Canon EOS 450D Review

There are one or two minor hiccups; live view arguably being the biggest. The LV system uses contrast-detection autofocus, which is from the 'accurate, but glacial' school. It's perfect for tripod-based still life or macro shots of non-moving things, but it falls way behind the more useful systems found in current Olympus and especially Sony DSLRs. White balance is also a generation behind some of the best in show; 'Auto' does well in daylight, but can get troubled under artificial light. In particular, it won't sit still, and can be inconsistent from frame to frame. Putting the camera in the appropriate fixed WB setting, or taking a custom reading, is a better option here. But, as we said… hiccups, not dirty great hacking coughs.

The Canon EOS 450D has big shoes to fill. The original EOS 300D was the first camera to bring the DSLR to a wide audience, by being extremely aggressively priced and being extremely simple to use. It broke new ground. By contrast, the Canon EOS 450D is not the cheapest (or arguably easiest to use) DSLR on the market and will always be judged harshly - and sometimes unfairly - for that. Although it may not be the cheapest around and it faces stiff competition from cheaper rivals, it still has much to offer especially for those wanting to gain access to Canon's huge array of lenses.



Alan Sircom

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