The new Canon dSLR — the 450D/XTs
Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi: Digital Photography Review
Canon has today announced a new compact digital SLR, the twelve megapixel EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi). On the surface a very similar camera to the EOS 400D, however there are a range of significant improvements; twelve megapixel CMOS sensor, 3.0″ LCD monitor, Live View with both AF modes (contrast-detect and passive), 14-bit processing and RAW, spot metering, improved AF, 3.5 fps continuous shooting, a larger viewfinder, SD/SDHC storage and a new higher capacity battery. All in all a fairly impressive range of usage oriented improvements and refinements.
The back screen looks huge by comparison to the XTi, and they’ve done away with some of the annoying buttons to the left of it. (Interesting point — the resolution hasn’t changed. the screen has only gotten bugger.) It’s 12 megapixels instead of 10 now. Image processor is DIGIC III, as expected. It sounds like there are some user-customizable menu options, so you can more easily get to the things that are important to you. You get an extra half frame per second. ISO still ranges from 100 - 1600. The center focus point is cross-type now, which is supposed to be a big thing. You can get twice as many shots in burst mode using JPGS now, though it appears you now get LESS RAW files in burst mode, down from 10 to 6. Odd. The viewfinder displays a lot more info to you now, too.
There are also less languages available in the menu, if you dig down that deep.
But the thing that grabbed me right away is that it’s not using Compact Flash cards anymore! They’ve switched to SD cards. Of course, I just bought a couple of CF cards while they were on sale for a decent price.
The kit lens is improved. It’s finally Image Stabilized, thought still just 18mm-55mm. The 18mm is a nice wide angle, but 55mm isn’t getting you far.
Here’s the first review of the camera.
It looks like I’ll be buying the current 400D/XTi, though. It’s about $300 cheaper, and right now that’s all the difference in the world to me. The new features just aren’t worth that. I’d rather put it towards a nicer lens.