The New Canon 30D

As I was doing my late-night news roundup, I stumbled upon some interesting new Web 2.0 apps. The top two that are on my list to beta-test are Foldera and Flyspy. I can’t wait to see how Foldera works, it seems that it’ll be useful at work and at home. As for Flyspy, this thing should make it easier for those of us “remotely” working from home. I hope it saves me a ton of cash so I may have some left for some other goodies later this year. Not to mention, a couple of expenses during my big trips (Hawaii, Japan and P.I.).

Anyways, a little birdie that a new toy has just been unveiled, Canon’s 30D. It seems that it is using the same sensor as the 20D. But a couple of more intriguing changes can be highlighted as stated by Rob Gailbraith:

a 2.5-inch (diagonal) rear LCD, increased burst depth, Picture Styles, a shutter with a higher duty cycle rating and a long list of other camera usability changes.

A couple of things that I did like with the new 30D features are:

• Canon’s more flexible Picture Style menu, which replaces the Parameters menu of the 20D
• ISO 100-1600 is now selectable in 1/3 stop increments
• Increased burst depth: 11 frames for RAW CR2 shooting, 30 for Large Fine JPEG and 9 for RAW+JPEG
• Switchable High-Speed Continuous (5 fps) and Low-Speed Continuous (3 fps) frame rate settings are now included
• An Auto setting in the Long Exposure Noise Reduction Custom Function
• The ability, like several more-pricey Canon digital SLRs, to simultaneously apply long exposure noise processing to one picture while capturing another
• The addition of a 3.5% spot metering mode
• A more-precise 4-increment battery charge indicator
• No more new folders created every 100 photos; in the 30D, a folder can hold 9999 photos (this one is a 50/50 like/dislike to me)
• During playback, the image+shooting data screen will display either an RGB or Brightness histogram, file size and will optionally display AF markings
• The Jump feature during image playback can now leap back and forth 10 pictures at a time, 100 pictures at a time or by the date shot

So yah, “nothin’ serious.” It looks like it’ll be shipping mid-March (US) with an MSRP of $1399. $1399? That was how much I got my 20D for back in December through Costco.com. Oh well, you can’t beat a rebate of $300 for it. Anyways, I might have to take Costco up on their 100% return/warranty policy later this year. Good times.