Canon EOS 40D Review

The solid workhorse EOS 40D brings some innovations at Canon into the amateur and semi-professional area, not least the ever more popular LiveView counts – there it seems almost natural that the speed improves in all respects once again.

Short evaluation

Pros

• Very good performance (switch-on and storage time, continuous shooting mode)
• Excellent image quality
• Solid workmanship
• Excellent autofocus speed

Cons

• Partially unfamiliar or unergonomic operation
• Low resolution, blurred display
• No contrast autofocus in LiveView mode

Canon also uses a higher resolution CMOS sensor in the new EOS 40D. Still in the smaller APS-C format, it now offers dust removal by ultrasonic excitation of the infrared filter upstream of the sensor. With 10.1 megapixels, the 40D is the latest addition to the current 400D entry-level model and sets itself apart from it by a higher speed, which now allows a maximum of 75 JPEG or 17 RAW images with a frequency of up to 6.5 frames per second. Further features are the 14-bit A/D conversion, sRAW file format, the Digic III processor and the new 3″ LCD with 230,000 pixels, which offers a somewhat smaller viewing angle range of 140°, but is supposed to more than make up for this disadvantage with a larger colour range and brightness. Also included in the 40D’s range of functions is now the Live View mode, which transmits the sensor’s view to the camera LCD in real time after the mirror has been folded up. The ISO sensitivity can finally be secured permanently in the viewfinder, which magnifies 0.95 times. The autofocus was changed compared to the 30D with nine measuring fields now designed as cross sensors (compared to one for the EOS 30D). Although the 40D does not have a housing that is completely sealed against dust and splash water, it can at least have rubber seals on the battery compartment and memory card slot cover.

The EOS 40D’s sensor, which is still manufactured in CMOS construction and kept in APS-C format, offers 10.1 megapixels, around 2 million pixels more than its predecessor EOS 30D. Despite a pixel size reduced from 6.4 to 5.7 micrometers, Canon wants to have reduced the image noise even further compared to the 30D and therefore provides the 40D with an extended sensitivity setting up to ISO 3,200. In addition, a high-ISO noise filter can be added analogous to the 1D Mark III, which, however, already works at low sensitivities in the dark image areas. Another new feature is the dust removal by ultrasonic excitation of a filter upstream of the sensor. The image quality will benefit from the image processing processor Digic III, which is used for the first time in the EOS 1D Mk III and reads the sensor data over four channels simultaneously. A 14-bit conversion from analogue to digital promises more colours and thus finer gradations of colour gradients. A mode called Highlight Tone Priority, which changes the characteristic curve in favour of a finer gradation of medium to light shades of grey, benefits in particular from this. RAW files can now be saved as half the size sRAW files at a quarter of the resolution.

The 1D Mark III has also taken over the Live View, which allows the sensor to see through the lens by folding up the mirror and thus allows image control on the monitor. Unlike compact cameras, however, the EOS 40D does not have an autofocus based on a contrast measurement on the sensor, so that a new focus with the AF button briefly lowers the mirror. For control purposes, an image section selectable by Multicontroller can be displayed enlarged 5 or 10 times. An additional electronic shutter allows a low-noise release, called “Silent Shooting” at Canon. Since the first mechanical shutter curtain in Live View completely releases the sensor, the electronics simulate its function and then synchronise it with the second mechanical shutter curtain, which, according to Canon, is difficult to convert into electronic form on a CMOS chip. The transmission of the live image to the EOS utility software makes remote control from the computer very convenient. Also a consequence of the image control over the monitor instead of the viewfinder is the possibility to fade in grid lines for exact alignment as well as the 100 percent coverage of the image field.

When looking through the optical viewfinder it becomes visible that Canon has increased the magnification factor of the viewfinder image from 0.9 to 0.95 by installing a larger pentaprism and at the same time moved the exit pupil 2 mm backwards. Subjectively, the image now appears larger and brighter, even if the quality of the viewfinder image of a full-frame camera is not quite achieved with it and the image field coverage is 95 percent, which is medium-class. As with the higher EOS models, the EOS 40D’s standard focusing screen can also be replaced with one with a grating or coarser structure for better focusing. Missing for a long time in the EOS middle class and so far only known from the single models, there is finally a permanent display of the ISO sensitivity at the lower edge of the EOS 40D viewfinder image; a display of the current exposure measurement method, on the other hand, is still missing. Particularly useful is the ISO insertion in connection with the also new automatic ISO control. However, you cannot simply set an upper limit here, but the camera increases – starting from ISO 400 – in one-third steps up to ISO 800. If there is a risk of overexposure with ISO 400, the camera reduces the sensitivity up to ISO 100. In situation modes, the camera automatically adjusts the sensitivity from ISO 100 to ISO 800.

