- Canon EOS 20D DSLR Camera
- 2562A002 Lens EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6
- Battery Charger + 2 Batteries
- 4 GB Memory Card
- Neck Strap
- Canon Camera Case
- USB 2.0 Cable
First impressions of the EOS 20D are good, it feels far less 'prosumer like' and instead feels more like a 'baby EOS-1D' (as described by one of our team). Gone are some of the annoyances of the EOS 10D, the 20D now switches on virtually instantly and focuses quickly, it feels very solid and yet weighs slightly less than the model it replaces. So far so good.
Model line history
| Model | Announced | Effective pixels | AF | Continuous (JPEG) |
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| EOS D30 | April 2000 | 3.1 million | 3 point | 3.0 fps, 3 frames |
| EOS D60 | February 2002 | 6.3 million | 3 point | 3.3 fps, 8 frames |
| EOS 10D | February 2003 | 6.3 million | 7 point | 3.3 fps, 9 frames |
| EOS 20D | August 2004 | 8.2 million | 9 point | 5.0 fps, 23 frames |
A summary of new features and improvements can be found on the third page of this article.
Two new EF-S lenses
In addition to the EOS 20D Canon has also announced two new EF-S lenses which are clearly aimed at the EOS 20D buyer. The EOS 20D will be offered as a body only or a kit with the EF-S 18 - 55 mm F3.5 - F5.6 lens we first saw in the EOS 300D kit. In my honest opinion the 17-85 mm lens is a superb companion to the EOS 20D, it offers a great range of focal lengths and image stabilization in a fairly compact package.
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| EF-S 17 - 85 mm F4.5 - F5.6 IS USM (27 - 136 mm equiv. FOV, 5x zoom) EU: €649, US: $599 | EF-S 10 - 22 mm F3.5 - F4.5 USM (16 - 35 mm equiv. FOV, 2.2x zoom) EU: €899, US: $799 |
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| List price (body only) | • US: $ 1,499 • EU: € 1,599 |
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| List price (with EF-S 18-55 DC) | • US: $ 1,599 • EU: € 1,699 |
| Body material | Magnesium alloy |
| Sensor | • 22.5 x 15.0 mm CMOS sensor * • RGB Color Filter Array • Built-in fixed low-pass filter • 8.5 million total pixels * • 8.2 million effective pixels * • 3:2 aspect ratio |
| Image processor | DIGIC II * |
| Image sizes | • 3504 x 2336 (8.2 MP) * • 2544 x 1696 (4.3 MP) * • 1728 x 1152 (2.0 MP) * |
| File formats | • RAW |
| Color space * | • sRGB • Adobe RGB |
| Lenses | • Canon EF / EF-S lens mount * • 1.6x field of view crop |
| Focusing | • 9-point TTL * • CMOS sensor • AF working range: -0.5 - 18 EV (at 20°C, ISO 100) * |
| Focus modes | • AI Focus AF • One shot AF • AI Servo AF • Manual focus |
| AF point selection | • Auto • Manual • Home position |
| AF assist | • Stroboscopic flash • 4.0 m range (at center) |
| Metering | • TTL 35 zone SPC • Metering range: EV 1.0 - 20 EV (at 20°C, ISO 100, 50 mm F1.4) |
| Metering modes | • Evaluative 35 zone |
| AE lock | • Auto: One Shot AF with evaluative metering • Manual: AE lock button |
| AE bracketing | • +/- 2.0 EV • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments |
| Exposure compen. | • +/-2.0 EV • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments |
| Sensitivity | • Auto (100, 200 or 400) |
| Shutter | • Focal-plane shutter • 30 - 1/8000 sec * • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments • Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec • Bulb |
| Aperture values | • F1.0 - F91 • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments • Actual aperture range depends on lens used |
| White balance | • Auto (3000 - 7000 K) • Daylight (5200 K) • Shade (7000 K) • Cloudy (6000 K) • Tungsten (3200 K) • Fluorescent (4000 K) • Flash (6000 K) • Custom (2000 - 10000 K) • Kelvin (2800 - 10000 K in 100 K steps) |
| WB bracketing | • +/-3 levels • 3 images • blue/amber or magenta/green bias |
