Canon EOS 30D First Impressions Review

Likes

– Excellent image quality – 5 fps burst speed at 8 MP resolution – 2.5-inch, 230,00 pixel LCD is marked improvement – Built-in flash for fill – Spot metering

Dislikes

- No substantial improvements to imaging system - Lacks 5D's autofocus improvements - Mirror lockup is clumsy

Conclusion
Canon's EOS 30D is numbered as if it were a major upgrade to the popular and excellent EOS 20D, and Canon marketing plumps it up even higher than that – the line is that it really has more in common with the 5D than the 20D. Really? With the same 8.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, the same DIGIC II image processor, the same 9-point autofocus system and the same 5 fps burst rate as the 20D, the 30D seems more like a respectable update of the 20D than anything else. When Canon put a bigger LCD and picture styles on the 1D Mark II, they changed the name to the 1D Mark II n. This new camera shows comparable improvements. We'd call it the “20D n,” if it were up to us.