20D vs 350D?

[KarlosFandango]

Just a quick question really. How do the older 20D, 30D compare to the newer consumer models of the 350D and 400D? The wife is interested in having a go and having looked at the prices these go for there seems little in it.

[havoc]

I picked the 20D over the 350D as IMHO it's a (slightly) better camera. 30D is a slight evolution over the 20D, similar to the 350-400 evolution.

The xxD's have a magnesium body vs the xxxD's plastic body, so are bigger, heavier and sturdier. Handling-wise, I prefer them (but then I've large hands, and the weight doesn't bother me), but depending on what sort of person your wife is, she may prefer the slightly-more-wieldy xxxD versions.

For motorsport (any sport, I guess) the xxD's have a higher frames-per-second capability, both burst and sustained, and they've a few more functions over the slightly simpler xxxD's, albeit a newbie probably won't use any of them.

Otherwise, there's little-enough in it that it depends what the prices are. I'd get your wife to 'test-drive' both a 450/500D and a 40/50D in Jessops or somewhere similar, decide what she likes the feel of best, and go from there. Ultimately unless you're going to do a lot of 'action' photography where the higher fps rate will be very useful, what feels best is going to be the deciding factor.