Flexing the Left Brain

All this tech mumbo jumbo doesn't mean anything if it can't deliver on usability or great images – where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. A single dial lets you quickly switch between modes, five in the 'Creative' zone and seven 'Basic'. Basic zones include Full Auto and preset modes like Landscape, Portrait, and Sports.

Dial into the Creative zone and that's where your left brain takes over. It starts gradually with Program Auto Exposure where you ease into the control. Step through Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, or dial all the way to Automatic Depth of Field.

For full control, switch to Manual mode, flip the lens into manual focus and let the creativity flow. Control everything from ISO (100 to 3200), aperture, shutter speed (1/8000 to 30 seconds), color temperature, white balance, drive mode, and more. Classic film SLR users will need some quiet time with the manual to figure out what the two dials, joystick, and various buttons control.

While all that creativity is flowing, you won't have to worry about battery life. Canon claims up to 700 shot with 50% flash use. In my experience, I managed between 400 and 500 shots on a single charge. My usage pattern included lots of photo reviewing in the LCD, many aborted shots after focusing, and random flashes. At maximum JPEG quality (3504 by 2336) that's enough juice to fill almost 2 gigs.

What's Missing?

The skilled photographer might miss spot metering, one of the few features not found in the EOS 20D. You'll find partial metering, though some will find the 9% area too large for full control. Spot metering allows more accurate exposure control in complex light conditions by measuring levels in an area covering 1-3% of the image.

With the 20D, the viewfinder covers 95% (horizontal and vertical) of what the lens sees. In most cases the missing 5% didn't pose a problem, but every now and again there's something or somebody in the shot you didn't expect to see. Fine, the digital world lets you easily crop images to make the perfect picture. Still, a little extra viewfinder coverage would be nice.

The Bottom Line

Clearly, the EOS 20D is one of my favorite digital cameras, a product truly worth buying. I could easily use the specs, features, and image quality to argue why it's such a great camera. For me it's something far more cerebral and intangible than that. I'd say it's the knowledge that the perfect picture is within grasp limited only by my imagination, not the camera. The Canon EOS 20D is a camera worth every penny in my book. For any prosumer, this is the digital SLR to buy.