports the exposure information along the bottom of the screen, and highlights the selected focus area with a white rectangle.

Canon EOS 40D Live View options
Live View mode includes both a display with no information, and a display with minimal information across the bottom.	Pressing the INFO button cycles through the two additional available displays.
Pressing the zoom button zooms in to display what's in the center box.	Pressing the zoom button again zooms into 10x magnification, great for fine focusing. You can move the zoomed area around in the box, using the legend as a guide.

Most useful in Live View mode is the ability to zoom, as shown above. You can move the zoomed area around the screen to verify focus wherever you need it most.

Canon EOS 40D Optical Viewfinder

The Canon 40D's viewfinder has been enlarged slightly from past models, appearing just a little bigger than the Canon 30D, and a lot bigger than the Canon Rebel XTi. It's still smaller in appearance than the Nikon D80 and D200, but it's good that its bigger than past offerings.

The outline at left shows the size difference between the 30D and 40D. It's certainly a lot more comfortable to use with glasses, with its slightly higher eyepoint, which means that it requires less squinting and you don't have to press your glasses as firmly against the rubber eyecup. It's not exactly gigantic, but any improvement in apparent size is welcome.

The new Canon 40D viewfinder now shows a little more information than the Canon 30D, including an ISO readout to the right of the Exposure Level Indicator, and a two-digit maximum burst readout. Just left of the ISO readout is the Black & White mode indicator. The spot meter circle has increased to match the 3.8% area, now larger than the Canon 30D's 3.5% spot coverage.

Focusing Screens. A first for this level of Canon digital SLR, the EOS 40D now has two optional screens available. The first screen shown below is the standard screen that comes with every 40D. The second offers a grid for setting alignment, and the third is what Canon calls Super Precision Matte, which is meant for lenses with maximum apertures under f/2.8. This latter screen will allow for more precise focusing when used with these faster lenses, but it will darken if used with slower lenses. The two optional screens are priced at $45 each.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Good accuracy from the optical viewfinder. Live View mode is very accurate.

The Canon 40D optical viewfinder is a bit tight, showing approximately 95% coverage. These results are typical for a non-pro SLR, although as usual, we wonder why more manufacturers don't make SLR viewfinders cover 100% of the frame. The 40D's LCD covered 101% percent of the frame in Live View mode.

Flash

Canon EOS 40D Flash

The Canon 40D's built-in flash has a guide number rating of 43 feet (13 meters) at ISO 100, translating to a range of about 15 feet at ISO 100 with an f/2.8 lens. (Reasonably powerful, but not dramatically so.) The Canon 40D gives you a great deal of control over flash exposure, allowing you to adjust flash and ambient exposure independently of each other, in one-half or one-third EV increments. This makes it very easy to balance flash and ambient lighting for more natural-looking pictures. The Canon 40D also uses E-TTL II control for both the built-in and compatible external flashes. E-TTL II is only available with the built-in flash or when the camera is paired with more recent Canon EX-series strobes.

Another nice touch is the Flash Exposure Lock button, which fires the flash under manual control before the actual exposure, to determine the proper exposure setting. This struck me as very handy, akin to the more conventional autoexposure lock function for handling difficult ambient lighting conditions. A Flash Exposure Compensation feature controls the flash exposure +/- 2 stops in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments.

Several of the more impressive features of the Canon flash system depend on the dedicated EX-series speedlights. Among these are true FP (focal plane) flash sync, flash exposure bracketing with external flash units, flash modeling, and E-TTL II exposure control. FP sync requires a flash unit to provide uniform light output for a relatively long period of time, which the flash achieves by pulsing its high speed strobe multiple times as the two shutter curtains travel across the sensor plane, revealing only a small section of the sensor at a time. Uniform, long-duration flash pulses like this permit use of shutter speeds as high as the 1/8,000-second maximum that the Canon 40D is capable of. This can be invaluable when you want to exclude ambient light from the exposure. (FP sync mode is referred to as "high speed" mode on the Canon 550 and 580 flash units.)

