If I wanted to trade my 3 month old XT for a 20D...

[WildWolf]

How much cash would I have to include? BTW I have a black XT

[richardho11]

How much cash would I have to include? BTW I have a black XT

My guess would be at least $400 cash before anyone would even consider. But I highly doubt if you can find someone that would want to downgrade their 20D and I doubt if your willing to put in more than $400 cash. The best thing to do is ebay your XT and purchase a used 20D. I Ebayed my XT w/kit lens and sold it for $800 bought the 20D. Then a month later I ebayed my 20D and bought my 5D. Its the easiest way to go.

[puttick]

Why not just keep the XT and save your money for the next improved camera model. There is little difference in performance between the XT and the 20D, the main differences are in feel and cosmetics. If a 10MP 25D came out in Feb you'd feel left behind again. I'd wait - in fact I am waiting - for the 5D to come down in price, which I am sure will be soon.

[Saudidave]

Well Put Dr. Puttick
Chasing digital technology is a futile pastime.The progress is too fast for anyone ouside of the oil indrustry & not called Rockefeller or Hilton.
The name of the game is stay one step behind cutting edge technology. Wait to identify when the dogs nads requires a replacement. Then after about 2 months, visit the websites, then go to Costco and then................go for it

[Snapman]

Well Put Dr. Puttick
Chasing digital technology is a futile pastime.The progress is too fast for anyone ouside of the oil indrustry & not called Rockefeller or Hilton.
The name of the game is stay one step behind cutting edge technology. Wait to identify when the dogs nads requires a replacement. Then after about 2 months, visit the websites, then go to Costco and then................go for it
You interpreted Puttick's post differently to me. As I read it, he's saying don't settle for either a 350D or a 20D but wait for something more advanced and most probably more expensive.

[Dante King]

Errr... Take it away Bob!
Things that are different where the EOS 20D is better

The EOS 20D has a rear QCD (Quick Control Dial) which can be used to set exposure compensation, flash compensation, shutter speed or aperture in manual mode and has several other functions. The same functions are available in the Digital Rebel XT, but require the pushing of buttons. The advantage of the QCD is you can do things faster and without taking your eye from the viewfinder.
The EOS 20D can shoot at 5 frames/second, the Digital Rebel XT can shoot at 3 frames/sec
The EOS 20D can shoot a burst of 23 high resolution JPEG frames before the buffer fills, The Digital Rebel XT can shoot 14 frames
The EOS 20D has 9 autofocus zones, the Digital Rebel XT has 7
The EOS 20D provides full cross-type performance with maximum apertures as small as f5.6, yet it achieves up to 3 times the standard focusing precision when used with EF lenses featuring maximum apertures larger than or equal to f/2.8. The autofocus system of the Digital Rebel XT is inherited from the film Rebel XT body and has normal precision f5.6 sensors.
The EOS 20D autofocus is specified to operate in 1 stop lower light than the Digital Rebel autofocus (-0.5 EV vs +0/5 EV)
The EOS 20D autofocus is faster than the autofocus on the Digital Rebel XT
The EOS 20D has a top shutter speed of 1/8000s, the Digital Rebel XT has a top shutter speed of 1/4000s
The EOS 20D has a flash x-sync speed of 1/250s, the Digital Rebel x-sync speed is 1/200s
The EOS 20D has a pentaprism with a 0.9x viewfinder magnification, the Digital Rebel XT has a pentamirror with 0.8x magnification.
The EOS 20D has a highest ISO setting of 3200, the Digital Rebel XT has a high ISO setting of 1600.
The EOS 20D is good for 1000 shots (no flash) on a single battery charge, the Digital Rebel XT is good for 600.
The EOS 20D has a PC terminal for use with an external flash or strobe, the Digital Rebel XT does not.
The EOS 20D maximum flash sync voltage is 250v (for both the hotshoe and PC terminal), the Digital Rebel XT maximum sync voltage is also 250v, not 6v as I had earlier reported. Canon have recently stated that the Digital Rebel XT does in fact share the 250v sync voltage with the 20D and other high end Canon EOS bodies. Sorry for any confusion on this point.
The EOS 20D has a high performance shutter designed for increased reliability (100,000 cycles), the Digital Rebel XT has the normal Canon shutter (about 50,000 cycles).
The shutter lag time of the EOS 20D is 65ms, the shutter lag time of the Digital Rebel XT is 100ms.
The high-speed mirror drive give the EOS 20D a shortened viewfinder blackout time (115ms) compared to the Digital Rebel XT (170ms)
The EOS 20D sensor (8.2MP, 22.5 x 15mm) is very slightly larger and has slightly more pixels than the Digital Rebel XT sensor (8.0MP, 22.2 x 14.8mm).
The EOS 20D has a multi-controller on the back of the camera can be pushed in eight directions, as well as down in the center, to simplify selection of the AF point, correction of white balance, trimming of images during direct printing, scrolling of magnified images etc. The Digital Rebel XT uses push buttons for the same functions.
The EOS 20D has top, front and rear covers made of a magnesium alloy for added strength and rigidity. The top, front and rear covers of the Rebel XT are plastic.
The EOS 20D has 18 custom functions, the Digital Rebel XT has 9 (List of XT custom functions)
The EOS 20D ships with Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2, the Digital Rebel XT ships with ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5. Adobe have an upgrade offer from Elements to full Photoshop CS for $299. This offer applies to copies of Elements which were supplied bundled with Canon products. Since Photoshop retails for up to $599 ($649 list), this can be a significant saving.

