The canon 400D is a good camera - for the price it's a great camera. It's relatively compact; lightweight; comes with an adequate lens; has programmed settings for novices - like portrait and landscape modes; but also offers manual control of apertures, shutter speeds, white balance, ISO… so that the more experienced photographers can have fun and be a little more creative. One item to note if you are upgrading from a digital compact is that you have to use the viewfinder. The screen on the back of the camera only shows exposure information, and allows you to view photographs you have already taken. It does not let you view the scene you are about to photograph. In my opinion this is a good
thing because it forces you to hold the camera properly - up against your face where it can be held steadily, instead of at arms' length wobbling about all over the place.
The lens that comes as standard with the 400D is not the greatest lens in the world and the way the end wobbles when you actually use it for manual focusing makes me think that all thoughts of quality have long since departed from Canon's philosophy. But since this kit lens costs less than £40 when you buy it with the body and it goes from a reasonable wide angle (29mm equivalent in 35mm terms) to a moderate portrait focal length (88mm equiv.) - there is nothing to complain about. It is absolutely fine for snaps and pictures printed at around postcard size. It is also more than good enough for web use. But if you want a quality lens then you need to consider spending at least another £300+. And that pushes the total price up to £650+
This camera has a very fast start up. You switch on the On Switch and the camera is ready for use and you can get almost 100 RAW images on a 1gb CF card.
If you like using program modes and auto exposure everything then all of that works brilliantly on the 400D. If you are an experienced photographer, or just like to experiment with taking control of exposure yourself, you will probably be as irritated as I am by the awkward combination of button, wheel, and hand position that you have to use to set the aperture in MANUAL mode. You can do it, it's just not easy with your eye to the viewfinder.
And talking of viewfinders the 400D has a lovely clear viewfinder with sufficient exposure information visible. The autofocus is great and very, very fast. Though (as with all autofocus cameras) you have to make sure the camera is focusing on what you want sharp in the image. To this end you can choose any one of the nine autofocus points visible in the viewfinder to be the one the camera uses or you can let the camera choose. After letting the camera have it's own way for about two days I switched them all off except the central one. I find it much easier to hold that over the subject, half-depress the shutter, and then re-frame before taking the picture. The ability to shift the focus point is quite useful though if the camera is on a tripod locked in position.
The battery is long lasting. I think the most pictures I've taken in a session is around 500 and the battery was still working at the end of that. Though I would recommend carrying a spare.
When I first bought the camera I used its very useful facility for creating a RAW and a JPEG file at the same time. Unfortunately that cut down the number of images on the chip and I also very quickly discovered that when I used Canon's bundled software to edit the RAW images and then create Tiffs I ended up with much better quality results. So don't judge the camera on its Jpegs - even though you might be tempted simply because you can get loads more Jpegs on the card than you can get RAWs.
This is a great camera for an introduction to SLR photography. It allows you to start to build up a collection of quality lenses that you will be able to use on newer, or more sophisticated Canon bodies, as your skill increases.
If you have around £400 to spend on a digital SLR this is certainly one to consider. With this camera and a quality lens you should be able to produce images up to A3 size.
For the price and for a first SLR I highly recommend it.
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Canon announces its next generation D-SLR: the EOS 400D. Featuring a 10.1 Megapixel CMOS ... more
sensor, new EOS Integrated Cleaning System, larger and brighter 2.5" LCD and 9-point AF, the model is predicted to take the lead as the world?s most popular camera...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Canon announces its next generation D-SLR: the EOS 400D. Featuring a 10.1 Megapixel CMOS ... more
sensor, new EOS Integrated Cleaning System, larger and brighter 2.5" LCD and 9-point AF, the model is predicted to take the lead as the world?s most popular camera...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Cost effective, easy to use, large support community, lots of lens upgrades Disadvantages: Requires additional lens upgrades if you are planning on varied subject photography
Lehen 15.06.2009 ·
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Review of Canon EOS 400D
Advantages: build quality, picture quality, ease of use Disadvantages: very occasional difficulties with auto focus, no anti-dust protection for the sensor
cornzee 08.06.2007 (08.06.2007)
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