Here's the rundown on Canon Speedlights and their compatibility with the Canon 40D:

You'll note the references to "E-TTL remote" capabilities in the table above. Canon's Speedlight system permits TTL flash metering with multiple remote units, and even allows you to set differential power ratios between the slaved units, over a six-stop flash exposure range.

The "Flash Modeling" feature of the 550EX, 580EX, and 580EX II speedlights is quite useful. With a 550EX or 580EX connected to the Canon 40D, pressing the camera's Depth of Field Preview button causes the speedlight to fire at 70 flashes per second for about one second. This creates the illusion of a constant light source for your eyes, letting you preview the lighting on your subject when the flash fires. VERY handy, and likely to save lots of shoot/check/reshoot time!

As alluded to above, the "X-sync" speed of the Canon 40D is 1/250-second. When used with higher-powered studio strobe systems, Canon recommends a maximum shutter speed of 1/60-second or slower, to accommodate the time/intensity profile of such units.

A final benefit of the dedicated Canon speedlights is that they carry powerful autofocus assist illuminators that can extend the range of the built-in AF assist light of the Canon 40D. For example, the AF assist beam on the 550EX is rated as good to about 50 feet, versus the roughly 13 feet of the pulse flash on the Canon 40D. (As mentioned above though, note that the ST-E2 wireless sync transmitter can also be used for AF assist during non-flash photography, a handy trick.)

Canon's E-TTL II flash exposure system also works with certain lenses to include object distance data into its calculations so it can adjust the flash power accordingly. A preflash is fired and the resulting readings compared to the ambient light reading for each of the camera's 35 metering zones from just prior to the flash, to identify and compensate for specular objects (that is, very reflective surfaces). In instances where most cameras would underexpose an image because of a reflective object in the frame, the Canon 40D will ignore the brighter areas and expose the subject correctly in most instances. This is designed to help shooters like event photographers -- especially wedding photographers, whose cameras are constantly forced to balance a bright white dress against all manner of reflective materials on the clothing of others, in addition to the usually black tuxedos of the groomsmen.

The Canon 40D can also control some aspects of an external flash from the Flash Control menu. You can set the flash to not fire when mounted and powered on, which is useful for using the flash as an AF assist beam. You can also set Flash Exposure Compensation, and set E-TTL II to Evaluative or Average.

Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Average exposure compensation required, but fairly powerful flash.

Coverage. We normally include images showing flash coverage (how evenly the flash illuminates the frame), but since that is lens dependent, they are not presented for the 40D. We can, however, comment on flash exposure. In the Indoor test, the 40D's flash underexposed our subject somewhat at its default setting, requiring a +1.0 EV exposure compensation adjustment (though this appears just a tad bright). The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced a more balanced exposure at +1.0 EV, though with a stronger orange cast from the background incandescent lighting. Most cameras we test require a +1.0 EV flash exposure adjustment on this shot, so the 40D's performance here is pretty good.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
100mm, f/2.8
15.4 feet ISO 100

Manufacturer Specified Flash Range.

The Canon 40D's built-in flash has a Guide Number of 13m at ISO 100. This works out to about 15.2 feet (4.6m) with an aperture of f/2.8. Even though the distance in the shot above is slightly greater at 15.4 feet, the image is dimmer than it should be, implying the 40D's GN may be a bit optimistic in auto exposure mode. More energy is usually available for the flash in manual mode, were no power is expended for preflash metering.

Note: Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

Imatest Results

Canon EOS 40D Imatest Results

We routinely use Norman Koren's excellent "Imatest" analysis program for quantitative, thoroughly objective analysis of digicam test images. I highly recommend it to our technically-oriented readers, as it's far and away the best, most comprehensive analysis program I've found to date.

My comments below are just brief observations of what we see in the Imatest results. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest web site for a full discussion of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

Here's some of the results produced by Imatest for the Canon EOS 40D:
(Note that we've updated the color and noise analysis since the review, as we originally had slightly higher exposure error (0.31EV) than what is recommended (<=0.25EV) by Imatest.)