At this speed, the EOS 40D also increases significantly thanks to the 4-channel data feed to the Digic III processor and now records a maximum of 6.5 frames per second. This allows up to 75 JPEG or 17 RAW images to be packed into the internal buffer before the camera has to outsource the flood of data to external storage media and the frequency drops accordingly. In order to keep the view through the viewfinder free despite such high image frequencies and to keep the viewfinder image stable at the same time, Canon now uses two motors, one of which clamps the shutter and the other is responsible for mirror movement.

The not so obvious improvement of the autofocus module, whose diamond-shaped arrangement of the AF measuring points has remained almost the same at first glance, fits in well with this. However, all AF fields in the EOS 40D from a light value of -0.5 and from an aperture of 5.6 or larger now function as highly sensitive cross sensors. For the first time, Canon is using an additional sensor in the centre, whose two crosswise diagonally arranged fields from aperture 2.8 upwards respond to both vertical and horizontal lines. Overall, Canon promises a significant improvement in AF performance. With the powerful EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM telephoto lens, for example, it will be possible to track objects up to 50 km/h faster up to a minimum distance of 8 meters.

Not least due to the enlarged viewfinder prism, the case underwent several upgrades and a new design. It still consists (as with the EOS 30D) of a steel chassis, magnesium shells for the top, rear and front as well as a mirror box made of plastic. However, the card slot and battery compartment covers are now sealed to protect against dust and splashing water. Canon has also made the new battery handle BG-E2N and the wireless handle WFT-E3A weatherproof. The robustness also benefits from the long service life of the shutter, which – as with the EOS 30D – is designed for 100,000 cycles.

A 3″ LCD is now used on the back, which with its 230,000 points cannot quite compete with the equally large 920,000 point screen of the Sony Alpha 700 or Nikon D3/D300 with its fine display. However, Canon promises a significantly higher brightness and a wider colour gamut, reducing the viewing angle range from 170 to 140 degrees. Due to the large monitor, Canon moved the control buttons from the left edge of the screen to the underside and also provides the EOS 40D with a start button for autofocus and a separate button for selecting the image style.

Working with Canon EX flash units is now more convenient and allows flash control from the camera menu. With the latest Speedlite 580 EX II, this even includes setting the wireless and custom functions of the flash unit. The E-TTL-II flash control is now the same as in the 1D Mk III and uses the matrix method to measure ambient light as standard. An integrated, hinged flash unit is also available, which also serves as a stroboscopic auxiliary light for autofocus in dark environments.

The power supply hasn’t changed in comparison to the predecessor EOS 30D. Both models use compact BP-511A lithium-ion batteries, the energy of which is used more economically by the 40D and allows, for example, long exposures of up to 2.5 hours.

 

Ergonomics and workmanship

The black Canon EOS 40D looks massive and heavy, which at the same time leaves a very solid impression. This is supported by a very good finish and the use of magnesium housing shells, which are complemented by plastic. Which parts are made of plastic and which are made of metal can only be determined by the cold test, because there is no difference in the paint finish. Plastic feels warmer than metal because the latter dissipates heat better. The camera is large enough to fill a full-grown man’s hand, the handle is ergonomically very well formed and nestles into the hand. Due to the lavish rubber coating of the grip areas, the camera also lies securely in the hand.

With the 40D, Canon follows the trend set by other manufacturers in this price range and protects the camera from environmental influences. Although the camera is dustproof, it is not splash-proof, but “only” moisture-proof. In detail, this means that the water protection is not equal to that of a Pentax K10D or Nikon D300, which can be quickly understood, for example, in the sealing of the memory card compartment – the seal does not go “all around”. As far as memory cards are concerned, Canon is sticking with the “professional format” CompactFlash in this camera class, which is no longer the most widespread and best-selling format – CF has long since been replaced by SD in the mass market. However, CF retains some advantages such as the currently even higher card capacity and above all speed.

The lithium-ion battery is located in the camera handle and can be removed from below without a tripod exchange plate attached to the metal tripod thread in the optical axis preventing this. The BP-511A, not unlike the popular NP-400, achieves 1,390 mAh and is sufficient for at least 800 shots. Longer battery life is possible with an optional portrait handle that holds two batteries. On the left side of the case there are numerous connections, which are protected by rubber flaps. The flash sync socket, video out, remote release and USB connection are located here.

