40D Review & Samples

Sample soccer photos HERE.

Today was my first day to shoot with the 40D (one day after delivery). Coming from the 10D, 20D and most recently the 30D, I am aware of the what the possible limits of the 40D would be. I was not too interested in static shots since the 30D was fine in that regards and since I manually focus taking portraits. I knew the 30D would hit its limits in sports photography which is primarily what I use it for. I use the 5D for everything else. I will do an inside basketball game this week.

The settings I used for the soccer shots were AF SERVO mode, Aperture Priority of F2.8, ISO 200, Evaluative metering, JPEG large, custom white balance with a gray card and NO post-processing.

The 40D shoots very fast at 6.5 FPS. The 40D is has a much improved JPEG buffer which I did not fill up. I always clogged up my 30D buffer which was one of its limits. While shooting I was extremely pleased with the 40D. There were a couple of times when I had to leave go of the shutter and press it again to "reset" where the SERVO mode was focusing. About 3-4 times the AF just seemed to get lost. On the 3" LCD screen all photos looked good and in focus.

Now for the disappointment. When I got home an viewed them on my computer I realized there were many OOF (out of focus) shots. The AF of the 40D was to me no better than the 30D. I used the fast 2.8 lens which is supposed to get the "new and improved" AF on the 40D. I took over 300 photos and kept only about 65. The sample photos are the one I kept.

I am glad I upgraded to the 40D but it is no 1 series 45 point AF; however, it is $3,000 less than the 1 D Mark III.