Using the Standard Picture Style, the Canon EOS 40D showed good color accuracy, though slightly higher saturation levels than we're accustomed to finding in semi-pro SLRs. Hue accuracy was very good to excellent, with most of the hue shift occurring in the cyans, sky blues, and oranges. Average saturation was 107% (oversaturated by 7%, mostly in the reds, a bit in some blues, greens and oranges). Average "delta-C" color error was only 4.51 after correction for saturation, making the 40D one of the most hue-accurate cameras we've tested. (Delta-C is the same as the more commonly referred to delta-E, but delta-C takes into account only color differences, ignoring luminance variation.) All in all, a very good color response for an SLR.

Adobe RGB Accuracy Comparison
Canon EOS 40D	Canon EOS 5D	Nikon D80	Nikon D200

Using the Adobe RGB color space (which provides a much wider gamut, or range of colors that can be expressed), the Canon EOS 40D delivers more highly saturated color, with an average hue error of 5.75 "delta-C" units, and average saturation of 113.6%. If you mouse over the links below the illustration above, you can compare the 40D's Adobe RGB response with that of three other cameras, the Canon EOS-5D, the Nikon D80, and the Nikon D200.

This image shows how the Canon EOS 40D actually rendered the colors of the MacBeth chart, compared to a numerically ideal treatment. In each color swatch, the outer perimeter shows the color as actually captured by the camera, the inner square shows the numerically ideal color, after correcting for the luminance of the photographed chart (as determined by a second-order curve fit to the values of the gray swatches), and the small rectangle inside the inner square shows the numerically ideal color, without any luminance correction. This image shows the excellent hue accuracy, as well as a contrast curve that results in moderate overexposure of some of the highest-saturation swatches.

There's a lot in this particular graph, a lot more than we have room to go into here. (This set of plots has also changed a little in the more recent versions of Imatest. Some of the plots that were shown here previously are now shown in other Imatest output. Since we largely focus on the Noise Spectrum plot, we'll only show the graphic above, which includes that plot.) Bottom line, the Canon EOS 40D's noise levels are low at low ISO, with a frequency spectrum that has more energy on the higher frequency (right-hand) side of the curve than do many cameras. What's very odd here though, is how much more noise energy the red channel has at low frequencies, seen in the large spike on the left-hand side of the curve. This might be an issue, but the overall noise levels are so low that the noise spike in the red channel isn't really visible at ISO 100.

In comparing these graphs with those from competing cameras, I've found that the Noise Spectrum graph at lower right is the most important. Cameras that manage to shift their noise spectrum to higher frequencies have much finer-grained noise structures, making their noise less visually objectionable. In the graph above, this would show up as a noise spectrum curve that remained higher on the right side, representing higher noise frequencies. The champion at this was the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, which produced remarkably fine-grained image noise, even at very high ISOs. The 40D's noise performance doesn't nearly rise to the level of the 1Ds Mark II, but it nonetheless does a good job of keeping plenty of the noise energy at high frequencies, what little low-ISO image noise that's there is more fine-grained as a result.

Here's the same set of noise data at ISO 3,200. Here, the Noise Spectrum graph still shows excellent high-frequency content, evidenced by the gentle slope of the noise curve. Absolute noise levels still better than those of many competing cameras, and the excellent shaping of the noise characteristic results in a very pleasant fine/tight "grain" structure. Personal tastes invariably differ quite a bit, but we find the Canon 40D's high-ISO noise to be quite pleasing: ISO 3200 images are still relatively sharp overall, the noise pattern is very fine-grained, and quite a lot of finer subject detail is left in the images. (Note though, that a good RAW converter and associated third-party noise reduction filtering software can deliver considerably better results than the camera's own processor does in making the in-camera JPEGs.)

