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Canon yanks EOS 20Da astronomy camera
Canon has announced that the company will discontinue its EOS 20Da digital SLR later this month. The camera -- a version of the EOS 20D optimized for astrophotography with a custom low-pass filter and live LCD focusing via a mirror lock-up -- was always a unique product targeting a specialized niche. Canon insists that it's killing the cam because its base body, the 20D, is being replaced by the new 30D. That could mean that Canon plans a new model based on the 30D, or it could just be an effort to find a graceful way to kill off a product that was a little too specialized to find a decent market -- especially at a price of about $2,500 with lenses, more than double the going rate for the 20D.
Canon EOS 30D 8.2 megapixel DSLR reviewed
Although not as much of an upgrade from the 20D as photography enthusiasts would have liked, the Canon EOS 30D DSLR nonetheless retains the quality performance and full feature set of its predecessor while addressing some key concerns that users had with the 2004 model. DPreview comes to these conclusions prior to bestowing their "Highly Recommended" rating on the 30D -- which obviously fared well in their rigorous testing -- finding it to be a strong competitor in its category for both image quality and value. Most welcomed by the reviewers was the addition of spot metering, variable continuous shooting rates, and the jump to a 2.5-inch LCD, although problems that plagued the 20D such as AI Servo banding with certain lenses and poor incandescent lighting results were not improved to their satisfaction. Still, besides these relatively isolated issues, most of the gripes with this model are minor quibbles, and it seems safe to say that anyone in the market for a mid-range DSLR would be more than satisfied with Canon's offering.
