Canon Digital SLRs > 40D Guide
Published: November 2007

Canon 40D Guide

This Canon 40D guide almost wrote itself.

As a long-time owner of a Canon 20D (which preceeds the 40D by two generations) I was naturally curious to see what new features Canon had packed in to their latest high-end camera.

The Canon 30D - the one in the middle - did not impress me very much, and its feature set was not compelling enough for me to consider an upgrade.

The 40D is a completely different story.

Like a luxury car, this thing comes fully loaded: dust control, live view, 10 megapixels, 9-point autofocus and a digital film equivalent called Picture Styles. Oh, and I did I mention that it's absurdly fast?

Before I get to far into this Canon 40D guide, let me say this - this camera is not for everyone.

You pay a significant premium for the power, performance and capabilities of a camera like this. If you always use your camera in AUTO mode, save your money and buy a Canon Rebel XT or xTi.

   
canon eos 40d

The 40D is classified as a pro-sumer digital SLR. This means that its features are designed to be leveraged by advanced amateur photographers who really know their way around an SLR camera.

It's true that if you're just a beginning SLR photographer that the Canon 40D will give you plenty of room to grow. But if you don't have any desire whatsoever to learn about ISO, white balance, metering, bracketing and exposure compensation then the 40D has a lot of functionality that you'll never use.

In the rest of this Canon 40D guide, we'll dig into the details of what makes this camera is made of and I'll help you compare it to several other cameras so that you can decide if this is the best digital SLR for you.

Quick Overview

  • 10.1 megapixel sensor - for high-quality 16x20 inch prints
  • Compatible with all Canon EOS lenses
  • 6.5 photos per second
  • ISO settings from 100 to 3200
  • Maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second
  • 1.6 times crop factor
  • 3.0" Live view LCD
  • Stores photos on Compact Flash cards
  • 9-point autofocus system

Key Feature

The defining feature of the Canon 40D is its continuous photo speed paired with its re-vamped 9-point autofocus system.

Let's talk about the speed first: the vast majority of consumer-level digital SLR cameras can capture photos at 3 photos (or frames) per second. This speed is often referred to by its acronym: FPS (Frames Per Second).

Three FPS is already a vast improvement over the continuous capture speed of any compact digital camera. But the Canon 40D can capture photos more than twice as fast - at 6.5 frames per second.

This means that you can blaze through what used to be a standard roll of film (36 exposures) in a little over 5 seconds.

All this speed wouldn't matter a whole lot if you couldn't lock the focus on a moving subject. But that's another area where the 40D excels.

canon-eos-40d-541

Lab on the run

Every digital SLR autofocus system can zero in quickly on a static subject (unless there is very little available light). Some begin to have problems tracking a subject that's moving across the field of view.

But the most challenging test of all comes when trying to photograph a subject moving straight at the camera at high speed.

In order to put the autofocus system to the test for this Canon 40D guide, I took my labrador out into the backyard with his favorite ball. This seemed like a much better idea than standing in the path of oncoming trains or cars.

The verdict: the autofocus system on the 40D performed admirably, tracking my dog regardless of his direction of motion.

Paired with the fast continuous frame rate, I was able to capture some memorable photos.

Top of Page

Who The Canon 40D is For

The vast speed of the Canon 40D make this the ideal camera for action photographers.

And by action photographers, I mean die-hard, motocross / skateboard / football / NASCAR / wildlife action photographers. Sure, it can capture shots of your toddler in the backyard, but it's overkill.

The Canon 40D will also suit anyone who enjoys taking photos of sporting events in low light conditions.

When you're taking photos of fast-moving subjects in low light, the only way to freeze the motion is to use a fast shutter speed - in this case a fancy image stabilization system won't do you a bit of good.

In low light, you can achieve fast shutter speeds by using a high ISO setting, which boost the sensitivity of the camera's sensor, allowing it to absorb more light in less time.

However, high ISO settings usually come with a drawback: they add grain to the photo, which is also called digital noise. Digital noise can affect the clarity of a photo and can make it look fuzzy or out of focus.

