Canon EOS 400D First Impression

First of all the only real negative thing I've found in the first few hundred shots that I have taken. The battery grip (an extra as you know) is not the same as my D60, 20D, 5D. The battery holder comes out from the end of the camera, when in place and the palm of you left hand touches it you can feel a slight movement in the door which is a shame. I'm just looking for a casual camera for walkabout that is lighter than my others and cheaper to get mugged with :-) On to the camera! I went out last evening when it was really getting to dull for decent comparisons, to the local churchyard and came back with sort of dull grayish shots that weren't very pleasing (but at least it gave me a chance to get to know the beast) So today with brighter skies I did a comparison against my 20D using the 24-105 lens, on a tripod with mirror up. There really wasn't an awful lot to choose between them other than the slightly larger file size from the 400. If anything I think the 400 produced just slightly more detail (shot in raw with sharpening turned off) So that was good news because I was always happy with the results from the 20D in general. BTW the 10-22 works great on the 400 and I'm glad I bought that lens now. So I stuck (what I consider the bench mark lens onto the 400 (135 f2) and boy did that sensor come to life (which is a bit disappointing really because I was looking forward to just a couple of zooms but after seeing the results from the L lens I will be forced to take that and the 1.4 along maybe in place of the 75-300 is zoom) I can't remember seeing such a jump in quality from fitting this lens to any camera (I will have to do some more testing maybe) perhaps it's the tight pixels that are allowing the 135 to shine. Noise is definitely slightly more on the 400D over the 20D (more testing needed) it's not a big problem but after using the 20D and 5D you do notice it (if you start to peep) The thing that few people have mentioned is the superbly quiet and controlled shutter and mirror noise (almost like using a fixed lens prosumer) It really is a well controlled action that might have Leica users (M's that is) getting interested. I find the viewfinder quite OK (not like a FF but good never the less) with dioptre adjustment that jumps in and out of sharpness (I wear specs BTW) I knew I wasn't going to like the big change from not having the large scroll wheel on the back and that was as expected until as the more and more I used it I became hooked on some of the one push buttons on the back, it really seems to have been well thought out giving access to everything you need except the hidden mirror up feature that we all complain about. The AF system(taken from the 30D I believe) is fast and as far as I can see is on the button so far) Getting used to the full size display in place of the small lcd takes 5 minutes to get used to and the eye control that turns it of works every time. (I don't need to look through the reading section of my specs to read it.) So far I haven't seen any dust on the sensor (can I really believe it!!!) (maybe it will become more of a problem after more lens changes) If you have fairly large hands like me you will need the grip but with those smaller batteries that can't be a bad thing.(you can now pick up good copies of the battery for 5.99) The bigger lenses seem to be a little like the tail wagging the dog but you will certainly notice how much lighter the combo of a 70-200is and the 400 is. The preview screen is superb and I have the brightness turned down one from the top. With regards the slight under exposure that has been mentioned (slightly less sensitive) I can confirm that but each digital camera has it's own character so just bend with it. I have found the DPP software to be really good for a change and my latest copy of Breeze Browser pro supports it. So what is it about this small DSLR that gives so much enjoyment then?? for under 500. 1. Good wide angle shots with the 10-22 without the edge problems of FF and the 17-40. (DOF to die for but slightly less control for shallow DOF) 2. At least the beginning of dust control. 3. Much easier to carry around for a few hours. 4. Almost 500mm of image stabilized shooting with the 70-300 lens. 5. A really well controlled shutter and mirror noise level and feel (OK a top speed of 4,000 rather than 8,000 but when did you last use 1/8000?) To sum up, when I look back at the 5D that I paid over 2k for, the 20D that I paid over 1K for this has got to be the best entry level camera around (more so if you have a couple of Canon lenses) add to this enough controls and features for an old time semi pro like me to not be found wanting and I reckon Canon have a best selling camera on their hands again. Lets hope the bubble doesn't burst as more different photo opportunities present themselves. It won't replace my FF cameras completely of course with only 3 F per second and no spot metering but it might come close as my dodgy elbow starts to act up to the impending cold weather. David Chilvers http://www.pbase.com/davechilvers