[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by JDArt

I've been using Canon DSLR cameras for a long time. In fact, I've used almost every model the company has produced since it launched itself into digital DSLRs with the 30D. So you might say I'm jaded.

Uhm...I'm assuming you're talking about the D30 since the 30D is fairly new.

Insufficient standoff of viewfinder from back of camera. Result: you get to smash your nose pretty substantially into the LCD whenever you take a picture. That's not cool! Switching to a 1-series camera after using this is a HUGE relief from the standpoint of one's nose. Canon must have had this guy in mind when they designed the camera: (pic removed)

EP-EX15 Eyepiece extender for US$15. Not a big deal.

The camera insists on reminding you that it is "cleaning the sensor" every time you turn on the camera and turn off the camera. Who cares? Just do it, I say.

It's on for a whole SECOND. Press the shutter and it stops. This is kinda reaching for something to bitch about. And at least you don't FEEL it like the Sony. Scared the crap out of me trying it out.

It's really uncomfortable to take a picture in vertical orientation when there's no vertical shutter release button.

Get the battery grip and you'll kill two birds with one stone here...

The battery technology of the 40D has been used ever since the ancient D60 and D30! I guess you get about 600 shots with it, but I've found these batteries to lose their useful life fairly quickly.

Actually, I find mine lasting longer than my 20D. I use third party 2000mAh batteries, though.

The LCD on the back of this camera must be about 3 inches wide and tall. It is so big that I am tempted at times to use it to watch movies rather than take pictures with the camera. The LCD eats up more than half of the back of the camera.

Uh..what else did you want to do with the back of the camera? I love this screen.

Other than for shooting wildlife or using telephoto lenses for other long-distance subjects, I find the 1.6x crop really constraining. I don't like it. It gives me claustrophobia.

I hadn't noticed it, even when switching from film. I haven't shot full frame regularly, though, so I guess I just got used to it.

There is a "direct print" button on the back of the camera that I will never, ever in a thousand million years use. If I had 20 dollars, I would bet it all that no more than .00009 percent of the users of this camera will ever touch that button, much less use it.

You'd lose. It's popular in Asia, especially Japan. But yeah, I wish it was programmable.

Somebody at Canon must have looked at a Nikon camera some time ago and thought a joystick on the back of the camera was the way to change focus selection points. The trouble is that Canon's tiny, very plastic joystick is not only cheap feeling but also difficult to use. Positioning one's thumb in order to select one of the diagonally-placed focus points could very well cause muscle cramp--and will almost certainly take you so long that you'll either miss the picture you intended to take or give up on the idea altogether.

You actually use the joystick? I just use the Main Dial.

The mode dial is a bit too easy to change inadvertently. You might take several pictures in "M" because the last time you used the camera you were in "A," but in removing the camera from your bag, the mode dial was changed as you scraped the camera on the side of the bag. Result: cursing and improperly exposed shots.

I gotta be honest: I've never seen this happen. I've easily passed about 10,000 shots on mine so far and it's hit my various bags a LOT. No issues at all. But then again, I set my camera back to certain defaults at the end of every shoot (with an empty card and fresh battery) so it's ready to pull out immediately and I simply KNOW what the settings already are. I've never seen it change (or my 20D with everything in the same place and it's a LOT looser than the 40D).