Canon EOS 40D

The 40D uses Canon’s DIGIC III image processor, which is pretty fast. It takes less than a second to start and about a second to be ready to shoot. Shot-to-shot duration is also negligible – less than a second. Obviously, the kind of compact flash card that you use will also make a difference. We tested the camera with the Sandisk Xtreme III 4GB card.

ISO settings can be boosted to up to 3200, while ISO speed between 100 to 1600 can be set in 1/3-stop increments. The 40D does pretty well till under ISO 800. Beyond that you will notice some noise.

Night shots at 1/3 sec exposure at ISO 500 yielded good results and helped in preventing both noise and blur. However, long exposures like 10-30 secs will require you to have a tripod to get the best out of the picture, especially at a low ISO levels.

Daylight shots had a bit of warmth in auto mode; however, this can be rectified by using the right scene mode. The pictures clicked were pretty sharp even after using the regular 18-55mm kit lens.