| WB shift | • Blue (-9) To Amber (+9) • Magenta (-9) to Green (+9) |
| Processing params | • Parameter 1 (con +1, shp +1, sat +1, tone 0) * • Parameter 2 (con 0, shp 0, sat 0, tone 0) * • Set 1 (con, shp, sat, tone) • Set 2 (con, shp, sat, tone) • Set 3 (con, shp, sat, tone) • B&W (con, shp, filter, toning) * |
| Custom params (Set 1 - 3) | • Contrast (+/-2) • Sharpness (+/-2) • Saturation (+/-2) • Color tone (+/-2) |
| Viewfinder | • Eye-level pentaprism • 95% frame coverage • Magnification: 0.9x (-1 diopter with 50 mm lens at infinity) * • Eyepoint: 20 mm • Dioptric adjustment: -3.0 to +1.0 diopter • Precision matte screen |
| Viewfinder info | • AF points • Focus confirmation light • Shutter speed • Aperture • Manual exposure • AE Lock • Exposure compensation amount • AEB level • Partial metering area • Flash ready • Red-eye reduction lamp on • High-speed sync • FE Lock • Flash compensation amount • Warnings • Maximum burst for continuous shooting • Buffer space |
| LCD monitor | • 1.8" TFT LCD • 118,000 pixels • 5 brightness levels • 10x zoom playback |
| Record review | • Off • On (histogram via INFO button) * • 2 / 4 / 8 sec / Hold |
| Flash | • Auto pop-up E-TTL II auto flash • FOV coverage up to 17 mm (27 mm equiv.) * • Guide number approx 13 • Flash compensation +/-2.0 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments • X-Sync: 1/250 sec * |
| External flash | • E-TTL II auto flash with EX-series Speedlites * • Wireless multi-flash support • PC Sync |
| Shooting modes | • Auto |
| Drive modes | • Single • Continuous: 5 fps up to 23 frames * • Self-timer: 10 secs |
| Direct printing | • Canon Card Photo Printers • Canon Bubble Jet Printers with direct print function • PictBridge * |
| Other features | • Orientation sensor • Automatically writes FAT16/FAT32 depending on capacity • LCD panel illumination |
| Auto rotation | • On (playback uses orientation data in file header) • Off |
| Playback mode | • Single image • Single image with info (inc. histogram) • Magnified view (1.5 - 10x in 15 steps, browsable) • 9 image index • Auto play • Image rotation • Jump |
| Custom functions | 18 custom functions with 50 settings * |
| Menu languages | • English • French • German • Spanish • Italian • Dutch • Swedish • Norwegian • Danish • Finnish • Chinese • Japanese |
| Firmware | User upgradable |
| Portrait grip | Via BP-E2 battery grip (option) |
| Connectivity | • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed * |
| Storage | • Compact Flash Type I or II • Microdrive supported • FAT 12/16 and FAT 32 support • No CF card supplied |
| Power | • Lithium-Ion BP-511A rechargeable battery (supplied & charger) • Supports BP-511 / BP-511A / BP-512 / BP-514 • CR2016 Lithium battery (date/time backup) • Optional AC adapter |
| Dimensions | 144 x 106 x 72 mm (5.6 x 4.2 x 2.8 in) * |
| Weight (no batt) | 685 g (1.5 lb) * |
| Weight (inc. batt) | 770 g (1.7 lb) * |
Spanning a wide-angle to telephoto range, the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM from Canon is a 27.2-136mm-equivalent zoom designed for EF-S-mount DSLRs. This reach is complemented by an optical design featuring one dual-sided aspherical element, which helps to minimize distortion and spherical aberrations in order to realize greater sharpness and clarity. A Super Spectra coating has also been applied that reduces flare and ghosting for improved contrast and color accuracy. The lens also features an Optical Image Stabilizer, which minimizes the appearance of camera shake by three stops to better enable shooting handheld in difficult lighting conditions. Additionally, a ring-type Ultrasonic Motor is featured, too, which affords quick, quiet autofocus performance along with full-time manual focus override.