The Canon 40D is exceptionally good at minimizing noise at high ISO settings (see more below). You can set the camera to ISO 800 (ISO ranges from 100 to 3200 so 800 is pretty high) and be hard-pressed to find digital noise, even if you make an enlarged print.

Low noise at high ISO and ultra-fast performance means that the Canon 40D will help you capture great photos in the following situations:

  1. An indoor basketball game
  2. A night-time football game
  3. A bike race under overcast skies

Put another way - if you're in the habit of photographing sporting events, chances are there will come a time when you don't have a lot of bright sunlight to work with.

In these cases, you'll be happy you have the Canon 40D by your side.

If your photographic preference leans more toward nature, portraits or flora and faunae then you probably don't need a camera that's quite this fast.

Top of Page

In Comparison

Canon 40D vs. Other Canon SLRs

If you've determined that the 40D is more camera than you need, then consider a few other alternatives from Canon.

At the time of writing this Canon 40D guide, there are three other consumer-level Canon digital SLRs you can choose from: the 30D, 350D (Rebel XT) and the 400D (Rebel xTi).

Here's how all four cameras compare to each other:

 40D30DxTi (400D)XT (350D)
Megapixels10.18.210.18
Max FPS6.5533
ISO100 - 3200100 - 3200100 - 1600100 - 1600
Max Shutter1/80001/80001/40001/4000
LCD Size3 in.2.5 in.2.5 in.1.8 in.
Live ViewYesNoNoNo
Dust ControlYesNoYesNo
Picture StylesYesYesYesNo
Dimensions5.8x 4.3x2.9in
146x108x74mm
5.7x4.2x2.9in
144x106x74mm
5x3.7x2.6in
127x94x65mm
5x3.7x2.5in
127x94x64mm
Weight29oz (822g)27.7oz (784g)19.6oz (556g)19oz (540g)

The Canon 30D is the closet camera in terms of features to the 40D - most significantly, it lacks the top speed and live view LCD available on the 40D, but there are also other minor differences between the two.

The Canon XT and xTi make up Canon's "Rebel" line - cameras that are aimed directly at the consumer market (whereas the 30D and 40D are more for semi-pro photographers).

The Canon Rebel xTi is one of the least expensive 10 megapixel digital SLRs you can buy, and because it's a much older model, you can also find discounts - if you can find it at all - on the Rebel XT.

Both the XT and the xTi have been top-selling cameras for the entire year of 2007.

Canon 40D vs. Other Manufacturers

In the semi-pro camera market, the competition is heating up.

As I am writing this Canon 40D guide, THREE new competing cameras are being released: the Nikon D300, the Olympus E-3 and the Sony DSLR-A700.

Semi-professional (or prosumer) cameras at this level are notoriously hard to compare because each and every one puts a wealth of features into the palm of your hand.

The ALL have fast autofocus, fast continuous photo rates, excellent performance at high ISO and enough customization settings to make even the most obsessive-compulsive photographer thoroughly pleased.

So which camera is right for you?

If you have legacy lenses, then get the camera that matches your lenses. Canon lenses will work with the 40D, Nikon lenses with the D300, any Olympus 4/3 lens will work with the E-3 (old Olympus lenses require an adaptor that disables autofocus) and old Konica Minolta lenses will work with the Sony DSLR-A700.

If you don't have a stockpile of old SLR lenses lying around the house, then the best advice I can offer is this: go down to your local camera shop and hold each camera in your hands.

See how the camera feels - if the heft is right - and find out how easy it is for you to work with the buttons, controls and menu systems.

You may find that one camera's control layout is much more appealing to you than the others - in which case, you've just found the best digital SLR camera for you.

Top of Page

How It Works

In Use

The very first thing I noticed about the Canon 40D is that the camera is solid.

Even without its battery installed, this camera is no lightweight and - while I don't recommend this - you get the distinct impression that you can use your SLR to pound some nails if you don't have a hammer close at hand.