The controls are mainly located on the top and back of the camera. The only exceptions are the unlabeled dipping button and the flash pop-up button, which causes the internal flash to pop up after a loud hum. The program selector wheel on the top left-hand side of the housing allows direct selection of the standard programs, a few motif programs and three user memories, which is extremely helpful for practical operation in various situations. Almost all recording settings can be stored in these user memories so that you can quickly switch between different recording situations. The first thing that catches the eye on the top right-hand side of the housing is the status LCD, on which all data relevant to the recording are summarized and on which changes in settings can also be visually checked. This display even has its own backlight button, so it can be read even in the dark. The adjacent buttons allow direct adjustment of some recording parameters using the front and rear control dial. This allows direct adjustment of the metering mode, white balance, auto focus mode, continuous advance mode, sensitivity, and flash compensation.

Those who miss the exposure correction at this point will come across some canons with a somewhat idiosyncratic handling. The ergonomically unfavourable switch-on button has two “on” positions. If the switch is on the line pointing to the rear e-dial, it can be used to adjust the exposure correction after the exposure has been measured, while the front e-dial can be used to perform a program shift or to control the aperture or exposure time in automatic aperture or aperture mode. On the other hand, it is not possible – as with other manufacturers – to freely place exposure correction, sensitivity and other functions on the wheels. The key arrangement below the rear monitor is also somewhat unusual, because keys on the left side of the monitor can be reached with less wide thumb movements of the left hand. Even those who come from an EOS 20D, for example, have to rethink here. The 3 inch monitor is certainly to blame, but it is critical with a resolution of 230,000 pixels and, with otherwise good values, conveys a somewhat blurred image.

Compared to the giant monitor and the rear control wheel, the control pad seems almost “cute”, but is still easy to use. However, its functionality is at least questionable, as the camera can also be operated excellently with the two setting wheels and the set button in the centre of the rear setting wheel instead. The Set key has another function – it activates the live preview. This useful feature was introduced by Olympus to DSLRs, Nikon and Canon followed the trend. To let the light onto the CMOS sensor, however, the mirror must be folded up, which makes the SLR viewfinder unusable. Image composition and exposure measurement then take place via the CMOS sensor, even a grid is faded in, but automatic focusing via the sensor is not possible. Instead, one can either switch on a magnifying glass with 5 or 10 times magnification, whose image section can be freely placed, and focus manually. Alternatively, activate the autofocus option in the menu and press the AF button to focus, whereupon the mirror briefly folds down and the monitor image turns black. The shutter release button does not automatically focus the camera. Otherwise, the live image mode is more than just a gimmick, it allows – despite a permanently installed monitor – new, distortion-free perspectives, inconspicuous photography and pixel-precise focusing (see also our current photo tip under further links). However, the camera is by no means silent during recording. The shutter produces a buzzing sound that is in no way inferior to the volume of the mirror – possibly a tribute to the high speed of the camera’s continuous shooting.

Despite LiveView, the reflex viewfinder remains the number one feature of a reflex camera – hence the name. Canon has improved the viewfinder magnification to 0.95x, the same as competitors like Pentax and Nikon. The brightness remains excellent, and the built-in and replaceable focusing screen makes it very easy to focus – for a “crop finder”. Below the viewfinder, a lot of information is displayed, including aperture, exposure time, mandatory exposure scale and sensitivity. The displays can also be used to make extensive changes to the recording parameters without having to remove the camera from the eye – at least if you blindly know where which button is located.

The menu of the camera can be activated by pressing the corresponding button on the left above the display. It is divided into two recording menus, two playback menus, three setting menus, one user settings menu and one “My Menu”. The latter is used to discard a maximum of six preference settings so that they can be accessed more quickly. Here you can choose from numerous menu settings, which appear. The menus for their part are only one-sided with a maximum of seven setting points each, so there is no annoying scrolling, but there are more menu tabs. A bit confusing is the own settings menu, which contains four submenus with up to seven settings each (Canon must like the number 7). After some training, however, this confusion disappears, because the settings made are visualized at a glance via a small numerical diagram.

 

Equipment

The Canon EOS 40D is equipped with pretty much everything you need for smooth working. This starts with customizable image parameter settings with nine memory locations for different image capture situations such as portrait and landscape, where you can set saturation, contrast, sharpness, and hue. Also the automatic sensitivity function is not simple. On the one hand, the user can unfortunately not set the limits himself, on the other hand Canon has specified useful setting ranges for different programs, whereby the motif programs are meant here primarily. For example, the automatic sensitivity does not stubbornly work with the lowest possible value in the range from ISO 100 to 800, but with a basic sensitivity of ISO 400 in the sports motif program, for example, which is corrected downwards only in extremely bright light, so that the priority is recognizably on short shutter speeds.