This chart compares the Canon EOS 40D's noise performance over a range of ISOs against that of other cameras. While I continue to show noise plots of this sort because readers ask for them, I each time point out that the noise magnitude is only a small part of the story, the grain pattern being much more important. In the case of the Canon EOS 40D, the magnitude of the image noise is quite low at ISO 100, but increased somewhat at higher ISO settings, with a noticeable "bump" at ISO 800. As noted above though, the 40D's noise is very fine-grained, and so not nearly as objectionable as that from some cameras with similar or lower levels but a more blotchy appearance. A job well done.

Canon 40D Dynamic Range Analysis

A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data "saturates" at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier "useful" in there: While it's tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work.

The image below shows the test results from Imatest for an in-camera JPEG file from the Canon EOS 40D with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer 4110), and the 40D's contrast setting at its default position.

These are decent numbers for a current-model DSLR, in the mid- to upper range of cameras we've tested. The tone curve also has a nice "S" shape to it, providing good gradation in both highlights and shadows. This can be seen when closely inspecting shots captured by the 40D, where detail is held nicely in both strong highlights and deep shadows.

Processing the 40D's RAW (CR2) files through Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) version 4.2 improved dynamic range by 1/3 to 1/2 stop. Results were similar with both ACR's automatic settings and when fiddling with the sliders manually. (Manual results were about 0.1 stop better at the highest quality threshold, but 0.05 - 0.1 stop worse at the lower quality thresholds.) Worth noting here is that ACR's default noise reduction settings reduced the red-channel noise relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG, but at the cost of somewhat higher noise in the blue and green channels, and slightly higher luminance noise overall. ACR also shifted even more of the noise energy into high spatial frequencies, making its residual noise even less objectionable than that found in the camera JPEGs.

Canon 40D Highlight Tone Priority

Like the EOS-1D Mark III announced a few months earlier, the Canon 40D offers an exposure setting called "Highlight Tone Priority" or HTP for short. The intent of HTP is to preserve highlights, but as we've seen in the test images and will see in the graphs below, it does so at the cost of somewhat higher shadow noise.

HTP is only available at ISO settings of 200 and above, which suggests some of how it works. At ISO 200 and normal exposure, the charge "buckets" in the sensor pixels only get about half full. This gives almost a full stop of exposure latitude before hot highlights start to saturate the sensor wells. Taking advantage of its 14-bit A/D conversion, Canon's HTP exposure mode imposes a different tone curve; one that's very flat at the highlight end. This compresses the highlight information (in much the same way color negative film does), yet maintains relatively normal contrast through the midtones and into the shadows. The cost is a more abrupt transition from deep shadows to black, and greater image noise in the shadow areas.

The density response graph above perfectly illustrates what HTP is doing. Notice how smooth and flat the top end of the tone curve is, compressing the tonal response in the highlights, translating large steps in subject brightness to small changes in luminance in the file. This is exactly what Canon claims it does, and the results are quite visible in subjects containing strong, non-specular highlights. The cost though, is higher image noise, seen in the Noise graph at the bottom left of the illustration, with noise levels in HTP mode being almost twice those in normal exposure mode. (To be expected, since the camera is operating at ISO 200.) The total dynamic range (irrespective of image noise) is about 0.8 stops greater in HTP mode, but the useful dynamic range (limited by noise performance) is essentially identical. (Again, no surprise, as the usable dynamic range is limited by the noise levels of the sensor, amplifiers, and A/D electronics. Playing games with the exposure and tone curve does nothing to alter the fundamental characteristics of the sensor and interface electronics. - But they can let you choose where and how to spend your available dynamic range, to achieve more useful results in your final images.

As was the case with the normally exposed test images from the 40D, processing the 40D's HTP-mode RAW (CR2) files through Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) version 4.2 improved dynamic range by 1/3 to 1/2 stop. Per the discussion above, you really wouldn't expect to see any change here, since the dynamic range of the sensor and electronics is still the same.

Dynamic Range, the bottom line:

The net result was that the 40D performed quite competitively with current DSLR models, its in-camera JPEGs bested only by those from the Fujifilm S3 Pro, the Nikon D40x, and the Canon EOS-5D (at least among the cameras we've tested to date).

