Canon EOS 40D Review

My expectations were high when Canon announced the Canon EOS 40D in 2007. 10 megapixel and a 3inch screen as well as a 9-point autofocus. After I had some troubles with colour reproduction when using my canon eos 400d I was very interested, if the Canon EOS 40D would do a better job, or if colours would be equal to the Canon EOS 400D.
So after I've photographed for a few months with this camera now, let me show you my experiences. Let's begin with the Autofocus.


Autofocus of the Canon EOS 40D

The AF of the Canon EOS 40D is working fast and accurate. With 6,5 frames per second the Canon EOS 40D is able to shoot lots of pictures in action scenes. The predecessor, the Canon EOS 20D was only able to shoot 5 frames per second. The AI Servo AF of the Canon EOS 40D did a great job, when photographing my dog running towards me. No one of its predecessors were able track my dog so accurately when running towards me.

My Canon EOS 40D is doing almost always a good job, when tracking fast moving subjects, like for example my black dog

Also with flying birds I never had big problems with my 40D. The autofocus does a great job in most situations. Only a very dominant background with more contrast than your target can irritate the autofocus. E.G. flying birds in front of a forest or in front of trees will often let the camera focus at the trees instead of the birds, even if the bird seems to fill out the focusfield completely. Newer cameras like the Canon EOS 7D with more flexible AF settings will do a much better job in such situations.


Image Quality

In terms of Image Quality the Canon EOS 40D is ok, but in no way perfect. Photos taken in sunlight look relatively good but not perfect. But photos taken during cloudy weather don't really meet my expectations.

A Spotted Flycatcher photographed during cloudy weather. The colours are very saturated but not very authentic. The look a little bit to brownish and greenish. I just wasn't able to get them much more authentic. I tried several in camera settings. So you are forced to shoot in RAW to try to correct colours later.

Photos taken under cloudy conditions often look greenish or brownish but in now way authentic and it' hard to get rid of this color-shift, even if you save the pictures in RAW format and optimize them later. Pictures taken in the bright sun look often a little bit oversaturated. And some colours come out a little bit strange, like some yellow tones. The neutral setting seems to give slightly better results, but again not perfect.

A photo of a yellowhammer. I've taken this photo under bright sunlight. The colours look very saturated if not oversaturated. And colours look a bit unreal, too. Maybe this meets someones taste, but not mine. It doesn't look like it looked in reality.

In terms of image noise, the Canon EOS 40D is absolutely usable. It's no problem to set the ISO sensivity up to ISO400 oder ISO800 in very difficult situations. ISO400 is my standard setting, when photographing birds. In bright sunlight I sometimes use ISO200 but it's really not necessary. If compared to the Canon EOS 7D, I think, that the EOS 40D does a better job at lower ISO sensivities from 100 to 400 and the EOS 7D does a better job at ISO sensitivities from ISO 800 and higher.


Conclusion

So what's my conclusion now. In terms of AF-speed and accuracy the Canon EOS 40D is a great camera. The same with ISOO noise at lower ISO sensitivities. It's absolutely usable, even now (in 2014), seven years after it has been launched.
In terms of colour reproduction I don't really like the Canon EOS 40D. But that's my subjective perception. Maybe you like the colours coming out of this camera.
So don't misunderstand me. The Canon EOS 40D is a really good camera. The thing is, that I don't really like the colours coming out of it. That's my one and only complaint about it.

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Thank you for your help :-) !