Canon EOS 20D

I don’t often write about digital cameras here, that is because my main interest is film photography. There are some exceptions, and the Canon 20D is one of them. Why? Well because I had one, it was my first digital SLR, and it made an impact. Over the course of three trips, I went from mostly film and just a few digital images, to a nearly 50/50 split. The last of three trips I took my film camera with plenty of film (Sensia 100) and never shot a frame, it was all digital. I’ve swung back the other way again now, but that was the effect that marketing/ease of use/immediacy and the Canon 20D had!

Just recently I was given one – as “they aren’t worth anything”, I disagreed and £30 changed hands. I remember when I brought my first new one, it was a special price of £999, and the spare battery was more than £30! Today a compact flash card of 256mb, yes mega bites (!), seems clunky and data wise, small. The 1.8 inch LCD seems tiny – It didn’t at the time. There is no video here, neither is there live view, it was aimed at “professional and high-end amateur users” to quote Canon.

This camera was released by Canon in March of 2003, and in it’s time cutting edge. It was the first time I encountered the now ubiquitous 18-55mm EF-S “Kit Lens”. The “Plastic Fantastic”, which I have to say, I always found to be fine optically! It has an 8mp, APS-C size sensor, and combined the 18/55mm made good images. I’ve mentioned before that I blew one of the images up to 20×30 inches and at a sensible viewing distance was arguably better than a print from a 35mm slide would have been. I mentioned that here when I wrote about Bolivia.

The main control dial has now become a standard. When I eventually sold my 20D on, I moved to the full frame (Original) Canon 5D. That too had no video or live view, but the control dial was still the same, so it was an easy move. The batteries and the cards were also the same. The 20D being a “cropped sensor” (APS-C size) was happy with the 18/55 Kit lens but of course that wouldn’t cover full frame, so I purchased the 5D with the 24-105mm L, a step up in cost, weight and quality.

I don’t regret moving on to the 5D, but when I look back, I wonder why I did. The allure of better quality with the full frame, is true enough, but did I need that? If I’m honsest the 20D with it’s 8MP, was plenty for anything that I used images for, and I tested it to 20×30. A size I don’t recall going to since!