The solid feel is complemented by a deep hand grip which doesn't give you the feeling that the camera's going to suddenly slide out of your grasp - even for all you folks out there with larger-than-average hands.

Controls and Operation
canon_40d_back

Using the Canon 40D for this guide felt a lot like hanging out with a familiar friend - the 20D that I have been using for years.

The Canon 40D is designed to be used in manual mode since it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to get a camera like this and leave it in AUTO all the time.

The camera's controls are ideally suited for manual photography, and give the photographer the ability to quickly change any camera setting to adjust for different lighting and subject conditions.

The most notable control feature on the Canon 40D is its rear control dial. While many digital SLRs have two independent control dials to adjust aperture and shutter speed at simultaneously, both dials are usually placed at the top of the camera (one under your index finger and one under your thumb).

canon_40d_panel

The 40D - like the 30D and 20D before it - has a large spinning circle on the back of the camera that not only helps you to quickly change aperture in manual mode, it's also a convenient way of selecting different settings from the camera's plentiful menus.

Further camera control is offered by a variety of buttons along the top of the camera, that offer you one-touch access to many of the camera's most frequently changed settings:

FEATURESETTINGS
Metering ModeEvaluative, partial, spot, center-weighted average
White BalanceAUTO, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, custom, color temperature
Autofocus ModesOne shot, AI focus, AI servo
Drive ModesSingle shot, high speed continuous (6fps), low-speed continuous (3fps), 10 second timer, 2 second timer
ISO100 to 3200
Flash ExposureCompensation from -2 to +2
Color ModesStandard, portrait, landscape, neutral, faithful, monochrome, custom 1, custom 2, custom 3
AF PointsSelect one or more of the 9 autofocus points
Large, Bright LCD

One thing's for sure - the development of LCD screens for digital SLR cameras has come a LONG way in the past couple of years.

The LCD on my old Canon 20D measures 1.8 inches (along the diagonal), while the LCD on the 40D is a whopping 3 inches.

Don't think that you'd notice much of a difference that those extra 1.2 inches make? Here's a (relatively) to-scale illustration of each of the different LCD screens.

compare canon 40d and 20d lcd

When you put these on the back of the camera, the difference becomes even more pronounced. The LCD on the 40D makes it quite easy to review the photos you've taken without having to squint, and the bright high-contrast screen makes it easy to adjust any menu setting, even in broad daylight.

Live View

The 40D is one of only two Canon digital SLR cameras to include a live view feature as of November 2007 (the other camera is the significantly more expensive EOS 1D Mark III).

Before you can use live view, you must enable the feature via a menu setting. Once the feature has been enabled, you can activate it by pressing the SET button on the back of the camera.

Like other live view systems, the mirror flips up to block the viewfinder and the camera's sensor feeds an image straight to the LCD so that you can see a preview of your photo BEFORE you take it.

Live view doesn't leverage the full 40D autofocus system.

At first, it doesn't even appear that live view supports autofocus at all - for quite some time I had the impression that live view only worked with manual focus.

Then I made a discovery - buried on page 114 of the manual is a subtle instruction about how to get autofocus to work when the camera's in live view mode, by making a change to custom function III -6.

You also have to make sure that the camera is set to:

  1. One-shot autofocus (no continuous focusing possible)
  2. Center autofocus point selected (instead of all 9)

Once you've adjusted these camera settings, it's possible to autofocus in live view mode by pressing the AF-ON button on the back of the camera.

While this works quite well for static subjects, it's a lot less practical when your subject is in motion - in these cases, it makes more sense to look through the viewfinder and leverage the full power of the Canon 40D's autofocus system.

Take the following two examples:

LIVE VIEW
There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to take this shot through the viewfinder - in order to get the angle I wanted, the only solution was to use the live view display. I used manual focus since my subject was not moving around.
canon-eos-40d-596
VIEWFINDER
Unlike that nice static valve, my son moves around constantly, especially when he's at the zoo. For this shot I had to use the viewfinder, autofocus and a nice fast shutter speed to ensure that the image turned out clear.
canon-eos-40d-139

The continuous photo speed of 6.5 photos per second applies even when you're using live view mode, which can be leveraged if you prefocus manually on a specific spot and then blaze through a series of photos as your subject moves into the in-focus area.