To get some perspective, here's a summary of the Canon EOS 40D's dynamic range performance, and how it compares to other digital SLRs that we also have Imatest dynamic range data for. (Results are arranged in order of decreasing dynamic range at the "High" quality level.):

The results shown in the table are interesting. One of the first things that struck me when I initially looked at test data for a wide range of d-SLRs, was that here again, purely analytical measurements don't necessarily correlate all that well with actual photographic experience. There's no question that the Fuji S3 Pro deserves its place atop the list, as its unique "SR" technology does indeed deliver a very obvious improvement in tonal range in the highlight portion of the tonal scale. I was surprised to see the analytical results place the Olympus EVOLT as highly as they did, given that our sense of that camera's images was that they were in fact noisier than those of many other d-SLRs that we looked at. In the other direction, I was quite surprised to see the Nikon D2x place as low on the listings as it did, given that we found that camera's shadow detail to be little short of amazing.

One thing that's going on here though, is that we tested each camera at its lowest ISO setting, which should produce best-case noise levels. This is in fact what many photographers will be most interested in, but it does perhaps place some of the Nikons (like the D40) at a disadvantage, as their lowest ISO setting is 200, as compared to the ISO 100 settings available on most other models.

Regardless of the positions of the other cameras though, the Canon EOS 40D does appear to offer pretty good dynamic range, ranking among the best cameras we've tested to date. It does an excellent job of preserving highlight detail, even in its normal (non-HTP) exposure mode, and likewise holds good detail far into the shadows. Where noise does appear in the deepest shadows, it has a relatively tight grain pattern, making it less objectionable than that of many other cameras on the market.

As I always say though, at the end of the day I think you have to take the figures here with a grain of salt, and look at actual images with your own eyes to see what you make of each camera's tonal range and noise levels. We'll continue performing these dynamic range tests on the digital SLRs that we review, but (just as with the laboratory resolution target results), we suggest that you not rely on them exclusively for making your purchase decisions.

Canon 40D Resolution Chart Test Results

The chart above shows consolidated results from spatial frequency response measurements in both the horizontal and vertical axes. The "MTF 50" numbers tend to correlate best with visual perceptions of sharpness, so those are what I focus on here. The uncorrected resolution figures are 1,481 line widths per picture height in the horizontal direction (corresponding to the vertically-oriented edge), and 1,615 lines along the vertical axis (corresponding to the horizontally-oriented edge). Correcting to a "standardized" sharpening with a one-pixel radius increased both vertical and horizontal resolution significantly, resulting in an average of 1,680 LW/PH, somewhat below the best we've seen for a 10-megapixel camera, perhaps reflecting the slightly more aggressive anti-aliasing filtering found in many Canon SLRs.

To see what's going on, refer to the plots below, which show the actual edge profiles for both horizontal and vertical edges, in both their original and corrected forms. Here, you can see that there is in fact a little in-camera sharpening applied (the noticeable bump at the top ends of the black curves), that the standard sharpening operator only corrects for somewhat. While we didn't run the graphs to prove it, you'd likely do well to run the 40D with slightly lower than normal in-camera sharpening and the use strong/tight sharpening post-exposure in Photoshop or some other image editor.

Shooting Modes

Canon EOS 40D Modes and Menus

The Mode dial on the left side of the Canon EOS 40D's top panel lets you select various exposure modes, with the same range of options presented as on preceding EOS models (including the EOS 30D and Rebel XTi). The one exception is the addition of three custom modes: C1, C2, and C3. Canon divides the dial into "Basic" and "Creative" zones, the Basic range encompassing the Full Auto setting and the six scene modes in what Canon refers to as the "Image" zone. The Creative zone includes settings for programmed exposure, shutter priority, aperture priority, full manual control, and the Automatic Depth of Field mode. There are also three Camera User settings, for registering up to three banks of settings for quick recall.

Here's a description of each of the shooting modes:

Flash Off Mode: The first mode in the Image Zone, Flash Off mode disables both the internal flash head and any external flash unit connected. Focus is set to AI Focus mode, drive mode is set to Single, and metering is set to Evaluative. The camera controls ISO and Auto white balance as well.

