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Canon say that they have reduced the startup time from 0.2 seconds (on the
Canon 20D) to 0.15 seconds on the EOS 30D. Both cameras are essentially "instant
on" as far as a user is concerned. I couldn't tell the difference. The camera
always has shutter release priority, so whatever mode you're in (menu, image
review etc.), the camera switches to shooting mode and is ready to shoot as
soon as you depress the shutter release.
Buffer Size and Continuous Shooting Rate
The EOS 30D has two continuous shooting rates, 3 fps and 5fps (the EOS 20D
only has 5fps) and a larger image buffer than the EOS 20D. The Canon specs say
that the EOS 30D buffer will hold 11 RAW images or 30 full size, low compression,
JPEGs. The equivalent specification for the EOS 20D buffer is 6 RAW or 23
JPEGs.
In testing the continuous shooting performance I shot identical scenes with
identical settings using both the EOS 20D and EOS 30D using a Sandisk Ultra II
1GB CF card. AF was set to one shot, ISO to 200 and shutter speed to
1/250s. The size of the RAW file was 6.75MB.
The EOS 30D at 5fps shot 12 RAW frames before the buffer filled. The
average spacing between frames of 0.208 seconds corresponding to just over 4.8
fps. At 3fps it took 14 frames to fill the buffer. The average frame spacing was
0.337 seconds, corresponding to a frame rate of 2.96 fps. At both 3 fps and 5 fps
the frame rate eventually drops to an average of about 1 frame every 1.17 seconds
if the shutter release is held down.
In comparison, the 20D shot 6 frames before filling the buffer. The average
frame spacing was 0.209 seconds, corresponding to just over 4.8 fps. It then shot
3 frames with a spacing of 0.74 seconds before continuing on at an average frame
spacing of around 1.25 seconds.
The audio tracings below show the relative timing of the three tests.
With the 30D there's a slight pause before the system settles down to 1.17
seconds between frame. At 5fps there was one frame about 0.85 seconds after the
buffer filled, then a gap of 1.8 seconds, then an average of 1.17 seconds between
frames. At 3fps there was a gap of about 1.8 seconds then an average of 1.17
seconds between frames. The 20D is slightly different, shooting 3 frames with a
0.74 second spacing after the buffer filled, then slowing down to an average of
about 1 frame every 1.25 seconds.
Since JPEG files are smaller than RAW files, you can store more in the buffer.
Canon specs state that the buffer should hold about 30 JPEGs. At 5fps I managed
to take 38 large/fine JPEG frames before the buffer filled. The difference is
probably due to the fact that the scene I used for testing under the conditions I
used gave a 2.75MB file. This is probably slightly smaller then the average
large/fine JPEG file size. JPEGs with more detail and shot at higher ISO ratings
(more noise = more detail) tend to be larger because they do not compress so
efficiently. At 3 fps I managed to get a remarkable 69 frames in the buffer, but
again the file size was 2.75MB, so depending on your subject you may get more or
less. For example with a 3.3MB file size the buffer stored 46 frames at 3
fps.
Note that RAW files are far less variable in size than JPEG files, due the the
use of a lossless RAW compression scheme.
ISO Settings
The ISO settings on the EOS 30D can be changed in 1/3 ev, 1/2 ev or 1 ev
steps, just like the EOS 5D. A custom function can select an "H" (High ISO)
setting, equivalent to ISO 3200, though intermediate ISO settings of 2000 and
2500 are not available. There is no "L" (Low) ISO setting , equivalent to ISO
50), as there is in the EOS 5D. The ISO is displayed in the viewfinder while it's
being changed, so you can adjust ISO without taking your eye from the viewfinder.
ISO isn't continuously displayed in the viewfinder since the characters used for
ISO display are normally used to display shutter speed, however it can be checked
at anytime by pressing the ISO change button on top of the camera.
Image Noise
The EOS 20D and EOS 30D have exactly the same APS-C sensor and Digic II
digital image processing chip so you'd expect that they would both show very
similar noise levels - and they do. Other than effects due to very slight
differences in exposure and color balance, the noise levels appear virtually
identical.
The images below are 100% samples from the EOS 30D and EOS 20D at ISO 3200,
ISO 800 and ISO 100. I shot a variety of subjects under a variety of conditions
and overall I really couldn't tell any difference. Sometimes one might look
slightly noisier at ISO 3200, sometimes the other, but on average I'd say they
were essentially the same, or at least similar enough for the difference to be
insignificant.
Note that the above images were shot of an EOS-3 brouchure. The
EOS 30D does not have ECF (Eye Controlled Focus). In fact no DSLR has ECF.
Resolution
Since the EOS 30D and 20D share the identical 8.2 MP APS-C sensor and Digic II
processing chip, you wouldn't expect to see any difference in resolution, and
again, you'd be right. I couldn't see any difference in resolution even looking
at 200% image crops.
White Balance
The EOS 30D has the usual EOS white balance modes. Values in parentheses (e.g.
5200K ) are the color temperatures (in Kelvins) corresponding to the preset white
balance modes.
Auto (3000K - 7000K)
Daylight (5200K)
Shade (7000K)
Cloudy (6000K)
Tungsten (3200K)
Fluorescent (4000K)
Flash (6000K)
Color Temperature (2800K - 10000K)
Custom. (2000K - 10000K)
It shows the typical EOS DSLR white balance characteristics, pretty accurate
in Auto mode under outdoor lighting, with flash and under fluorescent lighting,
but in Auto White Balance mode it's quite noticeably warm under household
tungsten lights, and even in Tungsten White Balance mode it's still a little
warm. Canon say that their Tungsten setting corresponds to a color temperature of
3200K, which is a lot warmer than a typical household tungsten bulb (nearer to
2800K). 3200K corresponds more to the color temperature of special short lived
Photoflood lamps and so might be appropriate for studio work using special
photographic tungsten lighting. If you want neutral white balance when
shooting under tungsten lights, you either need to set the color temperature
(usually to its minimum value of 2800K for household tungsten lighting) or
better, take a reading from a white or gray card and use the custom white balance
setting. The samples below are cropped from an image of a gray card shot under
illumination by a 100W household tungsten light bulb.
Note that as with the 20D, the 30D has a fairly extensive set of
white balance correction options including white balance auto bracketing of +/- 3
levels and with 9 levels of blue/amber or magenta/green settings. This means that
if you're shooting JPEGs and don't like the standard or custom settings, you can
apply a significant degree of correction. Of course if you shoot in RAW rather
than JPEG you can do extensive white balance and color correction during RAW
conversion.