Although the EOS 40D is not a sports camera, but rather an all-round model, it has been trimmed for speed. You can see that at every corner, starting with the autofocus, but more about that later. The speed of the serial shot is so high that two speeds are required. The faster of them should achieve 6.5 frames/s, in our own measurement we came up with 5.4 frames/s after all. There is a buffer capacity of 19 RAW images almost again little, because that is less than 4 seconds. With the highest JPEG quality, however, the camera holds on for at least 10 seconds before the speed drops and the shutter release occurs irregularly, as soon as there is some space in the buffer that holds 54 images with JPEG. For longer periods of time with not so fast motion sequences, the continuous shooting speed can be reduced to 3 frames/s, whereby in the JPEG mode, the memory card can be fully photographed without the camera stalling. In order to enjoy this performance, however, a correspondingly fast memory card is also necessary.

Although the camera is richly equipped with functions, it lacks image processing options, which is perfectly ok for the target group. It is only possible to protect or delete images or rotate them, the latter being automatic anyway thanks to the orientation sensor. Even if the images cannot be edited, they can be played back in a slide show or printed directly from the camera. For the former, the video output is interesting, even more so in LiveView mode. More and more compact camera manufacturers are switching to deactivating the video output in recording mode, not so Canon with the EOS 40D. A large television set or even a pocket television as a viewfinder replacement is quite conceivable. For studio applications (and certainly others as well), however, this will not be practicable or simply too bad in terms of image quality. However, this can be remedied with the remote software, which also transmits the live image to the computer monitor, so that, for example, an image composition can be carried out with high tripods – manual focusing with pixel accuracy is also possible on a large, high-resolution monitor.

With all the equipment one should not forget Canon’s flash shoe. The flash system is well developed and is one of the best on the market. The measurement is extremely accurate, wireless control is also possible – but the internal flash cannot act as a control device. As good as the flash system may be, the settings of the internal flash are individual. There is a flash compensation button but no button to select the flash mode. Instead, you set how the flash should behave in two completely different menus. In Shooting Menu 1, there is an option to activate a pre-flash to reduce red-eye, while in Setting Menu 2, you can set, among other things, whether the flash should fire at the beginning or end of the exposure. Here you can even change the flash metering from multi-field to integral. There is no such thing as automatic long-term synchronization, which will not bother experienced photographers.

Lens

For the Canon EF bayonet there is probably the largest selection of lenses, which doesn’t make the EOS 40D particularly unattractive. The bayonet is modern and transmits all data and control signals electronically. In addition to the aperture control, this also includes the focus motor, which is built into the lens. The ultrasonic motors, which not only allow quiet focusing, but also fast and precise focusing, are particularly interesting. The 40D is offered in a kit with various lenses, whereby the EF-S 4-5.6/17-85 mm IS USM was available to us during the test. Unlike Olympus, Sony, Pentax and Samsung, Canon does not rely on a moving image sensor for image stabilisation, but on moving lens groups in the lens. Therefore, the image stabilizer has to be bought at a high price with every lens, but the viewfinder is also image stabilized, which is especially advantageous for long focal lengths. The tested lens belongs to these stabilized ones, which can be recognized by the “IS” in the name, while the abbreviation “USM” indicates the built-in ultrasonic motor.

The used CMOS sensor is in the diagonal approximately 1.6 times smaller than a 35mm film, whereby the image angle seems to narrow accordingly and/or the focal length to be extended. Thus, the 17-85 mm lens corresponds approximately to a 28-135 mm 35mm copy. The “S” in the lens name means that it is only suitable for digital SLR cameras with a crop sensor, i.e. the calculated image circle is limited – which can have a negative effect on the image quality and especially on vignetting; for more information see the section Image Quality. The zoom range from wide-angle to telephoto is extremely practical in everyday life, which also applies to the focus speeds. To put it bluntly, the 40D is rat-fast! Anyone who knows a 10D or 20D and found it quickly will find it slow after using the 40D. Canon has revised the autofocus and now uses nine highly sensitive cross sensors. In practice, the focus is so fast that the release delay is hardly noticeable. For sports or other moving motifs, a tracking autofocus is available that manages to follow the motif even at full frame speed – that’s almost as good as Canon’s professional models. In addition, manual correction of the focus is possible at any time on the lens. The autofocus still works very quickly and reliably even in low light, but if the light is still not sufficient, the internal flash serves as an auxiliary focus light for which it fires a discrete flash salvo.