Ultimately, I found the live view mode most useful for making fine-tuned adjustments to the color of your images (and getting to see the results beforehand).

You are able to preview two main camera settings on the LCD: Picture Styles and white balance.

  • Picture Styles are like digital film: by selecting a style, you are also selecting the way the camera captures color. For natural skin tones in portraits, you can select "neutral" or "portrait" but if you want to saturate the colors more, then select "landscape"
  • White balance adjusts how the camera captures color based on the available light, since some light can add a color tint to your photos (especially light from tungsten light bulbs and fluorescent lights)

The problem with both of these settings is that it's often hard to tell which one will work the best for the type of photo you want to capture.

For example, you may think that your subject is lit by tungsten light, which would prompt you to use the tungsten white balance setting to compensate for the orange color that tungsten light adds to an image.

But if there's a large window nearby, the subject may be lit more by natural daylight than that tungsten light bulb. If you set the camera to tungsten white balance, it's not going to capture colors accurately.

With the Canon 40D's live view LCD, you can PREVIEW different white balance settings before you take the photo - maybe even setting a custom value if the presets aren't cutting it - which saves you from having to take multiple photos with adjusted white balance until you find the correct setting.

One final note: you can preview exposure using the live view LCD, so long as you change a custom function to allow it. Once the live view exposure preview has been activated, changes to shutter speed and aperture with either brighten (over-expose) or dim (under-expose) the image on the LCD.

ISO Performance
canon-eos-40d-144

ISO 1250

While the ultra-fast response and live view LCD are some of the marquee features of the Canon 40D, the impressively low noise the camera generates at high ISO settings is worthy of note.

For those not well-versed in the jargon: the ISO setting on a digital SLR camera can be used to increase the amount of light the sensor absorbs.

At ISO 100 the sensor has little sensitivity to light and at ISO 3200 it's extremely sensitive.

There are a variety of reasons for boosting the ISO, but the most common one is when you want to take photos in low light without using a flash. Under these circumstances, the camera often wants to use a slow shutter speed to get a proper exposure.

But slow shutter speeds are one of the main reasons why photos don't turn out 100% sharp. One way to coax faster shutter speeds out of your camera in low light conditions is to increase the ISO to 400 or higher.

Unfortunately, boosting the ISO does have a negative consequence - well, at least it USED to.

The problem with high ISO settings is that they also add digital grain or "noise" to the image. This speckled noise is most pronounced in areas of shadow or areas of constant color (like the sky).

Here's the kicker: the Canon 40D produces minimal noise, all the way up to ISO 800 (on some other SLRs, you can see visible noise starting at ISO 400).

This gives you a great deal of flexibility with your camera settings when taking photos in low-light conditions:

  • A higher ISO means you can use a fast shutter speed - if used in conjunction with a wide lens aperture, you can take spectacular action shots even when there's not a lot of light
  • If you don't need the fast shutter speed, a high ISO setting will allow you to use smaller lens apertures while hand-holding the camera - this is important since some lenses are not especially sharp at wide apertures

Let's take a look at two examples that illustrate these points:

FAST SHUTTER
It was early evening, and the light was fading fast. I wanted to capture some photos of my dog leaping off the wall in our backyard. I knew that I needed to use a super-fast shutter speed to freeze his motion. I set the ISO to 1600 which allowed me to use a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, even though the available light is pretty dim.
canon-eos-40d-401
SMALLER APERTURE
This photo was taken indoors at a train museum. I had been taking photos at the maximum aperture of my lens (f/2.8) but wasn't getting great results. By boosting the ISO all the way up to 1600 I was able to use a narrower aperture on my lens, resulting in a sharper image with more depth.
canon-eos-40d-450

The Canon 40D includes an AUTO ISO setting - in this case, the camera automatically selects an ISO setting to ensure a fast enough shutter speed to prevent image blur.

