Living with the Canon 40D

Its strange how knee jerk decisions to "what if" scenarios can go horribly wrong and sometimes....just sometimes....go very nicely thank you. I'd been patiently awaiting, as an Olympus user, the arrival of the E3 but a reply from Olympus UK to an email requesting expected delivery dates left me feeling anxious. I had a busy schedule booked and at one of the events needed the extra features of the E3. Given the need to do something I had a good look at the available models from the other manufacturers and not really wanting to change systems decided the Canon 40D, because of its competitive price, would make an ideal short term solution....hopefully. After the inevitable wait the 40D duly arrived along with the 17-55mm F2.8 lens....some very quick and dirty testing and it seemed to meet to a large degree my expectations. The high ISO performance is very good indeed as is the focus and FPS.....but there's nothing like using it in anger when you have to deliver the results. Its first major outing was at the Wigan boxing tournament which was the UK supporting event to the Ricky Hatton World Title challenge....I had 11 separate tournaments to shoot 4 of which were title fights.

The sample image here is typical of its performance on the night.....shot at ISO 1250 in jpeg....it just delivers.

Since I've added another body for backup and despite seriously looking at the 1D MKlll have no intention of going down that path.....the 40D is cheap and widely available...heck if one goes wrong I'll just stroll into the local Jessops and get another. It wont be long either before the "50D" or whatever its called is released which hopefully will be more of the same. One of the advantages of NOT spending a fortune on bodies of course, so long as they deliver, is you don't need to hang on to them forever in an attempt to cover the initial outlay....and by changing on a more regular basis you are always at the cutting edge of technology. So in the short term I'll happily stand my "mini 1D MKlll" alongside the guys with the real thing safe in the knowledge that its backed up and didn't bankrupt me.