Canon EOS 20D: Noiseless Images, Loud Shutter in 8.2-Megapixel Camera

CreativePro Staff

To be honest, it’s getting tedious having to continually write about how Canon has “pushed the bar higher” or “changed the landscape of the digital camera market.” As a reviewer, it’s not that one wants to trash a product, but it’s difficult having to say the same thing over and over again without sounding foolish.
Nevertheless, once every year or so, Canon releases a new digital SLR that improves upon its already-market-defining digital SLR, leaving reviewers searching for new ways to express how Canon has once again made a market-altering splash.
This began with Canon’s EOS D30, the first digital SLR body priced under $5,000, and continued with the EOS D60, which doubled the D30’s resolution while knocking off $1,000 from the price tag. Last year’s $1,999 EOS 10D greatly improved on the D60’s subsystems, with faster autofocus and improved image quality, while shaving another $500 off the sticker price. The new EOS 20D then, marks the latest entry in a series of Canon cameras that have . . . well, pushed the bar higher and changed the landscape of the digital camera market.
The 20D doesn’t represent a huge leap over previous models, partly because the 10D was such a good camera, but largely because the market that Canon created has matured a lot over the last year. Since the 10D was released, Canon has buttressed their SLR lineup with the introduction of the Digital Rebel (the first digital SLR to break the sub-$1,000 price point, and yes, it “raised the bar and redefined the sub-$1000 digital camera market”) while making a number of improvements to their high-end digital SLRs.
So, while the 20D may not pack tremendously revolutionary changes, the new features it adds are significant refinements that reflect the maturity of Canon’s entire digital SLR line. Though it won’t completely re-define the market, like some of its predecessors, it will shake it up a bit.
More Pixels, Less Body
The 20D offers a resolution upgrade from the 10D, thanks to its new 8.2-megapixel CMOS sensor. Though the sensor packs 1.9 million more pixels than did the 10D, its sensor size remains the same. This means that the 20D carries the same 1.6x focal length multiplier as its predecessors. (In other words, the effective focal length of any lens you stick on the camera is multiplied by 1.6.)
Unfortunately, as you cram more pixels onto a sensor, you have to make those pixels smaller, simply to get them to fit. The accepted wisdom is that cramming more pixels into the same-sized space means you’ll increase the noise in your image.
Canon’s CMOS technology is best known for its astonishingly low noise, particularly at higher ISOs. Therefore, it’s very surprising to find that, not only does there not seem to be noticeable noise gain with the 20D’s higher resolution, the camera actually seems to have better noise response than previous models when shooting at high ISOs (see Figure 1). The 20D’s imaging characteristics now have more in common with Canon’s high-end 1DS series than with the 20Ds predecessors.

Figure 1: Canon’s CMOS-based SLRs have always been renowned for their low noise, and with the 20D, Canon has somehow managed to reduce the noise levels even further while raising the resolution. This ISO 1600 image was shot handheld with only bare stage lighting. Click here to see full-size image.

The advantage to increased resolution is, of course, the ability to print larger prints, or to crop and enlarge your image for times when you couldn’t get close enough to your subject. The extra 2 megapixels isn’t a huge increase, but the 20D does yield better detail and sharpness than its predecessors, making it suitable for high-quality printing at 13 x 19 inches.
In addition to changing its sensor, Canon has upgraded the 20D’s image processing hardware to the DIGIC 2 chip, which yields improved color processing and contributes to faster image storage and recycling.
These new features are crammed into a slightly smaller, lighter body that, though still recognizable as a Canon digital SLR of old, has some slight molding changes, and is generally a little curvier (see Figure 2). Those hoping for a Rebel-weight camera will be out of luck. Both the size and weight changes from the 10D are minimal, and hard to discern even when holding both cameras side-by-side.

Figure 2: In terms of size and weight, the EOS 20D is more akin to the 10D than the Digital Rebel.

The most important body change on the 20D is support for Canon’s new EF-S lens system. Introduced along with the Canon Digital Rebel, the EF-S system exploits the fact that there are tremendous optical advantages as you move a lens closer to a camera’s focal plane. Because Canon’s CMOS sensor is smaller than a piece of film, Canon can use a smaller mirror and pentaprism when engineering the viewfinder. With a smaller mirror, there’s more room inside the camera’s body, which means it’s possible to position the rear element of a lens further inside the camera.
EF-S lenses, then, have a rear element that sticks a little bit further into the camera, yet the EF-S mount still supports the full range of EF- and L-series lenses. The EF-S configuration allows Canon to engineer high-quality lenses at a lower cost.
In theory, the price you pay for all of this is a dimmer viewfinder. While the Rebel’s viewfinder is smaller and dimmer than the 10D’s, the 20D viewfinder remains bright and reasonably sized. The 20D viewfinder is not as bright or large as what you’ll find on a high-end Canon digital or film SLR, but this is to be expected from a camera with a smaller imaging area.
Canon has chosen a slightly grainier focusing screen for the 20D. Though not as crystal clear as the screens on previous models, the new screen has a nice texture. Unfortunately, the viewfinder still lacks any kind of manual focusing aid.
The most annoying body change is the elimination of the molded hand grip on the right side of the camera. Though you can still hook your finger under a slight lip beneath the shutter button, in general there’s less molding to hold onto with the 20D. Though no less comfortable, the camera feels slightly less secure.

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