Canon EOS 40D and 17-85mm IS lens Reviews: Digital SLR Camera

+ Grip and balance. Speed of focus.

- Power switch a bit fiddly especially with cold fingers.

+ Brilliant screen. Much better menus than the 20D and 350D. Live view is a bonus when using on a tripod. Nice weight and balanced when using 17-85IS. Not too heavy with Canon 100-400IS lens. Will be my primary camera from now on.

- None that I have found yet

+ The 40D is very easy to use. I upgraded from a 300d and the controls were similar enough that the transfer was painless. The additional functions, such as live view (especially through the lap top!) are fantastic. The camera feels well built and is extremely comfortable to use. The shutter is quiet, and the rapid shot superb. Being able to take raw and jpg together is a useful (if data-hungry) function.

- It would be handy to have a live view button on the body itself, rather than having to go through the menus. The live view is a little complicated to use effectively. The kit lens is probably more basic than I would expect for the money - it's good that it has IS, but is not fabulous in low light.

+ Image quality excellent

- Not so much a bad point but a change from the previous model in terms of formatting the card.

+ Very happy with the 40D my first DSLR, great fun learning to use, surprisingly easy to get to grips with the main functions, great quality results and good build, really appreciate the display on the top, lens is excellent, not at all cheap. Battery lasts for ages and charges quickly, PC remote control software is fun, editing software is ok. Feel like the paperazzi with the 6 shots/second, girls love it. For results I'd say the 40D with17-85IS lens is three times as good as the best compact and 50% better than the 400D.

- PC Software supplied didn't work properly, had to download updates for 5 programs from cannon site. Your nose touches the LCD display when you take a photo, leaving a greasy screen, ergonomics are ok but could be a bit better. Difficult to decide which additional lenses to buy, few obvious upgrades.

+ The EOS 40 was replacing my EOS 350D. The camera is very nicely balanced with a much better display screen than that on the 350. The controls are well laid out but with so many setting options the manual needs to be at hand to make changes. The review screen is much bigger and clearer than the 350 but is still difficult to clearly review in bright sunlight. So far picturers taken with the 17 - 85 have been very good and the image stablising feature has noticeably reduced blured shots. The battery appears to hold its charge much longer, which is good as I haven't yet bought a second battery. I have since purchased a 75 - 300 IS lens and am very pleased with action shots taken with this lens. Overall I am well pleased with the Camera and would definately recommend it to others.

- None really, possibly the review screen could be brighter. My wife's Canon IXUS 860 screen is brighter and the picture rotates too when turned from horizontal to vertical. This is not a real critism of the camera which I am more than pleased with.

+ well made and easy to handle

- cheaper if brought with camera

+ Functions, speed - great range of products

- Dust

+ Well built
User friendly
Trusted brand
Wide range of lenses and accesories

- No specific canon case for this model.thats it !

+ From switch on to first photo is vey fast.
Good in low light

- I upgraded from my EOS D30 (not 30D!) and have lost the ability (apparently) to set ISO for the non-creative range.It may be that I could do this via Custom but that involves opening the manual, etc, - it shouldn't be that complex!

+ Plenty of features - though lots to learn!

- Large and heavy compared to some SLRs.

+ Excellent build quality, fine lens and whole range of features that you would expect from a camera of this price range

- Nothing that I found yet, and I'm not expecting to find any

+ stunning images

- weight

+ 6.3fps, 10.1 mega pixels easily good enough for everyday use, 3.0" monitor is well lit.

- Heavier than others in the Canon line-up, might be an issue if you're planning on holding it for a day.

+ Very good build and image quality, and its easy for complete beginners to pick up the camera and start shooting great photos.

- Not much to say really, 10 mega pixels is starting to be superseded by most rival cameras but its still large enough for most purposes.

+ Well built, solid camera and lens, feels good to hold - especially with big hands. Brilliantly clear viewfinder. PC socket for non-Canon studio/hammerhead flash units. I''m really pleased with it.

