Canon 20D arrives !!!

Woo Yay! (As we say at IStockphoto) The 20D finally arrived after a month of waiting for Canon to be able to deliver the camera house by itself here in Norway. My first impression after one evening of playing with it is that its a good upgrade from the 10D. First, its almost identically built with some minor changes to the buttons and layouts - mostly for the better. Second, its amazingly fast and when shooting it seems to be finished writing before I start looking on the screen. It powers on instantly and feels extremely responsive. I use SanDisk Ultra cards since these are the fastest according to Rob Galbraiths tests. With the 20D I cant see me having to wait on the camera any more.

I have not yet made any image tests to see how good the pictures are but my first trials show that its less noisy at ISO 800 and 1600, which was as expected. It also seems to cope better with keeping highlights and avoiding the abruptness of over exposure that was so common on the 10D. It focuses very quickly and works brilliantly with my 70-200 f2.8L IS. The improved focusing on f2.8 lenses is probably kicking in, but it also feels more responsive on my 17-40mm f4 lens. However, it still doesnt focus right on the wide end which makes me think that my lens have a defect. I'll have to check this out some more.

The user interface in the menus are clear and understandable. In some ways better than the 10D. Its also far more responsive than the 10D, especially when browsing images. Its also nice that I dont have to wait for it to finish writing everything in the buffer before I can access the menu or playback functions.

Its lighter and a tiny bit smaller, but it feels just right for my hands. I guess the 10D was a bit more comfortable to hold for people with long fingers, but I dont have that problem. If I should pick on something it would be that the mode dial feels cheaper and more plastic than before, its also a bit loose. The same thing goes for the CF slot which is also a bit loose. The joystick feels a little strange at first but I guess I will get used to it. Its surely a better way to move about images than the button/wheel combo on the 10D. Its also a very good for adjusting the focus points quickly.

The 20D shoots away like no other camera I have used. It feels like a small machinegun when it fires away at 5 shots a second. I actually had to turn the mode to single shot now more often simply because I ended up firing two shots instead of one. On the 10D its a bit slower so you could have the mode on multiple shot always.

The only thing I miss from the camera is a faster way to switch on and off the mirror lockup function since I use this more often. I also assume mirror lockup will be even more useful in the 20D since the mirror slap feels a bit more heavier than the 10D (although I have no proof for this).

All in all a very nice camera! Looking forward to take some real pictures with it.