Oddly enough, if you use one of the camera's semi-automatic modes like Program, Aperture Priority (Av) or Shutter Priority (Tv) the base ISO is 400, but the camera can automatically choose any ISO in between 400 and 800.

This really goes against the common wisdom that you should take photos in between ISO 100 and 200, and is a testament to the 40D's image quality in the high ISO range.

Image Quality

Image quality in a digital SLR camera is really comprised of two different elements:

  1. The size of the image file
  2. The amount of compression applied to the image file

Full size files that have no compression applied are also called RAW files.

canon-eos-40d-247

JPG Large/Fine

By contrast, JPG files are compressed, and you can control both the size of the image being captured, as well as the level of compression being applied. Greater levels of compression result in smaller file sizes but will also degrade the quality of the photo.

The Canon 40D allows capture in both JPG and RAW format (as well as both at the same time) and it also introduces a new image format: small RAW, called sRAW for short. An sRAW file has not been processed or compressed, but is about 1/4 the size of a RAW image (about 2.5 megapixels instead of the full 10).

At the time of publication of this Canon 40D Guide, there are very few imaging programs that support the sRAW format. This means that if you take sRAW photos, you can't edit or view them on your computer.

The compatibility issue is not limited to the sRAW files - there are also not very many programs that will open the Canon 40D's RAW files.

If you have the latest version of Photoshop (CS3) or Adobe Elements 5 (or later) then you will be able to view and edit the 40D RAW files with an update to Adobe Camera RAW (available for Windows and Mac).

If you have an older version of Photoshop or use Adobe Elements, then your only option is to use the Adobe DNG converter (Windows or Mac) - this changes the format of the 40D RAW files to the significantly more compatible DNG file, which can be opened by a variety of applications.

The number of images that you can store on a memory card is going to vary wildly depending upon whether you select the JPG or RAW format and how much compression you choose to apply (there are two options for each JPG size - Fine and Normal).

The table below shows you some of the different image quality settings you can select with the 40D, along with approximate megapixels, file size and number of shots you can cram onto a standard 1 GigaByte Compact Flash card.

FILE TYPEMEGAPIXELSCOMPRESSIONFILE SIZE (MB)# SHOTS
JPG Large10.1Fine3.5274
Normal1.8523
JPG Medium5.3Fine2.1454
Normal1.1854
JPG Small2.5Fine1.2779
Normal0.71451
RAW10.1none12.476
sRAW2.5none7.1135

You can see that the sRAW format captures a lot less information than full RAW or even JPG Medium. While it does offer the editing flexibility that you get with any RAW file, you won't be able to print sRAW images much larger than 5x7.

Color
canon-eos-40d-026

I've already mentioned Picture Styles previously in this Canon 40D Guide, but it's worth calling some attention to this exclusive Canon feature.

As of November 2007, you can leverage the power of Picture Styles with three Canon consumer-level cameras: the 30D, 40D and Rebel xTi.

Picture Styles give you quick access to color control when you're capturing photos as JPG files, since the color of a RAW file is manipulated after the fact with software.

The Picture Style that you select will depend on the subject matter and whether or not you intend to tweak the color later with editing software.

The included styles on the 40D are:

PICTURE STYLEDESCRIPTION
StandardThe default style - captures colors suitable for a wide variety of subjects.
PortraitThe color capture is optimized for skin tones and image sharpness is reduced for a softer look.
LandscapeGreens and blues are enhanced, and sharpness is increased for more detail.
NeutralNo alteration to color saturation or to image sharpness - assumes you'll adjust these parameters with software
FaithfulSimilar to neutral
MonochromeCaptures a black and white JPG image - this CANNOT be reverted to color once the photo has been taken

In addition to these "pre-set" styles, there are three custom styles that you can calibrate on your own to achieve a different color effect.

canon-eos-40d-676

Landscape Picture Style - full saturation

Furthermore, you can tweak the settings on any one of the pre-set styles to create a special color scheme for your images. The four parameters you can modify are sharpness, contrast, saturation and color tone.

