Canon EOS 400D > Reviews > My first Digital SLR

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Excellent
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Overall Look & Design	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Price, design, ease of use, self cleaning mechanism
Disadvantages:	Price, its plastic

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Let me just say from the beginning, I am not a professional photographer, so as far as writing a review about the performance of this camera at certain ISO settings and all that I would suggest reading a specialist site. I am writing this as the type of consumer Canon has targeted with this camera, and its predecessors the 300D and the 350D.

As I write this people have two options, to buy a 400D or to buy a 350D, the 350D being obviously cheaper. I had to make this decision and frankly it just came down to the LCD size at the back for me and to some extent the self cleaning mechanism.

The other major differences are:
10.1 megapixel v 8 megapixel
Slightly different exterior deisgn around the handgrip
9 focus points v 7
Not only is the lcd screen larger, but you use it to adjust camera settings

I obviously went with the 400D, however the step up for most users will be marginal, and personally I think that if you can get the 350D much cheaper than the 400D and have enough for a good lens then Id go for it, otherwise if its a small difference Id go for the 400D. The self cleaning mechanism in it self is worth it, well at least for us amateurs that would be scared about cleaning the inside of their SLR. And the larger LCD and increased megapixels dont hurt either. Either way however, whether you go for a 350D or a 400D I think most would be happy.

As I said, im no pro photographer, this is my first digital SLR. I used to have an old film SLR, but that was last century. I've been using a point and shoot camera and just was feeling limited by the lenses and also the features afforded to the cameras themselves, so making the move to a SLR was the only option. Problem is though, buying a SLR is an expensive proposition, and unless you are going to be using most of the features, you may be wasting your money. Some point and shoot cameras have come a long way and offer fantastic quality, ease of use and will do everything a 400D will do in automatic mode, while at the same time be encased in a nice solid metal case and be quite a bit less bulky than a 400D.

If you have any interest in photography though, and it isnt just to take pictures of birthday parties, then making the step to a SLR is a logical one. The 400D is a good place to start, the other Canon models may have more features and better construction, but whats the point of spending your money on features you cant really appreciate, when you could use the difference in cash to buy some nice lenses which will be able to be used on high Canon models if you decide to upgrade at a later date.

Just a point to note, the joy of owning a SLR is not only the features and adjustability that the camera itself offers, but also the fact you can use many different lenses and filters to get the exact effect you want. Lenses are probably the most important part of the camera, the more money you spend on these the better your photos will be, its a simple fact. The lens that is offered in the 400D kit is an 18-55 EF-S lens, which isn't too bad, but it is limiting. Buying lenses can be an expensive business, dont forget though that this camera fits not only the digital EF-S digital canon lenses, but also the older EF lenses that Canon has been making since the late 70s/early 80s.

So you have the camera and the kit lens, use the camera in auto mode and you'll immediately see the difference compared to a point and shoot camera, the images are sharper and more detailed and dont underestimate the click noise the camera makes when taking photos!

The camera has the standard sport, portrait, landscape etc settings (same as for point and shoot cameras) in addition to the manual settings. The manual provides some information as to what everything is, but I suggest if you are a complete amateur at things like apeture settings then I suggest getting some reference books to get your knowledge up.

Im not suggesting that people with a good working of camera and photographic knowledge wont appreciate this camera, as the camera has pretty much all the same features and settings as the higher end units, however there are small differences obviously in how the 400D goes about taking photos compared with the 1D that explains the price difference.

Overall as a proposition the 400D is an excellent choice for someones first D-SLR or for someone with an older SLR looking to upgrade. I haven't gone into ease of use that much because everyone is different in that respect, but it suits all types. Even if its your first camera, you will still be able to take some really nice photos with it because it is very intuitive to use. The software that comes with it also is pretty easy to use.

Frankly Canon brought us the 300D about 3 years ago, and it brought the D-SLR to the people, and the 400D is continuing the tradition.

Before I forget, when looking at buying a 400D dont forget to budget in the cost of a mermory card also, Id recommend a 1Gb as a minimum, because at full res you might easily fill it up in one day. Canon will send you a 256Mb card when you register online though, but I would be looking at that as a backup more than anything else.