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Canon EOS 30D By: Shawn Barnett and Dave Etchells Myriad minor feature and interface tweaks make a great SLR even better. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet EOS 30D Sample Images EOS 30D Imatest Results --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Comparison with the EOS-20D 3. Executive Overview 4. Design 5. Viewfinder 6. Optics 7. Exposure & Flash 8. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 9. Operation & User Interface 10. Camera Modes & Menus 11. Image Storage & Interface 12. Video, Power, Software 13. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on EOS 30D Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 11:Image Storage & Interface Review First Posted: 04/14/2006

Image Storage and Interface

The EOS 30D utilizes CompactFlash (Type I and II) memory cards as its image storage medium, which should never be removed from the camera while in use. (Removing a card while the camera is still writing to it, and that includes opening the card cover door, could cause permanent damage to the card.) The EOS 30D does not ship with a memory card, so you'll want to purchase a large capacity card right away. I'd recommend picking up at least a 512MB card for starters, given the EOS 30D's large, 3,504 x 2,336-pixel maximum resolution. The table below shows card capacities and approximate compression ratios for the various file sizes and types, based on a 512MB memory card. Like the 20D before it, the 30D is fully compatible with IBM MicroDrives and other Type II CompactFlash devices.

The EOS-30D supports the FAT32 directory structure. (FAT stands for File Allocation Table, and FAT32 indicates that these newer cards use a 32-bit File Allocation Table. In general, digicams made before 2003 supported only FAT 16.) The larger address space provided by FAT32 is necessary for managing high-capacity memory cards of 2GB or greater capacity. This hasn't been an issue until now, but current CF cards with capacities as high as 8 GB require FAT32 support to use them.

 

The RAW mode listed above deserves some explanation. This is a format that records all the data from the sensor, exactly as it comes from the A/D conversion process. It is lossless compression, meaning that the file is reduced to a smaller size, but without losing any data in the process. It thus preserves all the original data from the sensor, but is nevertheless much more compact than an equivalent TIFF file. Depending on the subject content, RAW files will compress more or less. In our use of the camera, we saw compression ratios ranging from 1.8:1 to 5:1. Most images will likely come out around 2:1, for a file size of a bit more than 12 MB.

 

Download Speed

The Canon EOS 30D connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked it at 1266 KBytes/second. (Cameras with slow USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast v1.1 interfaces run as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces run as fast as several megabytes/second.) Downloads via Windows Image Assistant (WIA) were fairly fast, but it's important to note that WIA only recognizes JPEG files, and so can't be used for transferring RAW images. As fast as WIA seemed to be, transfers through Canon's own Image Viewer utility were much faster, at 2,190 KB/second. This is very fast, even among cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces.

 

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