Specifications

III. NEW AND IMPROVED DESIGN FEATURES 8
New Technology
CMOS Image Sensor
and Microlenses
New High-Speed
Continuous Shooting
New High-Speed
Response
The Canon EOS 20D has 1.7 million more pixels on its
CMOS sensor than the EOS 10D’s similarly sized unit,
so each pixel must be smaller. However, advances in
technology have made it possible for the EOS 20D to
have the same ISO range as the 10D, a higher default
ISO, lower noise, higher dynamic range, higher resolution
and a brighter finder than the 10D. Incorporating
advances first seen in the EOS-1D Mark II, Canon has increased the size of the on-chip
light-gathering microlenses while reducing the gaps between them to half the size
found on the EOS 10D. The result is much greater efficiency and much less light lost.
Furthermore, Canon has improved the design of the photo diodes in the CMOS sensor
by eliminating transistors in each pixel, making a greater portion of the surface area of
each pixel sensitive to light.
The all-new 8.2 megapixel CMOS sensor in the 20D was not only designed and
manufactured by Canon, but also made with equipment that was designed and
manufactured by Canon. Many benefits derive from Canon’s total control of the production
process. All associated circuits and devices, such as the Canon-developed color filter
and on-chip microlenses; the 2nd-generation, on-chip, noise-filtering circuit; the 4 channel
reading; the low-noise, high-speed output amp; the infrared-blocking low-pass filter and
the po
wer-saving circuitry were designed and optimized from their beginnings to work
with the new sensor, and vice versa.
The Canon EOS 20D permits continuous shooting of 8.2 megapixel JPEG images, at Large/Fine
recording quality, in both the One-Shot AF and AI Servo AF modes at 5 frames-per-second
for up to 23 frames. Up to 6 frames can be shot continuously in RAW or RAW+JPEG.
Refinements in the EOS 20D’s system control algorithms permit multiple functions to be
performed simultaneously. The startup time of the EOS 20D is just 0.2 second from Off. The
shutter release lag time is a class-leading 65 milliseconds, and viewfinder blackout time
has been reduced to 115 msec., both thanks in part to the new high-speed mirror drive.
III. NEW AND IMPROVED
DESIGN FEATURES
Photodiode
Null area
Microlens gap
EOS
10D EOS 20D
CMOS sensor