Night Portrait Mode: This mode is for taking pictures of people at sunset or at night, letting the flash illuminate the subject, while the longer exposure provides a brighter view of the surroundings. The autofocus mode is automatically set to One Shot. Drive mode is set to Single Shot, and metering mode is set to Evaluative. Since slower shutter speeds will be used, a tripod is recommended to prevent movement from the camera. The built-in flash is automatically enabled and synched with the slower shutter speed, so subjects will need to remain still for a few moments after the flash fires to avoid ghost-like after-images. ISO is automatically adjusted by the camera. (For night exposures without the flash, Canon recommends shooting in Landscape mode.)

Sports Mode: This mode uses a faster shutter speed to capture fast-moving subjects. The autofocus mode is automatically set to AI Servo. Drive mode is set to High-Speed Continuous Shooting, ISO is set to Auto, and metering mode is set to Evaluative. The onboard flash isn't available in this mode (since it can't cycle fast enough to keep up with the continuous exposure mode).

Close-up Mode (Macro Mode): Turning the Mode dial to the macro flower symbol sets the camera for capturing smaller subjects such as flowers, jewelry, and other small details. The autofocus mode is automatically adjusted to One Shot, the drive mode is set to Single Shot, and the metering mode is set to Evaluative. ISO is set to Auto. Close-up mode takes advantage of the current lens' minimum focal distance. However, an EOS-dedicated macro lens and the Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX are recommended for better close-up photography. Note that unlike the macro mode on most consumer digital cameras, Macro mode on the 40D has no effect on lens focusing range, as that parameter is entirely determined by the lens being used.

Landscape Mode: Landscape mode combines slower shutter speeds with smaller aperture settings to increase the depth of field when shooting broad vistas and sweeping landscapes. This mode is also good for night scenes without people in them. The built-in flash is automatically disabled, even if it's already raised. Because this mode uses slower shutter speeds, a tripod may be needed in less-bright lighting conditions. Metering is again set to Evaluative and ISO to Auto.

Portrait Mode: This mode uses a large aperture setting to decrease the depth of field, which blurs the background to emphasize the subject. ISO is set to Auto, metering to Evaluative, and AF mode to One Shot. Drive mode is set to Low-Speed Continuous Shooting.

Full Automatic Mode: The final mode in the Basic Zone, Full Automatic is indicated on the Mode dial by a green rectangular outline. In this mode, the camera makes all exposure decisions with the exception of image quality. Autofocus mode is set to AI Focus. (AI Focus evaluates subject movement, automatically sets either one-shot AF or AI Servo AF automatically.) Drive mode is set to Single Shot, ISO is set to Auto, and the metering mode is set to Evaluative.

Program AE: This is the first mode in the Creative Zone of the Mode dial. Program AE works similarly to the Full Automatic exposure mode, but allows more control over the exposure variables. Aperture and shutter speed are automatically selected by the camera, but you can bias the exposure to larger or smaller apertures by turning the Main dial, which will change the combination of aperture and shutter speed so as to maintain the same exposure value, but with a different combination of aperture/shutter speed.

Shutter-Priority AE: This mode allows you to manually set the shutter speed anywhere from 1/8,000 to 30 seconds, while the camera chooses the best corresponding aperture setting. You have control over all other exposure variables, including exposure compensation.

Aperture-Priority AE: The opposite of Shutter-Priority mode, Aperture-Priority AE allows you to set the lens aperture (with available apertures depending on the lens in use), while the camera selects the most appropriate shutter speed. Again, you have control over all other exposure variables, including exposure compensation.

Manual Exposure: This mode provides the same range of exposure control as the other Creative Zone exposure modes (except for exposure compensation), but lets you control both shutter speed and lens aperture independently. The shutter speed range is extended to include a Bulb setting, allowing long exposures for as long as you hold the Shutter button down. (The rear display reports the elapsed time, from one to 999 seconds, as the exposure progresses.) A display in the viewfinder reports whether the camera thinks your settings will result in under, over, or correctly exposed photos.

