Manual Control Options
The 30D offers a full suite of manual controls for aperture, shutter speed, white balance and ISO. In a significant upgrade from the 20D, the 30D allows setting ISO in 1/3-EV increments. Aperture and shutter speed also step in 1/3-stop increments.
Focus
Auto Focus
The 30D offers apparently the same 9-point autofocus that the 20D has. It's accurate and quick, and sensitive in low light, though the high-end Canons and Nikons do much better. Though we'll have a firmer judgment after doing a full review, we had hoped to see advances in autofocus in a major camera upgrade, particularly given the fact that Canon produces an improved AF system for the 5D. Canon says only that the 30D incorporates “further fine-tuning” over the 20D.
Manual Focus
The Precision Matte focusing screen is a significant improvement over the previous screen. The 30D snaps into focus, even in low light. The relatively slow 18-55mm zoom lens demands good focusing technology, and the new screen takes a bit of the pain out of using that lens.
Metering
Canon added spot metering to the 30D, addressing one of the few frustrations many 20D owners had. The 3.5 percent spot measures the center of the frame. The 30D retains the 20D's other patterns: the Partial setting, for a 9 percent spot; center-weighted averaging and Canon's evaluative system. The evaluative system takes several readings across the frame, and settles on a proper exposure based on a system that can recognizes backlighting and other problematic lighting conditions. The 20D and other Canons have typically performed well in evaluative mode, which is the default setting in full automatic and preset modes.
Exposure
The 30D offers the typical manual settings for exposure: full manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and program, which can be shifted to bias for higher or lower shutter speeds without change the exposure value. Exposure value can also be biased up or down 2 stops, in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments. The 30D also offers a “Depth-of-field AE” setting, which maximizes depth of field.
White Balance
The 30D implements Canon's excellent white balance system from the 20D and the 5D, offering presets for Daylight, Shade, Cloudy/Twilight/Sunset, Tungsten, Fluorescent and Flash. It can create custom settings from saved images with a patch of something white in the middle, and the user can dial in settings in degrees Kelvin. The 30D can be set to shoot white balance brackets.
Canon's unique, two-axis fine tune control for white balance is a big advantage for the 30D, allowing the user to tweak color on both green-magenta and blue-amber ranges.
ISO
The 30D's ISO ranges from 100 to 1600 in 1/3-EV steps, with an expanded setting up to 3200. Many photographers find 1/3-stop increments very useful, and they are a standard feature of flagship cameras. For times when a user wants to hit a certain minimum shutter speed without boosting image noise too much, it's useful to have the same increment of control for ISO as for shutter speed and aperture. The ISO is now displayed in the viewfinder as well as on the top-side LCD.
Shutter Speed
The 30D has a new, more durable shutter, according to Canon. The company predicts that it will last “approximately 100,000 cycles,” which is supposed to be much better than the 20D.
The shutter speed range runs from 30 seconds to 1/8000, with flash sync up to 1/250. It can be set in either 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments. The 20D has exactly the same specs. However, the 30D does not improve on the 20D's mirror lockup function, which requires a trip to the custom menu to activate. For photographers who go for maximum sharpness while shooting long exposures on a tripod, that's a disappointment.
Aperture
The 30D electronically controls the aperture of EOS lenses, allowing settings in 1/3-stop increments.
