Depends on what you mean by direct sunlight. If you mean the filter pointed directly at the sun, and you are worried about lens flare, well it wont stop that. But if you mean using it out in bright bright sunlight all around, then it works great. I'm a member of the Longview Film Club. We shoot indie short films, and use these for all of lenses and cameras. It's a must when shooting outside under almost any conditions. Makes it possible to get nice Depth of Field even on a sunny day. 

I have the 77mm version of this and I am NOT able to use a lens hood on my Canon 17-40mm wide angle once the filter is on. I haven't tried putting on the hood first and then trying to screw on the filter yet. That's not to say that all lens hoods won't work but for me it does not under the scenario described above. 

Hello the filter size is 58mm, so as long as your lens size i s58mm, the filter can work with your Canon EOS 20D 

hello ,you can use ie take picture of the sun, but not for the solar eclipse 

Yes , this filter can be used on Canon XA11.