Yes you are correct its all FEEL. ;)

[Jackal]

Read through all of Dante's points and if you don't care for those advantages then just stay with the XT and buy yourself a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 or 50mm 1.4. That combo is better than a 20D with a kit lense.


The EOS 20D can shoot a burst of 23 high resolution JPEG frames before the buffer fills, The Digital Rebel XT can shoot 14 frames


It depends on your CF card. You can shoot the XT until you fill the card on burst mode with an 80x lexar card on the highest quality jpeg. Or atleast I think you can fill the card......I've shot 40+ shots on burst mode and I got tired so I stopped.

I've been nothing but happy with my XT, BG-E3 grip, and Tamron. If I would have saved for a couple more months and bought a 20D instead I would have missed alot of awesome shots I've taken with the XT. And I probably still wouldn't have been able to buy the Tamron.

[richardho11]

It depends on your CF card. You can shoot the XT until you fill the card on burst mode with an 80x lexar card on the highest quality jpeg. Or atleast I think you can fill the card......I've shot 40+ shots on burst mode and I got tired so I stopped.

40 shots?!? What kind of Super Rebel XT do you have? LOL. :p Dpreveiw used the worlds fastest compact flash card, the Sandisk Extreme III and was only able to squeeze out 29 shots.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/page12.asp

Even that is simply amazing for a camera that is only rated at 14 shots. I had the regular Sandisk Extreme on my rebel xt and I was only able to get about 18 shots max in burst mode. Just out of curiosity, how did you get tired from holding down the shutter button? Even with 40 shots at 3fps, you only held it down for 13 seconds. lol.

[Dante King]

i must clarify, THESE ARE BOB ATKINS POINTS, not mine. I did not want to show Bob up. ;)

[Dante King]

LOL richard. JAckal is a gamer, he had overdeveloped muscles in his hands for pc games, not photography! ;)

[Jackal]

I didn't get tired of holding down the button silly! I just got tired of doing it and wasting my shutter. D:

But yes I counted about 45 shots on full jpeg quality and shooting at full speed before I just stopped. I don't know if the exposure affects the file size of the picture. It is possible that some shots came out underexposed (dark) and had less color which could possibly mean less processing or file size? I'm not sure. I just know for a fact I got 45+ shots.

Dante I think clicking on the mouse with my index finger strengthens it pretty good. :D

[Mitcon]

I got over 80 shoots in jpeg and only reason the camera stopped then was I was sick of wasting sutter cycles just to see how many it could do. I think it will mostly depend on the noise/detail in the image your capturing. But with Raw it does bottle-neck at the 5 images.

As for the Extras Bob lists, I wonder what difference it really makes as I for one wouldn't use most of those features, and some are a reason for me not to buy the 20D as I see them as con, not a pro. Some people like bell's and whistle's but to me it's just alot of extra noise lol.

The other thing I always ask and no-one ever seems to be able to tell me is where they got the info about shutter life on the 20D Vs 350D/XT. I have spoken to many people at canon and other techs about this and I'm told the shutter life expectancy for the 20D is the same as for the 350D/XT.

Anyway, to the OP. Why do you even want to change to the 20D ? Whats the 350D/XT not doing for you that the 20D will. I can see the point to upgrading to a 5D or 1D/1Ds but not to the 20D.

[richardho11]

I didn't get tired of holding down the button silly! I just got tired of doing it and wasting my shutter. D:

But yes I counted about 45 shots on full jpeg quality and shooting at full speed before I just stopped. I don't know if the exposure affects the file size of the picture. It is possible that some shots came out underexposed (dark) and had less color which could possibly mean less processing or file size? I'm not sure. I just know for a fact I got 45+ shots.

Dante I think clicking on the mouse with my index finger strengthens it pretty good. :D

Hi Jackal,

WOW! Thats awesome! I wish I could have gotten that many frames in bursts. Yah, I guess I would have stopped too! Going at that rate, your going to have to replace that shutter in a few months! lol. Great Job! :D

[Jon]

Raw images don't vary as much in size as JPGs, since RAW uses lossless compression, and all the details and tonal gradations are preserved. JPEG of a relatively uniform, featureless subject will be very small compared to one of a contrasty, highly detailed subject with lots of colours and tonal variations. So a run of 45 to 80 frames in JPEG (even large) won't necessarioly reflect real-world results. Try shooting your preferred subject in burst and see what you get.

[WildWolf]

My main reason for the "upgrade" is the viewfinder, 5 shots per second, ISO 3200 and feel (my hands are a little big for the XT). The only issue is finding a buyer for my XT- it is 3 months old and in perfect condition. I will try EBAY. Thanks for the replies.

[Dante King]

I'll giva ya $450 for it. Looking for a second body.

[ron chappel]

Seriously,if you do sell the XT- sell it on ebay.Or here
Trading it in will be a guarantee of getting a low price:(