Tripod Mount
 | On the bottom of the camera you'll find a metal tripod socket which is aligned exactly with the center line of the lens. As I've requested in previous reviews it would have been nice to have had a rubber 'foot' on the base of the camera, although I will speculate that this could cause the camera to be incompatible with the optional battery grip. |
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Internal flash
The EOS 20D features an all new E-TTL II pop-up flash, which raises much higher than the EOS 10D's unit which means fewer problems with lenses causing a shadow and will probably improve red-eye performance. The internal flash has a guide number of 13 (approx. 3.3 m @ 17 mm / 2.3 m @ 85 mm; ISO 100) and a wide angle coverage of 17 mm. Support for E-TTL II means that lens distance information is now used to calculate the required flash power. Flash sync speed is up slightly to 1/250 sec.
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The EOS 20D also allows for FE-Lock (Flash Exposure Lock) which can be used to take a meter reading of the subject using the flash before taking the shot. This can be useful for recomposing the scene, with the flash up (or an EX flash attached) simply aim the center of the frame at the subject to be metered, press the * button and the camera will fire the flash and take a meter reading, the next shot you take will use this locked exposure.
AF Assist
Unlike the EOS D30 and D60 the EOS 20D doesn't have a dedicated AF Assist lamp. Instead it will strobe the flash which will assist the camera's AF system if required. The new AF system has a lowest light detection of -0.5 EV compared to the EOS 10D's 0.5 EV, it's likely that AF assist won't be as important on the EOS 20D.
External flash
 | The EOS 20D's hot-shoe can be used with Canon and third party flash units (sync only). As with the internal flash the hot shoe supports the new E-TTL II metering which uses distance information from the lens to calculate flash power. This works with all Canon lenses (although distance information is only provided by lenses with ring type USM motors). |
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Canon Speedlite 580EX
Introduced at the same time as the EOS 20D the new Speedlite 580EX which has several advanced digital features including zoom linked to sensor sizes (takes into account the FOV crop caused by a D-SLR sensor) and AWB switched to flash WB (causes the camera to switch to flash WB in certain circumstances). In addition there is also a new battery belt pack for faster recharge and longer life.
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Lens Mount
The EOS 20D has a standard metal EF / EF-S lens mount which means that it supports all Canon EF and EF-S lenses plus some older as manual focus and compatible third party lenses. Because the sensor is smaller than a 35 mm frame all lenses are subject to a field of view crop (sometimes called focal length multiplier) of 1.6x, thus a 17 mm lens provides the same field of view of a 27.2 mm. Interestingly to support EF-S lenses the mirror box and mirror are smaller than the 10D, this won't of course make any difference to the image as the imaging circle required for the sensor is smaller than 35 mm. It also doesn't appear to have had any detrimental effect on viewfinder brightness.
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Shutter Release Sound / Continuous drive
In all of our digital SLR reviews we now provide a sound recording of a continuous burst of shots. Below you can see waveforms of a recording made of the Canon EOS 20D, Nikon D70 and Canon EOS 10D shooting continuously for 30 seconds each. The cameras were set to manual focus, shutter speed 1/250 sec and aimed at our standard resolution chart.Image quality was set to eight megapixels JPEG Fine on the 20D and 6MP JPEG Fine on the 10D and D70. The CF card used was a SanDisk Ultra II 1 GB (Type I).
The Canon EOS 20D shot 36 frames at full speed (5 frames per second), dropped to 1.7 frames per second for 25 frames and then began a slightly erratic 'double shot' sequence for another 15 frames. The Nikon D70 shot 12 frames at full speed (3 frames per second) then dropped to 2 frames per second for 57 frames. The Canon EOS 10D shot 9 frames at full speed (3 frames per second), dropped to 1 frame per second for 24 frames, after that it slowed considerably.
What surprised me the most is how much more amplitude the 20D sample has compared to the D70 and 10D, it's shutter sound is a louder than both of them but does appear to be exaggerated in the diagrams below.
JPEG
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| 30 seconds, total 76 frames (JPEG) |
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| 30 seconds, total 69 frames (JPEG) |
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| 30 seconds, total 34 frames (JPEG) |
Download the MP3 (EOS 20D then D70 then EOS 10D) 1,624 KB
* The results here are slightly different to those measured in our Nikon D70 review because we are now using a resolution chart as a target which has increased the size of the JPEG files being stored.
RAW
Not long after publishing this article we were asked if we could publish a recording of the EOS 20D shooting RAW continuously (not that I can imagine many people would want to). Here it is.
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| 30 seconds, total 27 frames (RAW) |
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