Good news for Canon EOS 40D users who have been waiting for Adobe to update Lightroom and Camera Raw to support the 40D. It is now available for download from Adobe’s update site:

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/

I am downloading it now and going to try it out tonight

Hong Kong was one of the first places to get the new 40D and I managed to get one soon after it hit the streets. I have previously written some initial impressions and did some test shots. I will leave the comprehensive technical review to publications like dpreview.com. I will be mainly concentrating on the design changes compared to the 20D/30D and new features and improvement in the 40D. After hearing many comments and questions, I hope this review will answer most of them. I will be mainly using my old 20D for comparison purposes. However, the 30D is identical to the 20D in many ways other than a larger LCD and addition of spot metering, most differences between these 2 cameras are very minor. So most of the comparison will apply to the 30D as well.

The main changes and improvement with the 40D according to Canon are:-

1. 10.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, compared to the 8.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor in the 20D/30D.

2. 3 or 6.5fps continuous shooting, compared to 3 or 5 fps in 30D and 5fps in 20D. canon also claimed 30% greater focusing speed with the 40D.

3. 17 jpeg or 17 RAW burst, compared to 30 jpeg or 11 RAW with 30D and 23 jpeg or 6 RAW with 20D.

4. New AF sensors, 9 sensors, all cross-type, compared to 9 AF sensors only center sensor is cross-type in 20D/30D

5. Digic III image processor, Digic II in 20D /30D

6. 3″ LCD 230,000 pixels, 2.5″ 230,000 pixels LCD

I have played with my new 40D for a few days now since I bought it on Sunday, so it’s time to write about some of my initial impression on this new camera.

1. The viewfinder view is bright and is much bigger than the 20D/30D. Definitely a nice upgrade. It’s great to finally have ISO visible in the viewfinder at all times.

2. The Canon 20D makes a really loud shutter/mirror noise. The 40D is much quieter, the sound is very muted. If the 20D sounds like a gun, the 40D sounds like a 20D with a silencer on.

3. Autofoucs seemed faster especially under low light situation. Probably because all the 9 focus pints are now cross-type, all the focus sensors are much more sensitive than on the Canon 20D/30D. Previously, on the 20D, the peripheral sensors hunt a lot under low light situation, sometimes almost impossible to lock on a focus. On the 40D now, the peripheral sensors all locked focus instantly just like the centre focus point.

4. The 3″ LCD is positively a huge improvement over the tiny 1.8″ LCD on the 20D. It is probably not such a bit improvement over the 2.5″ LCD on the 30D though. Without comparing the high resolution 3″ LCD on Nikon D3 and D300, which I have not seen and are not on sale yet, I would just say the 3″ LCD on the 40D is bright and clear with good viewing angle.

5. The menu structure has changed

The annual Hong Kong Computer & Communications Festival 2007(HKCCF2007) just started at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center today.

It is an event which you can probably do some good shopping with anything related to computers and lots of flat panels TV on sale. It is also a event with many photographic opportunities, since there are usually many showgirls at the event. I was there briefly this evening, many showgirls  already left the show unfortunately. I did get a few shots. Maybe I’ll return

As long expected and rumored. Nikon just announced the new D3 and D300. Together with the Canon announcement of the 1Ds Mark III and 40D just a few days ago, the battle for DSLR between Canon and Nikon is really heating up. It is a really exciting time for all DSLR users. With the heated competition, it can only be good for all of us. They will drive each others to make better and cheaper cameras for all of us eventually.

You can read about the new Nikon D3 here and the D300 here.

Canon Hong Kong officially published a press release for the new Canon EOS 40D  on 21st August 2007.

It has been reported in a local photographic forum that the list price in Hong Kong will be HK$8,980 for the body and HK$11,980 for the kit with the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. I would expect the street price of the 40D to come in at below HK8,000 and the kit to be just over HK$10,000.

It is generally expected by the information currently available around the web that it should be reached the stores by early September. However, on the same forum, another member has reported seeing the new EOS 40D at a store in Golden Shopping Arcade.  Another forum member reported that he was told by a salesman that they would have stock of the 40D coming in within the next few days.

I have asked my friendly contact at a local store to contact me as soon as they have pricing and stock availability information. I will report back as soon as I have further details.

As I am looking forward to get a new 40D to supplement my aging 20D. I will write a review after I get my hands on a new 40D.