What should I expect regarding upgrade to 40D from 300D?

Ok,

 

So I decided to dive in and this morning I pre-ordered the new 40D to replace my

original 4 year old 300D digital rebel. My son gets my original d-Reb and he is

pretty excited. He's currently using my old Olympus OM-1 film camera (30 years

old and still working!).

 

I realize it is pure speculation at this point, but I am curious what people

think I should expect as the most important improvements in my future picture

taking experience.

 

Here are the 2 things that I am hoping for and I want to know if these are

reasonable expectations:

 

1. Not wait so long for the camera to write to the card before I can take more

pictures. Today with my 300D I often wait after snapping a few RAW images for

the buffer to clear. Very annoying sometimes and I have missed more than a few

shots by firing too early. aaagggghhh! Can I expect this to be substantially

better with the 40D? Note, I have only ever used the 300D so I am not sure what

to expect from newer digital camera bodies like the 20D/30D/400XTi.

 

2. Less noise at higher ISO's (800 and 1600). I have slower zooms and often

have to shoot at 800 or higher indoors in low light. Images shot with my

current setup often require me to clean up using PS2 and Noise Ninja plug-in and

that works, but it takes time and there's some trade-offs. I am hoping that the

40D at 800/1600 ISO gives me the same or better noise level performance like I

get today at ISO100/200 with my 300D. Is that a reasonable expectation?

 

What else should I look forward to? (Oh, and I decided to buy the 28/1.8 and

85/1.8 primes also. I am hoping my indoor, low light shots improve dramatically

using the new body and these prime lenses, when compared to my slower zooms).

 

Thanks.

1. Yes pretty much any new DSLR will flush the buffer more quickly also the buffer size is increased so you might not need to wait for the buffer to clear.

 

2.

 

"I am hoping that the 40D at 800/1600 ISO gives me the same or better noise level performance like I get today at ISO100/200 with my 300D. Is that a reasonable expectation?"

 

No, you won't get similar results. The 40D uses the same sensor as the 400XTI and that camera has more noise at high iso than its predecessor, the 350D and there is no reason to believe that the 40D sensor is much better.

 

In my opinion tethered live view, change in autofocus and frames per second is the reason to get the 40d over the 30d or 20d.

 

If you want lower noise, I would imagine that the 30d or 20d would actually perform better.

I don't know a whole lot about the 40D, but I have a very similar 30D. The main things you have to look forward to are a much sturdier camera body, faster shot to shot time, and a bit less noise, although that's going to be more because of the awesome fast glass you bought, which is a good choice by the way.

 

If you really want to reduce noise with a camera purchase, the 5D is the way to go.<div></div>

Anthony,

 

My better half is going to roll her eyes when she finds out I just bought the 40D. Spending the bucks to get a full frame 5D is just not compatible with my desire to stay happily married! Trade-offs, tradeoffs... life is just full of them.

 

:)

@Sam Song: The 40D does NOT use the same sensor as the 400D, it also gets the updates the 1DmkIII had(particularly the larger microlenses and better fill factor), so expect less visible noise than the 400D despite the same pixel density. And the 400D is still a fair bit cleaner than a 300D (or the 10D, which shares its prcessing engine with the 300D).

It has been well established that the 20D/30D/XT have a full one stop ISO improvement over the XT. ISO100-400 is the same (and both are clean!), but you have a one stop iso improvement in the iso 800-3200.

 

I have seen NO good review comparing the XTi to the 30D. DPreview compared the XTi to other 2006 cameras. No need to compare to 2005 tech 30D tech. I am SURE that if the XTi was inferior OR superior to the 30D, someone would have gleefully posted detailed information.

 

So. .. I am presuming the two cameras are equivilent. Now. . the 40D's *advertising* talks about improved quality. 14bit A/D. Microlenses.

 

So. . .the 40D will certainly be better than the 300D. Better than the 30D and XTi? Dunno. Stay tuned!

 

But other than image. . .you will REALLY see a big improvement! The body on the X0D is really in a different class!

@Adam Maas,

 

I don't doubt that the 40d would be cleaner than the 300D, but the question was whether ISO 200 would equal ISO 1600. Even though I haven't seen the 40D. I would put my money on no, it wouldn't be equal.

"The 40D uses the same sensor as the 400XTI" the 40D sensor is only based on the xti sensor it has larger micro lens' read the press release

What ever happened to that sensor that Kodak developed recently that is supposed to improve image quality in low light situations ? I bet you see it on your next Nikon D200 version II.

Just wait till the results are published on DPReview. May take a month or two but there is no way to know for sure until the camera is tested with real data and not subjective opinion. Bottom line for me is that if the 40D IQ is not leaps and bonds over the 300D then we are all wasting our time. Aside from that the feature set and build quality of the two are such that they are not even in the same class as far as I am concerned. Compareing the two is like compareing a Lexus to a Pinto. And I have owned the 300D and currently own a 30D.

 

The decision to buy those two Prime lens was probably the best thing you could do. That alone will make a major difference, BTW I also have the 85mm f1.8 and I LOVE it!

 

Enjoy

 

Jason

Where are you all preordering your 40D? I've been patiently waiting with my 10D for this moment! I just checked all my favorite websites to no avail.

1) yes. The 40D will be faster. But eventually you'll have to invest into faster CF cards.

 

2) high iso noise will be reduced with the 40D. (It was already better with the 20D and 30D when compared to the 300D).

 

But ... if speed and high iso noise are the only important needs that you have, you might as well go with the 30D instead.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I pre-ordered from Amazon (I used Bob Atkins site to find the link).

 

I have fast CF cards already for other devices, so that should not be a barrier.

 

Speed and high ISO were just 2 factors I considered. I liked some of the other specs new to the 40D (95% viewfinder, LiveView, slightly bigger LCD, 14 bit A/D, etc.) I have waited this long to upgrade, so I wanted to get the latest crop factor camera and the 40D seems to be worth the wait.

 

I know it will be a long time before I upgrade again, and probably when I do, it will be with full frame that costs $1500, not $2500. Probably 3-4 years?

I have the 300D and a 20D. The leap is astounding when it comes to handling. The 40D will simply be much faster in everyway. The startup time on the 300D is glacial compared to the current dslrs. I often set my 300D to never auto-power down for this reason. AF will also be much faster.

 

Shooting RAW on the 300D is somewhat painful since it takes a long time to write just one file. It's not an issue on my 20D and it'll be much less of an issue with the 40D (3x the buffer of the 20D).

 

Battery life is also much better on my 20D than the 300D.

I'd like to reiterate what the last guy said. The two most visible improvements will be the giant LCD, and the fact that it's way, way, way, *way* faster at everything. Startup, AF, write-time, reviewing delay, mirror blackout, shutter lag, ad infinitum. The 30D is a major leap as-is, I can't imagine the 40D will be any worse.

 

DI