More 40D thoughts

I've been using the 40D for a couple weeks now, and taken about a thousand shots with it, doing nearly all my usual sorts of images. I have not yet done any studio macro yet, mostly for lack of small interesting things that I haven't already shot, and because I haven't picked up a remote shutter release yet. (I'd made one for my Rebel XT, but they don't take the same type of jack.)

As I've mentioned before, I'm not really interested in doing a full review of the 40D. That's been done. This is more about my personal experience moving from the entry level Rebel/xxxD line to the middle-weight "prosumer" xxD line. You may still have an early Rebel model and the 40D is still a great, available camera, so it's possible you may be considering the same upgrade. Otherwise, some of the later Rebels have a few of the 40D's features, like Live View and a more advanced processor, but they certainly don't have the same handling.

Physically, the 40D is easier for me to use than the XT. It's a bit larger and heavier, but I don't find it more tiring to use. The opposite is actually the case. With the XT, unless I was using a really lightweight lens like the 50mm f/1.8, the camera becomes front heavy and it's harder to keep the camera steady. I found the 40D's extra weight means the center of balance is much closer to where I'm holding the camera, especially with the 100mm Macro.

There are more buttons and dials than you find on the Rebel line. It took a few days to get used to the increased access I had to various settings, but it's not a difficult learning curve, and it speeds things up considerably. For example, in full manual mode, the XT requires you to hold down a button as you turn the control dial to change the aperture. The 40D has a second control dial on the back for that -- and in aperture or shutter priority mode, that dial can control the exposure compensation, a setting that required drilling down in the system menu on the Rebel XT. The secondary LCD panel is on the top of the 40D and provides a lot more information than the XT's, which is basically just a rehash of the info provided in the viewfinder.

One of those extra buttons is a dedicated AF-ON button. Both cameras can be set to use a rear button to control the autofocus, but the Rebel XT has to use its exposure lock button for this. It took some time to get used to the placement of the AF-ON on the 40D, since my thumb was used to going to the second button from the end, but having both AF-ON and exposure locking available is quite useful.

The viewfinder uses a prism, rather than mirrors, and is noticably brighter and larger than the XT's. It has a faster buffer and shoots about twice as many frames per second -- the XT can take about 3 shots a second, and the 40D takes a little over 6. With a reasonably fast CF card and shutter speed, I'm now able to fire off a burst of 20 consecutive RAW format images within about three seconds before the buffer fills. The shutter button is actually so sensative in comparison that I've taken quite a few double shots by accident, where I kept the button down for the fraction of a second it took for the camera to take a second shot.

I'm tremendously happy with the upgrade. I'd felt that I'd come up against the limits of what I could do with the XT in a few areas, and while I was perfectly happy with the photography I was doing with it, the 40D just makes it easier to do as well. The main benefit that I expect to see, and still have not really tested, is the ability to precisely focus with Live View, and I'll be doing that this week.