I'll say this about Picture Styles: they're the digital SLR equivalent of a bottomless pit - once you start messing around with them, there are almost an INFINITE number of different ways you can set them.

On the plus side, once you customize each one to your liking, all you have to do is match the Picture Style to your subject. Then you can rest assured that someone's face won't appear overly pink and a bright red rose won't wind up looking muted and gray.

Black and White (Monochrome)

Since you can't really adjust the saturation or color tone of a monochromatic image, the monochrome Picture Style offers two other parameters that you can set:

  1. Filter effect - yellow, orange, red and green
  2. Toning effect - sepia, blue, purple and green
canon-eos-40d-510

The filter effect mimics black and white filters of old - where yellow, orange and red are used to darken skies for landscape photos and green is used to balance skin tones in portraits.

The toning effect simply adds a color tint to your monochromatic image.

If you take photos in the RAW or sRAW format, these settings won't apply, since all RAW images are capture in full color - if you want a black and white RAW image, you have to convert it with software.

But they certainly do apply when you're capturing JPG images, and the results are pretty impressive.

Black and white photos produced by older digital SLR cameras lacked enough different gray tones to make them really stand out - I often had to post-process my black and white photos to get them to look right.

By contrast, the native black and white images that I took for this Canon 40D guide really suprised me with their tonal qualities. What I noticed most was the rendering of the middle gray tones in between pure black and pure white, and the amount of depth that they add to the photos.

Image Review/Playback

The image review feature on the Canon 40D is comparable to many others available on digital SLR cameras today.

You can view images one at a time, and overlay a variety of information including the camera settings when the shot was taken, a histogram (showing exposure balance) and an red-green-blue (RGB) histogram for more accurate exposure evaluation.

In addition to the single image view, you can also see images in groups of 4 or in groups of 9.

A nice touch is that you're able to set how the camera jumps between individual images. You can either have it step through one image at a time, or jump 10 or even 100 photos at a time. You can also set it to jump to images based on the date they were taken.

With the included TV cable, you can plug the 40D into your television set and set it up to run a slideshow that will display each image on the memory card in sequence.

Batteries

For this Canon 40D guide, I took photos until the BP-511A battery ran out.

I didn't give the camera the sterile lab treatment, but instead used it as you might: I activated the live view a lot, fired the built-in flash, and spent time reviewing images on the LCD.

The end result? The battery lasted well over 1,000 photos on a single charge.

However, if you're really into taking your camera on extended vacations and want even MORE battery life, then you'll want to consider the BG-E2N battery grip.

The battery grip allows you to use two BP-511a batteries or - if you're in the middle of nowhere and the BP-511's run out - 6 standard AA.

The grip also includes a vertical shutter release which means that you won't get hand cramps when taking lots of portraits.

Lenses

canon 24-105 f/4 L IS USM Lens

The latest trend in digital SLR technology is to pair three different features together: a dust control system, live view LCD and image stabilization.

The Olympus E-510 was the first digital SLR to include all three features in a single camera.

But the image stabilization on the E-510 is built into the camera body itself, which means it works with every lens that's compatible with the camera.

Canon could not go the same route, since they've invested a lot in their line of image stabilized (IS) lenses. So how can Canon have a camera with all three features?

Simple - just include image stabilization as part of the kit lens.

The kit lens for the Canon 40D is the EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (Image Stabilization) USM (Ultra-Silent Motor).

While a perfectly capable lens, I'd recommend that you take a good long look at some of the other lens options available before settling on this one, especially if this is your first digital SLR purchase.

The issue here is one of quality: the Canon 40D can capture exceptionally clear photos, as evidenced by the many samples included in this 40D guide.

But the photos captured by the camera are only as good as the lens that's on the front of it. A cheap lens will result in low-quality images, regardless of the camera it's attached to.

Once you're spending over $1,000 on the camera body by itself, it makes little sense to "go cheap" on the lens. And by going cheap, I mean anything less than $500.