As good as a focal length range, ultrasonic focusing and image stabilization may be, the 17-85 is not particularly fast. With F4.0 in wide-angle and F5.6 in telephoto, you need enough light to shoot a subject – if you don’t want to make use of high sensitivities or the image stabilizer. The latter is of little help with moving motifs. With an image scale of maximum 1:5, the lens is also only conditionally suitable for the entry into macro photography – in any case, this is sufficient for larger flowers or crawling animals, but less for insects, spiders, small flowers, etc.. For macro and portrait photography, it is important to have a focus area preview, which can be done with a DSLR using the dimming button. The Canon EOS 40D has such a button close to the bayonet, but it’s not labeled any closer. It also works when LiveView is activated, which theoretically allows focusing at working aperture. The viewfinder image is also brightened accordingly, which also happens in good quality thanks to the high sensitivity of the CMOS sensor.

 

Picture quality

Canon has installed a new in-house CMOS sensor in the EOS 40D, which can not only produce a live image, but also records 10 million pixels on an APS-C area. Canon is thus ultimately following the trend set by others who use the Sony CCD sensor with a resolution of 10 megapixels. Canon is well known for its ability to control the image quality of its own sensors, especially with regard to noise. Our lab confirms this once again. With its 17-85mm lens, the EOS 40D therefore shows a good resolution from the center of the image to the corners. A slight compensation of the loss of resolution towards the edge of the picture is noticeable, which is also apparent in combination with other lenses. The lens at wide-angle has the lowest resolution, and the increased directional dependence of the resolution at wide-angle also indicates optical errors of the lens. Although the efficiency of the resolution is quite good overall, there are artifacts in the image details due to an aggressive processing. These are less color artifacts, but mainly brightness moirés and a slight aliasing. The purpose of this preparation with JPEGs is the good visual impression, the pictures look rich in detail and crisp. Canon also relies on fast shoot-to-print photography for sharpening in JPEG file format. A good balance is struck between image processing-friendly sharpening and a crisp image result. If the RAW file format is used, however, this processing depends more on the RAW converter used and can therefore lead to completely different results. Incidentally, Canon has introduced a new, additional RAW format, sRAW, which compresses the RAW files – albeit lossy. The aim is to combine the advantages of a JPEG compression, namely small image files, with those of a RAW, where one can subsequently achieve numerous image improvements in the converter that are not possible with a JPEG.

On the other hand, the objective-relevant measured values show clearer weaknesses. The image circle of the lens is very tight, which makes the edge darkening clearly noticeable. The corners of the image darken noticeably, especially at wide-angle, which will disturb landscape photographers in particular. But also the distortion is very high, especially in the wide angle, which not only architectural photographers will not enjoy. Lines running parallel to the edge of the picture are bent in the middle towards the edge of the picture – corresponding to a barrel-shaped distortion. Even zooming into the medium or long focal length range does not help. Here the distortion is not quite as strong, but cushion-shaped – lines running parallel to the edge of the picture are bent towards the centre of the picture. On the other hand, the EOS 40D can score points again in noise behaviour and signal transmission. In dark areas of the image, the noise is strongly attenuated, while in the middle and bright areas of the image – i.e. the skin and sky tones – it increases slightly. The noise is almost exclusively brightness noise with a very natural character. Even at higher sensitivity levels, Canon has noise under control and delivers excellent image results. The input dynamic, which benefits from the noise attenuation in the dark image areas, is very good with slightly more than 9 f-stops. Thus, a large contrast range, which poses problems for many compact cameras, does not put the EOS 40D in distress. Canon uses a clearly inverse-S-shaped curve for the tonal value reproduction, which makes the highlights and shadows soft, while the medium brightness levels appear very rich in contrast. Also here, the coordination aims at the fast photography, thus JPEG-files that are suitable for printing or exposing directly without any further image processing. The JPEGs are well compressed and do not yet show any compression artifacts.

The automatic white balance of the Canon EOS 40D works quite well on the whole, especially in daylight, the result is an image free of color cast with differentiated color rendering. With artificial light, things look a little different. Fluorescent lamps hardly pose any problems for automatic white balance, but light bulbs and candlelight can be expected to produce slight color casts, which are not improved by using the white balance presets. For color-neutral reproduction, use the gray card and manual white balance. Exposure, on the other hand, is very reliable in all situations. In addition, the user can choose from four different measurement methods: multi-field, integral, selective and spot.

Conclusion

The Canon EOS 40D has only few weaknesses, but still offers potential for improvement, e.g. a contrast autofocus in LiveView mode that manages without briefly folding down the mirror. Otherwise, it’s an excellent camera, a reliable, well-made workhorse with a handling that takes some getting used to for “non-canonists”. The workmanship and the range of functions are in keeping with the status quo, which also applies to the image quality. In JPEG mode, the latter is also suitable for fast photography without further image processing.

Canon EOS 40D Datasheet