The Canon EOS 30D replaces the 20D, a very solid performer, and a very popular camera in the 18 months it has been on the market. When the 20D was introduced, it was such an improvement over its predecessor, the 10D, that a good fraction of 10D users upgraded. The 20D upgraded nearly every aspect of the 10D – higher resolution, faster frame rate, better image processing, better autofocus, and so on. On paper, the 30D is not that kind of revolutionary jump: its 8.2 MP resolution, 5 fps frame rate, 9-point autofocus, metering and image processing remain essentially unchanged from the 20D. In our first impressions review, we look for reasons to call the 30D a major upgrade, rather than just a good update.
