Canon EOS 20D

Reviewed July 2005

Introduction

Within Canon's current line-up of digital SLR cameras, the EOS 20D is designed to fit in the middle, offering a blend of features and capabilities that allow it to have one foot in the professional photography world, and one foot in the amateur photography world, a combination that has proved to be popular.

The EOS 20D's 2-stage shutter button is positioned at the end of a depression shaped for the index finger at the top front of the grip, only one of a number of buttons on the top right side of the camera.

Directly behind the shutter release is the Main Dial, which is used mostly to select shooting-related settings including aperture and shutter speed when the camera is set to one of the advanced modes.

Nearby, to the right in the image shown here, is the lamp used for Red-eye Reduction and the Self-timer.

Immediately behind the Main Dial, a row of 4 buttons is aligned near the LCD Panel:

Serves to illuminate the LCD panel when pressed, the illumination lasting for 6 seconds, or turns off the illumination.

The other 3 buttons have dual functions, depending on which of the two control dials is used, either the Main Dial [], or the Quick Control Dial [] which is on the back of the camera (see further):

When used with Main Dial the button allows selecting one of the three Auto Focus modes: One Shot AF: focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway. If needed the shutter button can be maintained half pressed to maintain focus while the shot is recomposed. AI Servo: maintains focus on a moving subject while the camera's shutter button is maintained halfway. The system includes predictive AF which is able to track a steadily moving subject as it approaches or retreats form the camera. AI Focus: automatically switches when needed from One Shot AF to AI Servo. When used in conjunction with the Quick Control Dial , the button serves to select the White Balance: Auto: 3000 to 7000 K Daylight: 5200 K Shade: 7000 K Cloudy, Twilight, Sunset: 6000 K Tungsten (incandescent): 3200 K White Fluorescent Light: 4000 K Flash: 6000 K Custom (user selectable under ambient light): 2000 to 10000 K Colour Temperature (set in degrees Kelvin): 2800 to 10000 K

The other area is the Creative zone, which encompasses the more advanced shooting modes. The Auto mode acts as the division between the two zones:

Set to Auto the EOS 20D effectively becomes a point and shoot camera, and a number of the external buttons are disabled (autofocus and white balance selection, ISO, metering, compensation, continuous mode, etc). With the Auto mode, metering is set to Evaluative, a 9-point wide area autofocus, and sensitivity (ISO) to Auto, allowing the camera to adjust it over a range of 100 to 400 ISO.

The Image zone contains 6 Scene modes. As with the Auto mode, the camera controls all parameters including CCD sensitivity (100-400 ISO), and most external controls are purposefully disabled to prevent the scene-specific camera settings from being unintentionally altered:

	Portrait mode selects a wide aperture to blur the background of the subject. The pop-up flash is automatically controlled, while the Drive mode is set to Continuous shooting.
	Landscape mode selects small apertures to maximize depth of field. This mode prevents the release of the flash and sets the camera to Single shooting.
	Close-up mode works to balance the depth of field and the shutter speed, but with an overall preference for depth of field. This mode also controls the release of the pop-up flash, and uses Single shooting.
	Sports mode optimizes the shutter speed so as to freeze action. The pop-up flash cannot be released, the Continuous shooting mode is activated, as is the AI Servo mode which allows the camera to track the subject and maintain focus using all 9 AF points.
	Night Scene mode uses a longer exposure and flash to capture a well-lit foreground and a visible background. The flash is automatically opened and only the Single or Self-timer/Remote control drive modes are available.
	Flash Off mode prevents the flash from being opened automatically and can be used for interior shots, or long exposures (2 second maximum exposure time, controlled by the camera).

The Creative zone, on the other side of the Auto mode, starts with the Program mode:

The Program mode chooses the most appropriate combination of shutter speed and aperture, and displays it in the viewfinder's display. Program Shift is also available, and another combination of aperture/shutter speed can be selected using the Main Dial .

