10D to 20D

[treeduck6]

I am thinking of upgrading to the 20D. Can anyone who has used both tell me what I might expect in the way of improvements? Or what they don't like about the 20D as compared to the 10D.
Is the upgrade worth the money?
Thanks for the help.

[pcasciola]

Speed and high ISO performance are really the only major differences I noticed. If you don't need either of those two, it may not be worth the upgrade for you. The 8MP is nice too if you tend to crop a lot like I do, but otherwise not very important unless you are doing poster sized prints.

[Toogy]

Personally I found the biggest improvement is Auto Focus accuracy. I seem to have a much higher percentage of 'keeper' shots with the 20D over what I had with the 10D.
Plus the speed is also much nicer.

[Moments]

The E-TTL II is a welcomed improvement with the 20D. It was the main reason for me to upgrade. The other posts list other improvements, but they were not the main reason. I shoot all my wedding candids digital, and when I had the 10D with the 550ex flash, I had to trash a large number due to the way the 10D's E-TTL works. (over / under exposers) The 20D's E-TTL II is almost perfect, and as close as it can get in my opinion. I still do not use the 20D for my formal photos, as I would really perfer the bigger sensor and more dynamic range of the 1Ds Mark II.

Pete
www.memorablemoments.net

[mjordan]

I keep reading that the 20D is faster, but is it really? FPS maybe, but the 10D can shoot 9 raw iamges in a sequence before the buffer is filled up. The 20D can only shoot 3 (or is it 5?). I shoot a lot of multi sequence actions shots and I've wondered if the 20D wouldn't be limiting because of the fewer sequence shots I could take.

Has anyone with both cameras timed how long it takes to say take 36 shots in both cameras? Can the 20D get 36 shots taken before the 10D does when you consider the filling the buffer, dumping it, taking more pictures, etc.? I know the 20D is better in other areas, but I've been curious of this.

Mike

[pcasciola]

It's only six raws in the buffer on the 20D because of the larger 8MP file size, but it's still faster for RAWs because it clears so fast. The 20D can take 9 RAWs in just over 3 seconds just like the 10D, and then 1 every second after that because of the fast buffer. The faster speed is because it's cleared so fast. 10 seconds on the 20D compared to 30-40 seconds on the 10D. JPEG buffer, I get about 30-40 shots in before I start to get slowed down by the buffer.

[RichardtheSane]

I jumped from the 10D to the 20D.

Strictly speaking I didn't need to, but because of the trade I made then it cost me virtually nothing. However the improvements in the 20D had allowed me to produce more keeper shots. Bold statement, I know but here is why.

I mainly shoot dogs, a mixture of action and portrait type shots. So there were two areas of the 20D that interested me, the af accuracy and the improved write times to CF. My main gripe with the 10D was how it could not write while I shoot, so while I rarely use the motordrive I would often take a lot of shots in rapid sucession and that would max the buffer out. With the 20D even though the buffer is holds less shots I have not maxed it out yet, therefore have not yet achieved lock out. Secondly the AF on the 20D has meant that more of the 'action/playtime' shots have been keepers because in AI servo once locked on it really hangs on like a limpet - truly it does! A testament to this is when I shoot Whippets running, if I can get the 20d locked onto the head or shoulders then it will stay locked on - I found the 10D would struggle with such small/fast subjects.

Do I wish I could have kept my 10D, Hell yes! I would love to have both camera's but for me the 20D has enough improvements to justify.

Oh, did I mention that ISO 1600 is much nicer? it is. I also enjoy doing concert shots and really love the way that ISO 1600 is handled in the 20D. But be warned, you need to expose correctly to see the benefits.

Hope this helps

[cecilc]

Do I wish I could have kept my 10D, Hell yes!

I agree with RTS .... but, unlike him, I did keep my 10D as a 2nd body and backup.
The 20D I think is worth the "upgrade".
I put off getting it for awhile, but after I did, I was glad that I did.
But I still use the 10D right alonside my 20D.

[tim]

The 20D is a lot faster to use than the 10D/300D, in terms of how quickly it responds to what you tell it to do, and in terms of writing images to the card. More frames per second is good obviously, only 6 in total in RAW, but if you want more you just use JPG and you get a huge buffer - i've never filled it in normal use. ETTL-II is a bit better, but I still need to use FEC some times, and also EC some times too.

Overall i'm very please with my upgrade from the 300D to the 20D.