I've had the opportunity to use my friend's Canon 50D first before I got the 40D. I was not hoping for it to be exactly the same in terms of features and quality. Although, they are ALMOST identical in button positions. The 50D does seem a lot more user-friendly, but I honestly prefer the 40D because it puts me in the driver's seat to actually manage how I want the photos to look like from the moment I press the shutter release. The price of it has decreased with the release of the 50D as well as 60D. So, it's great for anyone who wouldn't mind buying a second-hand one. I have no regrets with it as I am using this to learn the basics of digital photography. I would recommend this to all beginners rather than going for the 1000D or 450D or anything in that range.
Being a photographer that gets out in the real world on a very regular basis, often hundreds of K's from anywhere, I require and need reliability and ruggedness over style and ego value. The 40d delivers these without ever complaining, it just keeps coming back for more and more. Battery life from these bodies is also incredible, a real bonus when there isn't a power point for miles. Write out speed is also lightning fast as compared to previous cameras in this series and with a good, fast card, I regularly shoot 10+ frame bursts and never need to allow the camera to "catch up" I now have 3 x 40d bodies in my collection. Why 3, as I said, I venture to some very remote and dusty locations and my one criticism of the 40d is there is no positive really effective lense to body seal. This tends to allow some minute dust particles to be sucked into the mirror box when using wide zoom range lenses and zooming back and forth fast and often, eg, when shooting motocross for one. The last thing I want to have to do is open the front of the camera to change lenses in the field and compound the problem, so now, for my situation, its one body per lense. The dust ingress is absolutely minimal, but over time it can build to the point of dust devils appearing. I have however self cleaned the sensors numerous times over the years without any ill effects, so don't let this one criticism put you off this body as it is a VERY common issue when you shoot outside a studio regardless of what you shoot with. All to often, all anyone takes into consideration is the sensor mega pixel count, when in reality, the total mega pixel count of the sensor rarely reflect the true capability of the camera. I have taken shots from this camera and through software (Perfect Photo Resizer 7.5), enlarged to 120 x 80 inches and the print was still very much "photo quality" The lense you put on the front and whether you use a tripod has way more to do with your terminal print size than does the sensor size. Most people will never take a print to beyond 30 x 20 inches and the files ( Jpeg at that!) from this camera when shot through good glass can be printed to that size straight out of the camera every time without fail. These bodies are so cheap these days compared to the first one I bought which was in excess of $3,000. If you want to move into the prosumer world, this camera will do WAY more than the vast majority will ever be able to utilise on it, save on the camera and spend more on the lense. The "L Series" lenses are the only way to go if you are serious about image quality. If you are a "wild life" lover, seriously consider adding the optional battery grip to the combination, it balances the camera better with the longer glass and also adds a second set of controls when shooting in portrait, which is very handy when chasing quick shots in the portrait camera position. These cameras are as tough as nails and I cant recommend this series highly enough for anyone that wants to get into the bigger end of town for a sensible cost. Total shutter releases don't appear to be an issue with the Canon mechanisms either, my original 10d now has over 438,000 releases and is still turning out good photos. A site called AstroJargon have available a wonderful little piece of software called EOSinfo which by simply plugging in the USB lead to the camera, will tell you the total shutter releases. You can view some of the images taken with my 40d's at www.scenesofoz.comRead full review
This is an excelant camera and was a good buy off e bay,very pleased with my purchase. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I was really after the lens. The camera was a bonus.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Great picture quality,good solid body,fairly straightforward to use. On average these can be purchased for around $350-$450 which considering its robust qualities this is quite good value for money.
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