	Shutter Priority mode, Tv, provides access to the full shutter speed range of the EOS 20 D: from 1/8000 sec to 30 seconds with the Main Dial , while the camera sets the aperture.
	Aperture Priority mode, Av, allows selecting the aperture, using the Main Dial while the camera matches the selection to a shutter speed. The range depends on the lens in use. Depth of field preview is available by pressing on a button located on the lower left side of the lens mount of the body, beneath the larger lens release button.
	Manual mode provides control over the shutter speed using Main Dial , and the aperture using the Quick Control Dial . The aperture range depends on the lens in use, the shutter speed range covers from 1/8000 second to 30 seconds, and adds a Bulb mode that is unlimited, and which can be used in conjunction with mirror lock-up, and a Long Exposure Noise Reduction option (see the Characteristics section of the review).
	Automatic Depth of Field AE works much like the Program mode, but serves to obtain a wide depth of field between a near and a far subject, and is effective for group photos and landscape shots. The camera uses all 9 focusing points to determine the nearest and the farthest points in the frame and sets the aperture accordingly.

Placed on the upper right corner of the 20D's back, two buttons have dual roles, depending on the camera's mode:

	With the Basic Zone modes, and with A-DEP mode, the camera automatically selects the focus point. But with the P, Tv, Av, and M modes, any one of 9 AF points can be selected manually by pressing this button, and then using the Multi-controller (see further).
	In the Playback mode, the same button can be used to magnify an image up to 10X, while the Multi-controller serves to move around the image.

The Multi-controller is a short, joystick-like control that is positioned bear the top right corner of the 1.8 inch, 118,000-pixel LCD monitor.

In some modes, the Multi-controller serves to select the auto focus point (see above), or set white balance correction. In Playback, it serves to scroll around on a magnified image, or move the trimming frame when cropping an image for direct printing.

The Quick Control Dial is directly below. The dial rotates right or left, and while the camera is set to a capture mode, serves to select exposure compensation (±2EV in in either 1/3 or 1/2 increments), set the focus point cycling through each AF point in turn, or set the aperture when the camera is set to the Manual mode, while in Playback the button can be used to move from one image to another.

In addition, the Quick Control dial is used to navigate the camera's menus while the small button labelled SET in the middle of the dial serve to select options, and confirm their settings.

The EOS 20D's Power Switch is below the LCD monitor. The switch has three positions: OFF, ON, and ON with the Quick Control Dial operational.

Four other buttons are aligned vertically on the left side of the monitor:

The next button has two separate functions. The first is when the camera is in a recording mode:

The three buttons remaining on the back of the EOS 20D have functions limited to the Playback mode:

JUMP	When pressed the JUMP button serves to jump images in groups of 10 images forwards or backwards. When the thumbnail view is selected (9 pictures per screen), the JUMP button jumps 9 images at a time.
	Starts the playback mode.
	Deletes one image at a time, or all images.

The TTL viewfinder of the EOS 20D shows 95% of the frame horizontally and vertically, and has an eyepoint of 20mm. A dioptric adjustment (-3 to +1 diopter) is available on the top right side of the exit pupil, behind the soft, rubber-trimmed eyepiece that can be removed to attach the eyepiece cover during long exposures. The focusing screen, precision matte, is fixed and does not offer composition guidelines, but the image is very crisp and bright. The 9 AF points of the camera are etched in black and light up in red when active.

The built-in flash of the EOS 20D has a Guide Number of 13 meters (43 ft) at 100 ISO, recycles in approximately 3 seconds, and has a synchronization range that extends up to 1/250 second. Flash metering is full TTL, and provides a coverage appropriate for a 17 mm lens.

In addition, the EOS 20D is compatible with Canon EOS Speedlite flash units and E-TTL II Autoflash, a new autoflash exposure system that has improved flash exposure control and which makes use of distance information.

The last external buttons of the EOS 20D are on the right side of the lens mount. First, at the top, is the Flash Release button, next to the Manual Focus Switch of the lens. The flash is fully automatic in the Basic zone, with the exception of the Sports, Landscape, and Flash Off modes. In all other shooting modes the flash must be released to be available.

Next is the lens mount's Lens Release. The Canon EOS 20D is compatible with both the EF and the newer EF-S lenses.

Finally, directly below the lens release button is the Depth of Field Preview button, which stops down the lens from the brightest aperture that is used for the viewfinder to the aperture selected by either the camera or the user, and reveals the depth of field which will be visible in the image.