Great, sharp, high-quality lenses are constructed from a variety of glass elements which are designed to precisely focus an image on the camera's sensor. Consequently, they cost a LOT more than their mediocre counterparts.

The best advice that I can provide is this:

  1. If money is not an issue, then take a look at the Canon "L" lenses - these are their pro-series lenses which are specifically designed to produce superior images
  2. If you're willing to spend over $1,000 on a camera but don't feel right spending the same on a lens, then take a look at my lens buying guide or my list of the best digital SLR lenses to see what you're able to afford

Top of Page

The Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
  • Fast consecutive photo speed
  • Fast accurate autofocus
  • Live view LCD
  • Dust control
  • Complete color control
  • Large and heavy
  • RAW and sRAW not yet widely supported

Top of Page

Canon 40D Photo Samples

Top of Page

Accessories

As is true with many other digital SLR cameras, buying the camera and lens is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are a wide variety of additional accessories that can be paired with the Canon 40D that will expand your photographic capabilities and clear out your bank account.

Memory Card

The Canon 40D camera kit does not come with a memory card, so this is the first accessory that you'll need to pick up.

Since the large 10.1 megapixel JPG files take up 3.5 MB and the full-size RAW files can run up to 12.4 MB, I'd recommend that you start with nothing less than a 2 GigaByte (GB) card (see the image quality section above for a sense of how many shots you'll get on a card like this).

I'd also suggest that you only get high-speed compact flash cards due to the super-fast continuous capture speed of the 40D.

A high speed card will benefit you in two ways:

  1. It will write data to the card faster - the camera should always be ready for the next shot
  2. It will transfer data from card to computer faster - this saves time when you're copying hundreds of 10 megapixel files to your hard drive
Remote Trigger

Triggering the camera's shutter by pressing the button is not the best option when using very slow shutter speeds or extreme telephoto lenses (400mm or longer), since even a tiny amount of camera shake can lead to a blurry photo.

It's also not terribly easy to take photos that include yourself when you have to keep one hand on the camera.

In these cases, a remote trigger comes in handy, since it allows you to capture a photo without putting your hand anywhere near the camera.

Even better — you've got a couple of choices:

  1. The simple approach to remote triggering is the Canon RS-80N3 ($42). The 3-pin connector plugs into the side of the Canon 40D and works just like the shutter button: press halfway to engage the autofocus and all the way to take a photo.
  2. If you really want to go wild and would like your camera to be able to capture time-lapse photos then you can spring for the TC-80N3 ($137) which will allow you to set the time intervals between photos (anywhere from 1 second to about 100 hours).
Wireless File Transfer
wft-e3a wireless transmitter

Here's the pinnacle of Canon EOS 40D accessories - something that's almost exclusively for professional photographers but is worth mentioning as part of this guide.

The accessory in question is the WFT-E3A wireless file transmitter.

The transmitter attaches to the bottom of the Canon 40D much like the BG-E2N battery grip and it includes controls so that you can change settings when composing photos vertically.

The real power of the trasmitter is that it allows you to beam images directly to a computer with wireless functionality, simultaneously writing to the camera's memory card and to the computer's hard drive.

If you don't have a wireless computer nearby, you can also plug any USB hard drive into the transmitter's port, and save files directly onto the drive. Imagine - rather than a 2GB Compact Flash card you could use a portable 20GB hard drive!

Top of Page

Links and Additional Resources

Learn how to use all of the features of your Canon 40D and dramatically improve the photos you take with five online digital SLR lessons

Top of Page

Learn More About Digital SLR Cameras - Free!

The monthly newsletter is packed with digital SLR tips and advice. Current Issue
First NameE-mail Address 
     
Your privacy is respected and your information is NEVER shared with anyone.
previous pageCanon Digital SLR Digital SLR Home Other Camera Guidesnext page
FOLLOW THE DIGITAL SLR GUIDE
What's New? On Facebook: On Twitter:
Home Lessons Free Newsletter DSLR Store About Contact Site Map Mirrorless Cameras