Canon EOS 30D

Manual Control Options
The 30D offers a full range of manual controls. Aperture and shutter speed can be set in either 1/3 or 1/2-EV increments. In an upgrade from the 20D, ISO can be set in 1/3-EV increments as well. The 30D also includes Canon's unusually flexible 2-dimensional white balance tuning system.

Focus
Auto Focus (7.5)
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the 30D is that it includes the same 9-point autofocus module that the 20D had. Though this system looks better on paper than the 5-point systems on the Nikon D70 and D50, we find it about the same – a bit slow, uncertain in low light and low contrast scenes, less spread out than the D70 and D50 systems, and a bit clunky to control.

Rather than selecting an individual AF sensor by pushing the 4-way control, which is intuitive and quick, the 30D user uses a dial, which sequentially lights up each sensor like a game of duck, duck goose. The 5D got an upgraded autofocus system, and the 30D should have inherited it. It's not quite as good as the Nikon D200's, but it's better than this.

The system offers one-shot focus, which does not refocus after it gets something sharp, and servo, which constantly focuses and can dynamically switch autofocus sensors to track moving subjects. One addition in the 30D is AI Focus, which switches automatically from one-shot to servo.

Manual Focus (8.0)
As promised in Canon’s marketing materials, the Precision Matte focusing screen is bright and sharp, and really does snap into focus.. The 30D's autofocus system also confirms manual focus with a convenient status light in the viewfinder.

We have been testing the 30D with an L-series lens, which is much better than the EF-S lens that comes in the 30D kit. The L-series lens is easier to focus because it is brighter, and probably sharper, but also because it is mechanically superior. Its large, heavy focusing ring allows the user to set it precisely, and is much easier to handle than the plastic mount on the kit lens.

Exposure (8.5)
The 30D offers full manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, program, and depth-of-field exposure modes. The program mode can be set for higher or lower shutter speeds without changing the exposure value, which can itself be biased up to 2 stops up or down in 1/3-stop increments. Depth-of-field priority mode works in combination with the autofocus mechanism: in this mode, all the autofocus sites on subjects that will be in focus light up.

Metering (8.25)
Like the 5D, the 30D has spot metering, one of a few features that 20D owners complain is missing from their camera; the 3.5 percent spot measures the center of the frame. Otherwise, the 30D retains the 20D's patterns: the Partial setting, a 9 percent spot, center-weighted averaging, which is essentially a common holdover from film cameras, and Canon's evaluative system. This system takes several readings across the frame, then settles on a proper exposure based on a digital evaluation that can recognize backlighting and other problematic lighting conditions. Evaluative mode is the default setting in full automatic and preset modes, and Canons, including the 20D, have typically performed well in it.

White Balance (9.25)
The 30D has Canon's excellent white balance system from the 20D and 5D, offering presets for Daylight, Shade, Cloudy/Twilight/Sunset, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Flash, as well as options for manual white balance control, it can create custom white balances from saved images with a large patch of white in the center of the frame. 

Canon's unusual white balance adjustment allows the user to adjust the balance simultaneously on two axis: blue-amber and green-magenta. The interface is set up as a two-dimensional chart, with blue-amber as the horizontal axis and green-magenta as the vertical. Control can move in nine steps on each axis, so each position on the chart produces a unique variation in color balance.

The chart is also the interface for white balance bracketing, which is not quite as flexible as it could be. Bracketing is possible on either the blue-amber or green-magenta axis, but not on both, and the system will only take three shots in a bracket. It'll bracket one, two or three increments, however, and will start from any spot on the chart so long as the most extreme shift is still within the adjustment range. (The maximum adjustment for any color is plus or minus 4. For instance, the bracketing system won't produce a plus 5, even if the starting point is plus 3.)

ISO (8.75)
Sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 to 1600 in the 30D’s normal mode, and goes up to 3200 in expanded mode. It can be set in 1/3-EV steps, a big improvement on the full-EV increments on the 20D. In its scene modes, the 30D sets ISO from 100 to 400, though, which will be pretty limiting in its "Flash off" mode for low-light shooting.

Shutter Speed (9.0)
Speeds from 1/8000 to 30 seconds in 1/2 or 1/3-EV increments will cover just about anything, but the 30D also has a bulb setting. Its monochrome display shows elapsed time up to 999 seconds when making timed exposures.

The 30D's maximum flash sync speed is 1/250, which allows full flash in daylight with moderately powerful external flashes. Canon says the 30D's shutter is a new model that is more durable than the one in the 20D and is rated for 100,000 exposures.

Aperture (0.0)
The 30D uses Canon EF and EF-S lenses, and controls their apertures electronically in . steps of either 1/2 or 1/3-stops, a standard level of control for DSLRs.