Canon EOS 20D Specifications

Note: Bold indicates a difference from the predecessor

Feature Canon EOS 20D Canon EOS 10D
Release Date August 2004 March 2003
Price ~$1500 (body only) ~$1150 (body only)
Pixel Count 8.2 Million 6.3 Million
Camera Type SLR SLR
Highest Resolution 3504 x 2336 3072x2048
Lower Resolutions 2544 x 1696, 1728 x 1152 2048x1360, 1536x1024
Sensor Type CMOS CMOS
Sensor Size 22.5 x 15.0 mm 22.7 mm x 15.1 mm
LCD Screen Size 1.8" 1.8"
Lens Thread EF, EF-S EF
Auto Focus Yes Yes
Auto Focus Type TTL, 9 focus points TTL, 7 Point Focus
Manual Focus Yes Yes
Aperture Range N/A N/A
Shutter Speeds Bulb, 30 - 1/8000th sec. Bulb, 30 - 1/4000th sec.
ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Flash Built-in, pop-up Built-in, pop-up
External Flash Yes, hot-shoe, sync Yes, hot-shoe, sync
Flash Range Guide no: 43 ft (ISO 100) Guide no: 43 ft (ISO 100)
Flash Compensation +/- 2 stops in 0.3 or 0.5 increments +/- 2 stops in 0.3 or 0.5 increments
Exposure Compensation +/- 2 stops in 1/3 increments +/- 2 stops in 1/3 increments
White Balance Auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, manual, Kelvin (color temperature) Auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, manual, Kelvin (color temperature)
Bracketing Yes, +/- 2 EV in 0.3, 0.5, or 1.0 EV increments Yes, +/- 2 EV in 0.3, 0.5, or 1.0 EV increments
Metering Evaluative (35-zone), Partial, Center-weighted Evaluative (35-zone), Partial, Center-weighted
Color Space sRGB, Adobe RGB sRGB, Adobe RGB
Aperture Priority Yes Yes
Shutter Priority Yes Yes
Manual Exposure Yes Yes
Continuous Drive Yes, 5 fps for approx. 20 frames (Large/Fine), 6 frames RAW Yes, 3 fps for 9 frames (Large/Fine), 9 frames RAW
Self Timer Yes, 10 sec. Yes, 10 sec.
Storage Method CompactFlash Type I and II, Microdrive CompactFlash Type I and II, Microdrive
Storage Included None None
Compressed Format JPG JPG
Uncompressed Format CR2 (Raw file + separate JPEG) CRW (Raw file with embedded JPEG)
Quality Settings Fine, Normal (JPEG) Fine, Normal (JPEG)
Video clips None None
Battery Type BP-511A Lithium-Ion Rechargeable BP-511 Lithium-Ion Rechargeable
Charger Included Yes, 90 minutes Yes, 90 minutes
PC Interface USB 2.0 Hi-Speed USB 1.1
TV-out Yes Yes
Tripod Mount Yes, metal Yes, metal
Weight (w/out battery or card) 1.5 lb 1.7 lb
Dimensions 144 x 106 x 72 mm 150 x 107 x 75 mm

Included in the Box
Canon EOS 20D Canon EOS 10D
  • Canon EOS 20D Body
  • BP-511A Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery
  • Battery charger
  • A/V cable
  • USB cable
  • Neck strap
  • Instruction manual
  • Software manual
  • Adobe Photoshop Elements
  • EOS Digital Solution Disk
  • Canon EOS 10D Body
  • BP-511 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery
  • Battery charger
  • A/V cable
  • USB cable
  • Neck strap
  • Instruction manual
  • Software manual
  • Adobe Photoshop Elements
  • EOS Digital Solution Disk

  • * Please note: Firmware version 1.0.5 is used on the 20D for this review.

    Index The Design: Canon EOS 20D
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    • shuttleboi - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link

      What exactly is the point of these camera reviews? As I wrote several months ago, Anandtech is a gadget/hardware site, not a photography site. If you want to reach the photography community (like the rich folk who hang around DPReview.com, spending $1000 a month on lenses, and are ready to click on lots of advertisers' banners), you should do something novel. I suggested reviewing portable photo storage devices (e.g. the Epson P-2000, Archos AV-480, and Nikon ), but nobody listened to me. Suit yourself. As soon as you review any of these gadgets, you will find yourself on DPReview.com, gizmodo.com, and other popular sites. But don't listen to me, I'm just a yuppie male, age 28-40, making a good salary; it's not like your advertisers care about my demographic or anything.
    • Joony - Friday, November 12, 2004 - link

      I love my 20D, check out my photogallery,

      http://www.pbase.com/joony
    • Gatak - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      You may also want to look at the DCRAW - Digital Camera RAW. It is a open source program for reading RAW files from most camera RAW files.

      DCRAW vs. Canon D60: http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/digicam/dcraw/

      DCRAW vs. Canon 10D: http://www.insflug.org/raw/analysis/dcrawvsfvu/


      DCRAW source: http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/

      Windows binary: http://home.arcor.de/benjamin_lebsanft/


    • stephencaston - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      Woodaddy, thanks for your comments. A Canon 50mm f/2.5 Macro lens was used for all the tests except on page 11 (where each picture lists the lens used beneath the thumbnail). I've also amended the other image quality pages to indicate the use of the 50mm. Sorry for this oversight.
    • WooDaddy - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      I missed something critical here. Let me know if it was posted. What lens are you using? Since DSLRs have interchangable lenses, the image quality is directly related to the lens used. If not listed, you really want to say that for reference in you image quality tests.

      #8, #3 I've picked on Stephen when he first got started on his reviews. He's getting better and IMO he's doing a great job. Now mind you, dpreview is for photogs/techies with an emphasis on photogs. AT is the converse; techies/photogs. I would consider ease of use and image quality and control to be a focus in a review at dpreview. Technical features would be the focus at AT....

      Personally, I'm a photog more so than a techie camera guy. I'm doing quite well with my Nikon FE2 manual camera (with Acer 2740s film scanner) and Minolta G400 backup.
    • AtaStrumf - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      Wau, this thing makes some great pics! Way too expensive though.
    • Gatak - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      #3 Yes dpreview has many good articles. But I think this is a good start anyway. Dpreview is very technical and doesn't really provide much explanation of technical stuff. This is something I think Anandtech could advance in =) It is possible to have technical depth and yet have good, easy to understand explanations.
    • ProviaFan - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      #4 - that's why we have the term "prosumer". It's (the 20D) better than consumer, which would be the digital rebel, but it's not in the league of 1D Mark II (even though it has the same resolution, the speed and build quality don't compare) or 1Ds - which are professional.
    • stephencaston - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      #4, The 20D is often referred to as a Prosumer camera. Among the reasons are price, 1.6x cropping factor, sealing, built-in flash, and _optional_ battery grip.

      The 20D is aimed at amateur photographers looking to replace/supplement their existing film SLR or for those looking to upgrade from a non-SLR camera. I've also heard of pros buying 10D and 20D bodies as backup cameras. I don't think it would be fair to the 1D line to call the 20D a professional camera. It is very nice, but not quite pro ;-)
    • sjprg - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link

      Nice article, I use both a 10D and a 20D and would like to see some ACR tests added to the CPU processing tests besides the emphasis on games to assist us in selecting the best hardware for processing digital images. One of the test that could be used is the Tom Fors ACR calibrator beta 3.

      http://fors.net/scripts/ACR-Calibrator/

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