Automatic Depth of Field AE: This is the final mode in the Creative Zone, and is meant for taking pictures of large groups of people, landscapes with foreground detail, or any subject with elements of interest at varying distances from the camera. This mode puts the camera in control of both the shutter speed and aperture values, but you can adjust the other exposure variables. (This mode cannot be used if the lens focus mode is set to manual.) When shooting in Automatic Depth of Field AE, the camera sets both the lens aperture and focus distance to achieve a sharp focus over a wide depth of field. It uses the autofocus system to measure the distance to the subjects covered by each of the nine autofocus zones, and then attempts to set the focusing distance and lens aperture so as to render all subject areas in sharp focus. (This is a really useful mode, I wish other manufacturers would steal a page from Canon's playbook on this one.)

, , Camera User Settings Modes: These three final settings on the Mode dial allow you to save as many as three individual sets of camera settings for quick recall. Useful when shooting an event with multiple light sources, such as a wedding and reception, these custom modes let you register camera settings for specific conditions and easily go between modes. You can save most of the camera's shooting mode options as well as the Custom Function settings. Settings are registered as C1, C2, or C3 through the Camera User Setting menu.

Playback Mode: This mode is entered by pressing the Play button on the back panel. Playback mode lets you erase images, protect them, or set them up for printing on DPOF compatible devices. You can also view images in an index display, enlarge images to 10x, view a slide show of all captured images, or rotate an image. The Info button activates an information display, which reports the exposure settings for the image and graphs the exposure values on a small histogram.

Canon EOS 40D Menu Details

Record Menu 1:

Record Menu 2:

Playback Menu 1:

Playback Menu 2:

Setup 1:

Setup 2:

Setup 3:

Custom Functions Menu:

My Menu:

Comparison 3way

EOS 40D vs Other Canon SLRs

The chart below compares the 40D with some other current Canon cameras. What we've done below is presented something of a hybrid comparison between these three models. A red cell means that a given camera performs below the other two, a green cell means that it performs better than the other two, and a yellow cell means it falls between the other two. In cases where two cameras share a superior capability, both cells will be colored green.

Picturestyles

Canon EOS 40D Picture Styles Imatest Color Accuracy Results

The Canon EOS 40D has multiple Picture Styles to choose from. Here are the color error results produced by Imatest for the 40D's various Picture Style modes:

The Canon 40D showed good color accuracy overall in the default (Standard) picture style, but went a bit overboard with strong reds. This is a fairly common response with this target (the MacBeth ColorChecker), and the 40D's response is fairly typical for consumer DSLRs, more highly saturated than that of pro models. Hue accuracy is pretty good, with minor shifts in a number of colors, rather than large shifts in any one area.

Here we can see the Canon 40D's "Faithful" Picture Style is quite a bit more accurate.

The 40D's "Neutral" picture style is also quite accurate, although some reds and blues are still slightly oversaturated.

The Canon 40D really pumps up blues, green and reds for vibrant landscapes. There are also strong hue shifts for bluer skies and lush foliage.

This is an interesting change, and it's surprising that greens are pumped up as much as they are; perhaps it's to accent eye color.

Rawindex

Digital Cameras - Canon EOS 40D RAW Test Images

The tables below show selected representative images from our test shot series that were shot in RAW mode.

Depending on your browser, you can download the images by clicking on the links, or by right-clicking on the links and selecting "Save Target As...", or similar. Some browsers change the file extension to .TIFF. In that case, just rename to .CR2 after downloading. You can see the full set of in-camera JPEG shots, including exposure information extracted from the EXIF file headers, on the Thumbnail index page.

NOTE: These are very large files (10+ megabytes each). They're here for you to use, but please be considerate of our bandwidth; don't just download everything willy-nilly. - Thanks!

Update: Added sRAW files of Still Life ISO Series.

Still Life

Multi-Target

Indoor Portrait, No Flash

Far-Field