Used Canon 20D Body

I purchased the 20D as an upgrade from my Digital Rebel. The cost was certainly worth it. This camera has many, many advantages to the Rebel (as I'm sure other reviewers will point out), but I thought three were worthy of mention: ISO 1600 and 3200 have very, very low noise. This means that I am now able to get low-light shots that I never could before. For example, I often take pictures of crowded streets at night. Before, I needed to use a flash or else my shots would be blurred by camera shake and the motion of people walking. Now (with the help of a f1.8 lens) I can set the camera at ISO3200 and have the shutter speed be fast enough that I can get clear images. In fact, when I use the Black & White mode, the picture is virtually noise-free. Rapid-Fire burst mode. When the "multi-shot" function is on, this camera fires like a machine gun. It also writes the images to the memory card much faster than the Rebel ever did. I shot a series of 25 shots in 5 seconds, and it still had them all on the card 6 seconds after I stopped shooting. Black and White mode. Not just some toy feature, when you are saving as a JPG file (not RAW), the image is actully encoded as a B&W image--meaning a smaller file size. This means more shots per card, and also more shots being able to be held in the buffer. I was actully able to record 90 frames of B&W images (JPG-Large-Fine) at full speed (5 per second) without stopping (onto a 40x CF card). Like I said before, I'm sure there are tons of other amazing features of the 20D, but I wanted you to know my favorites. UPDATE: Over the past few months, there have been reports that the 20D locks up on occasion. I had that happen to me only once. Canon has posted a firmware upgrade on it's website that remedies this problem (as well as a few others). I upgraded, and have not had any problems since.

The Canon 20D came out in 2004, and it's rated by DxO as a 62. What's incredible is that Canon's 2013 18 megapixel Rebel T5i is only rated a 61, and that camera is still for sale as a new camera in 2017. The 20D had just about every modern feature on digital DSLR cameras that are in the current models. There's a full control mode, adjustable parameters for image quality, lots of dials and buttons to set aperture, ISO, shutter speed, program shift, and exposure values. There's a usable built in flash. For learning the art of basic DSLR photography this camera is as useful today as it ever has been. This 8.2 megapixel camera will print poster sized prints. It has the now famous "Canon colors". The images are beautiful and clean clear up through it's top ordinary ISO of 1600. There's no video, no live view, no extra bells or whistles, just all semi professional grade DSLR camera to shoot still images with. The continuous frame rate is five per second, and the autofocus works well. This camera body cost $1,500 when new in 2004, and it shows it. It's made of magnesium. It's built like a tank. Best of all, it accepts every Canon digital DSLR lens ever made, both the EF and EF-S series. You can buy a brand new 50mm EF f1.8 prime for this camera for $125 and go out and shoot gorgeous images. There's not any cheaper way to find out if you like the Canon DSLR system. An excellent condition 20D body is only about $100 and if you upgrade to a newer body that has more features and will shoot at higher ISO speeds all your EF lenses will work on any Canon DSLR, and your EF-S lenses will work on all the crop sensor consumer grade cameras. They use Compact Flash cards, so buy an adapter if you want to shoot SD cards. Batteries are still available, and cheap. A great bargain, in learning photography with a Canon DSLR.

The vendor found the original packaging in their facility, so everything that was shipped from Canon was included with the camera body. The manuals were printed in Spanish, and since I don't read, speak or understand much of it were of little value to me. The English versions of the manuals were available on-line for down-load to print, which I did and that helped understand the camera I've had the camera for about a month now, I believe, and read on below for my impressions. The body is perfect for bigger hands and weighs about the same as our original Rebel 35mm film camera, but physically appears to be much more robust. It has some heft to it, but it's works well to hold with one hand to compose the pictures you take. I think it is built to fit easily in the masculine hand. The controls quite easy to use. The controls are not touch sensitive like the Canon Power Shot SX50HS I got for my wife, which, for me has so many touch sensitive spots that I invariably brush over, and I need to reboot the camera to use it. The SX50 has digital and optical image magnification and stabilization, that makes it easy to take digital pictures that are second to none. The sensitivity of the buttons don't appear to bother her when she uses it. I got the EOS 20D for my personal use. When I take the time to actually use the camera for taking pictures, I will return with an update on picture quality and ease of use. As yet, I haven't taken any pictures, just looked through the view finder and focused on subjects to test the reaction of the lens for focus, which is awesome. There is no view screen to view for composing your picture, and personally, I find the view screen an unhandy device, especially on sunny days when the sun at your back. Using the eye-piece view finder, a little shade from the left hand, the view is perfect every time under all conditions. I've installed the lenses from my original Canon 35mm Film Camera, and everything works, both auto and manual modes. I have installed an SD 1 GB memory card, which for the 20D camera is around 500 pictures at the settings I have selected. I try to download and clear my camera more often than most, so 250 to 300 pix at a time on the card is plenty. Over all, I'd have to say that I'm pleased with the camera, the heft, the feel and the ease of operating control placement appear to be just what this 70 year old granddad needs. I began pictures using a 1930's vintage Kodak Box Camera, and was thrilled with my first 35mm film camera. As the summer progresses, I'm hoping things will slow down enough that I can actually use the camera. All that is missing, for me, is a comfortable, wide, camera neck strap. A guitar neck strap is the strap of choice, but living in the middle of nowhere-South Dakota, makes the selection difficult. As I said, I'm satisfied with the appearance, I like the feel of the camera, solid and well built, and fits easily in a man's hand. If I can find my way back to this page, I'll add the quality and ease of operation as well as the quality of the pictures. If it is as good ( it has a higher pixel rating than our original Rebel Digital) as the original digital, I'll be happy as getting grits, scrambled eggs, Jimmy Dean Sausage and Raisin or Rye toast for breakfast. I would recommend purchasing the 20D camera to a friend or relative (yes, even the ones I like) I'd encourage them to purchase the Canon EOS 20D camera, if for no other reason than how it feels in your hand and the view of your subject in the view finder, when holding it in the picture taking position.

Great camera Good value Awesome seller