- Not found any yet other than I don't really get the point of the little joystick thingy. Most of it's operations can be done by the control wheels, and the odd one or two that can't could have been. It seems more like a gimic than anything useful - but it doesn't get in the way so it's not really an issue.
Cost of spare batteries - but that's not just with this camera.

+ A stunning camera--lots more to explore

- None yet

+ its agood camera l cannot fault it

- non as yet

+ Reviewer left no comment

- Lens isn't the best, but it's acceptable as part of the package you get for the money

+ Handling is good. It is quick in focusing and is quiet.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ As a newbie to digital SLRs, I did a lot of research to ensure that I got the right camera. I was considering the cheaper consumer SLRs - in particular the EOS 400D - but I was persuaded to go for the pro-sumer 40D after using a friends 30D and feeling the difference in size and build quality. (Not that the EOS 400D is bad in that regard, but I found that it was a little small for my hands and the magnesium case of the 40D should last for many years and take a bit more punishment than the plastic of the 400D). The supplied 18-75 lens is great for my needs for now, although I'll probably be looking to add to that in the future - and there are a wide range to choose from depending on needs and budget! I have a lot of learning to do, but this camera should be good for many years to come and has the scope to grow with me...

- None found so far - as long as the fianceé doesn't find out about what it cost!

+ Build quality

- Standard zoom 17-85 IS is dark a bit and not wide enough. Dystortion seen on the both ends.

+ Reviewer left no comment

- severe chromatic abberation with the kit lens on high contrast and wide angle shots.

+ 6 FPS shooting is a world away from 3 when selecting moving objects - my kids on swings, trampoline etc.

- Live view is fiddly

+ Upgraded from eos300 well pleased
pictures are much more superior

- heavy

+ This camera does everything most experienced and semi pro photographers demand of it, I am still amazed by it's specification and as a photographer that's finally taken the plunge from 35mm to digital I am kicking myself for waiting so long. As one well known photo magazine said: The EOS 40D does everything that 99% of it's owners will ever ask of it.

- The camera has none really, the biggest gripe is that it takes a long time to understand the menu system and layout of the controls. This problem will be common with all photographers moving from the simplicity of 35mm SLR to Digital SLR.

+ Speed and multiple shot capacity for Raw images

- None

+ Reviewer left no comment

- No Polish User's guide

+ Amazing quality for a pro-sumer DSLR the lense is superb quality and something I was going to buy for my 350D but given the price of this kit I had to buy both! A huge improvement over the 20/30D which were in my sights over the last 2 years.

- Heavy compared to the smaller body cameras like the 450D.

+ Great to use. Feels good to handle. Good pictures. Very fast re-cycle time. Fast focussing lens (17-85 kit lens). Accurate focussing even in low light. Good battery life. Lots of features. Good software. Love it.

- Slightly poor definition on LCD. Fiddle to use "live view" option. Very large files (so buy a large CF card). Not straightforward to process the RAW images, but software is quite good. These are minor complaints!

+ Great picture quality

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Usual Canon quality, ideal for experienced photographers and amatuers.

- none found yet

+ Good features.Accurate focussing.Smooth motordrive.

- none

+ Simple intuitive camera to use.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ I had a Canon 20D before this which was good, For this camera they have improved the menu layout and options and made some of the user settings available from the dial setting. The sensor cleaners is also a very godd option

- None seen yet

+ As the first DSLR I have owned it is complex but flexible and I am confident I will enjoy using it. I could happily score it 10 for all features but have varied it to give the impression that I have some critical knowldge.

- Although the flash is miles better than my previous Canon Powershot S50 I already feel I would like to upgrade to a flashgun.

+ Very high specification + reasonable price = happy snapper.

- No tilt and turn display for live view.

+ Pretty much everything. This is the first time I have had an IS lens too and it's awesome

- Extending barrel design on lens is not the best.

