With the sale of the 1D, I purchase a 40D. I feel it’s a better second body for me. I owned the 1D because I’ve always wanted to get into sports photography (skiing, sailing and snowboarding). To me I needed a 1 series because I needed to be able to do sequences in order to take it seriously. Well a few things have changed, we live in RI, I don’t know any good skiers/riders (good enough to shoot) and sequences have completely dropped out of serious sports photography. If I don’t need the FPS of a 1 series it’s unlikely I need the rest of the package. My biggest gripe about the 1D was also the batteries (~250 shots each). Now with a 40D I have 3 batteries and they all work in any camera.
My 5D is my main body. I love the fact that it’s FF and a smaller body size, but still big enough to hold. So in looking for another camera, the 40D came to the surface. It’s got all the new bells and whistles and canon is likely to put into a 5DmII. This lets me test them before committing to that body. Plus it’s got a much larger viewfinder than the 30D which is very nice. It’s also has live view which is better than I though (priceless for the moon shots). The 40D can also do 6.5FPS for 75 frames and has very good AF, enough so it’s fine for what I need. I’ll post another post eventually once I’ve had it long enough to share some more in depth comments on it. For now enjoy a few shots from last night of the moon with my 300mm and my TCs (testing live view) and one of me on the couch.
What I really like about it:
- Live View
- 1.6 when I need more reach
- smaller and lighter as a second body
- same batteries and CF cards as 5D
- great viewfinder for a x0D
- My Menu is awesome
- Self cleaning sensor can’t hurt, I foresee less cleanings, but not no cleaning.
What I don’t like:
- new 3″ screen, needs more resolution or ax it.
- menu colors (I’ll live).
- button layout on the top of the camera, specifically the ISO adjusts using the small dial
- 1.6 sucks for UWA work (yes I realize there are lenses for this, just not in my bag…)
- I wish it was a hair bigger.
- CF functions in 4 sub menus now…
