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Canon EOS 30D

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By Damian Koh, CNET Asia
Aug 1, 2006

From the EOS 10D to the EOS 20D, then to the current EOS 30D, Canon has adopted the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach for its midrange digital SLRs. Aside from better performance compared with its award-winning sibling (EOS 20D), the 30D is largely similar to its predecessor. Canon has also added some feature upgrades, for instance, a larger LCD monitor, spot metering, Picture Styles and a selectable continuous shooting speed to pull it further ahead of the 20D.

Editors' note:
Our review of the EOS 30D mainly highlights the key areas of improvement over the perennial favorite, the 20D, and to find out if it's worth the upgrade.

What's new
In terms of design and layout, the differences between the 20D and the 30D are miniscule. The front of the handgrip, just above your middle digit when holding the unit, now has a little protruding "lip" which prevents your finger from slipping upwards. We also welcome the larger 230k-pixel 2.5-inch LCD monitor which has replaced the 1.8-inch screen on the 20D. Pity, though, that the screen isn't coated with an anti-reflection layer.

Canon proves that it has been listening with the 30D. One of the much-awaited improvements in the features is the inclusion of the spot metering option which, according to the company, covers approximately 3.5 percent of the viewfinder.

Picture Styles, which was first introduced on the EOS 1D Mark II N and subsequently implemented on the EOS 5D, appears on the current EOS 30D as well. What this feature does is allow the user to preset certain image parameters, such as, sharpness, contrast, saturation and color tone, to suit various shooting conditions. At the same time, it gives the photographer a greater degree of control over how the images will turn out.

The inclusion of two continuous shooting modes, compared with the fixed 5fps on the 20D, is also a pleasing enhancement on the 30D. Users can now select between a high-speed 5fps and a low-speed 3fps setting. There's also a noticeable improvement in the buffering on the EOS 30D. The camera is capable of capturing 30 JPEGs in Large/Fine quality (20 on the 20D) and 11 RAW images (six on the 20D) at a burst.

 
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