+ easy to use menu's
good build quality
fast shooting for action shots

- none yet

+ Generally better all round than my previous EOS300D (which I rate quite highly).

- Shame it is not a truly weatherproof body.

+ Good image quality, fast start up, large buffer, good focusing, many features, flexibilty, build quality.

- Slightly heavy. Will take some time studying manual and experimenting to get best out of camera, but pretty good on preset options.

+ Excellent build quality, overall sturdy feel, great lens with image stabilisation, large lcd screen, selectable ISO button, sensor cleaning

- None really

+ Excellent results from a camera that I keep finding more clever and versatile things about.

- There is nothing that troubles me about this camera.

+ sturdy well built camera-excellent live view screen-well featured if you want to strive to be more than an amateur

- None thus far

+ Intuitve controls with a good sized screen.

- None.

+ Build quality and overall feel. Ease of use. Features, particularly image stabilisation, sensor cleaning and live view.

- Power switch is quite fiddly, so I hardly use it as the auto power save feature enables me to simply leave the camera turned on all the time and it comes alive as soon as I touch the shutter release button.

+ Fantastic features, excellent build quality, great contrast. Included software is very good too.

- None really! Other than you will need to buy a Compact Flash card right away, and a bag is a must.

+ 10 out of 10 what else can be said!

- Reviewer left no comment

+ The menu is uncomplicated and easy to follow . The controls are very well positionedand in easy reach allowing the camera to be operated with ease . The view finder is large and bright with good information displayed and i found the focus points very useful. I found the sports mode at six frames a second was excellent for taking photographs of moving subjects and with its continuous auto focus allowed me to capture garden birds on the feeder and select the best picture. The camera is well balanced making it easy to hold steady and when coupled with the image stabilizer lens almost eliminates all camera shake which can be seen through the view finder when holding the shutter release half way down.

- Image quality was very disapointing and what I concider to be the most important feature on any camera.
I compared this camera against a compact camera that cost less than half the price and was amazed at how
poor the quality of the pictures were both at close up and long range the fine detale just was not there.I have tried all of the different settings including auto and manual focus, mounted the camera on a tripod ,taken pictures in raw and jpeg,nothing seems to work. I would not recomend this camera kit to any one stick with the camera on your phone as the eos 40d is only slightly better.

+ Everything so far, i work freelance doing varied jobs, from covering dance shows to balls and function events and even portable studio work and it hasn't let me down once. Response is lightning fast, very easy to use (although ive come from a older canon, so first time dslr user may be daunted at first, but as long as u have a greater iq than a soggy biscuit, its not hard to learn your way around the camera) and the menu system borrowed from the 1 series is fantastic. Lens harbours a usefull focal range and is at its sharpest around the 35mm mark (plus or minus a bit) and focusing is very fast on auto focus, and the lens has manual focus override anyway. The camera fits in the hand very nicely, and for the money it is fantastic value, makes buying the 500d pointless since, in my opinion, video is fad on a stills camera and the 15mp sensor doesn't equate to a 50% increase in resolution. The 40d is more professional, quicker in operation (6.5fps), quicker to use (more dedicated buttons, lcd panel on top which i wouldn't want to do without), and more accurate in everything!
If your considering buying a xxxd and are tempted by the xxd range then spend the extra and be secure in the knowledge that the xxd will last longer, give better results and make you feel a whole let better than have having in comparison some tonker toy in your hand which is what the xxxd feels like.

- the lens zoom feels slightly too loose, nit-picking but its the only thing i can think of.

+ USM fast focusing lens

- Stupid ISO(Auto) control (lack-of it compared to my other non canon SLR (GX10)
Stupid on/off switch ( it is very annoying and poorly designed compared to my GX10)
I only bought this camera because Canon make a better range of lenses than pentax/samsung. The basic body is not as good as my GX10, but canon does more lenses which have USM.