Buy 20D or stick with 300D?

I currently own a 300D and was thinking of upgrading to a 20D. I do

mainly nature photographs, also some skateboarding/snowboarding, so

the higher fps would be appreciated. I was just curious if I would

notice a large difference in quality when blowing up photographs to

8x10 or 11x14. Thank you.

I'd wait until the end of Feb and see what the new model lineup is from Canon then I'd suggest unless the 20d replacement offers a major leap over the 20d getting a 20d as they will plummet in price...

I don't think you "would notice a large difference in quality". But the larger buffer an higher frame rate will definitely make a difference. The small buffer of the 300D was the main reason why I updated to the 350D. But I don't notice a major difference in image quality. Lately I had a picture from my 300D printed in 50cmx75cm (~20"x30") and it came out really good.

The 300D was 'crippled' in various ways, some of which were fixed by the hacked firmware. If you moved to a 20D you would have a much more capable camera, but you would get a large part of that by moving to a 350D - although not, I think, the frame rate that is important to you. With a 20D (or 350D) you might seem some difference from the 300D in the quality of medium to large prints, but the big difference with the 20D would be the ability to capture shots you may currently be missing. The advice to wait a few weeks is sound - even if you do not find any new offering to your taste/pocket, there will be the opportunity to pick up a 20D at a keen close-out price.

Tom,

 

The two main reasons I moved from the 300D to a 20D (when the 20D first came out) were speed and noise levels at higher ISO's. In some shooting situations, I was having to wait for the 300D to finish writing and clear the buffer... I don't have to wait on the 20D. In addition, the 20D is near-instant on - very convenient.

 

There is a noticable difference in noise levels at high ISO's between the 300D and 20D. As stated above, you can probably realize most of the two gains I mentioned by upgrading to the 350D (I know it's got a new sensor... not sure about the speed specs). The 20D will have a better build quality than the 350D, as well.