joey_conta

Unfortunately, the 40d can only adjust custom functions of the 580ex II speedlite from within the camera. So you'll still need to do it the good old fashioned way with your 430ex.

If I'm not mistaken the Canon Point and Shoots use Lens Based Stabilization as Well... Its In camera yes, but they move a Lens not the Sensor.

>>> Brad "Heres One" (review: Steve's Digicams)

 

That Review was pretty useless, both pages were basically the specs of the camera, listed and in paragraph form, I would even suspect that Steve just paraphrased canons official press release or something like that.

 

Anyway to answer Bob's question, I would recommend the 40d, on the fact that its easier to change the settings 'on the fly' with dedicated buttons for Metering, Drive and ISO places more conveniently on the top, near the shutter finger. Also the weight of the 40d makes it easier to stabilize, and the 6.5fps is nice.

 

Though I guess the my 2nd and 3rd reasons for liking it are moot for you since your focus is landscapes. As everyone else has said by now, the IQ of both cameras should be comparable.

 

Maybe sell the tamron 18-200 lens and get an Ultra-wide zoom, Ef-s 10-22 or one of the tamron/tonkia Ultra-wides, since you do landscapes they would be more useful to you.

Sorry for necro-posting, but I couldn't find any recent topic thats appropriate for this info...

 

With some experimentation with a 40d and an 580ex II I've come to learn that the AF assist pattern, is dependant on the AF point selected.

 

On the 580ex II the top two lamps project horizontal lines, with the one on the right (if front of the flash is pointing towards you) projecting ,three brighter "Inner" horizontal lines, and the left lamp projecting three dimmer "Outer" lines with sit on top and below the "inner" projected lines.The bottom AF assist lamp, projects one Vertical column, which is the brightest of the three.

 

On the 40d and the 350d when the camera is set to Auto AF point selection, the Bottom Lamp, and the Top Right Lamps light up, projecting the Vertical column and the Inner horizontal Lines.

 

When the Center or the two AF points above or below the centre AF point are selected manually, only the Bottom lamp lights, projecting only the vertical beam.

 

When any of the Other AF points (ie: NOT the centre AF point, and the ones above and blow it) are selected manually, only the top lamps light, projecting only the horizontal lines.

 

http://tinyurl.com/2t2t67 (youtube, Af assist lamp video)

On the 40d (and I assume Mark III and the upcoming Xsi) in the "Flash control" menu you can set the "Flash Firing" to either on or off, so you can keep all the other functions of the flash working, but not have the flash fire at all for picture.

 

On the 40d, it works for both the Pop-Up flash (thus you can only use it for the *annoying* strobe af assist) and an external speedlite (only tested it on the 580ex II), but since its an option before you dive into the external speedlite or internal pop-up flash options, it should work with all flash units attached to it.

For the small increase in price for the IS on the 18-55 dpreview in their news post (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082007canonefs18-55and55-250.asp) detailed that Canon seemed to have changed the IS from a digital system to one using an analog feedback mechanism, reducing complexity and thus cost. Since all the reviews so far seem to say that the IS is effective in the 18-55 IS, hopefully lenses in the future with IS would be cheaper.