Canon has recently released EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi), a new compact digital SLR. Its design may look like EOS 400D, however there are a range of significant improvements especially when it comes to quality and performance. It has a whopping 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 array of usage oriented improvements and refinements there innovated by one of the experts in digital photography, Canon.

Image sensor

22.2 x 14.8 mm CMOS sensor with 12.40 million photosites (12.2 megapixels effective)

Lens mount:

Canon EF mount (accepts EF-S lenses)

Focal length crop factor

1.6x

Image formats

CR2.RAW (14-bit), JPEG, RAW+JPEG

Image Sizes

4272 x 2848, 3088 x 2056, 2256 x 1504

Image Stabilization

Lens-based only

Dust removal

Canon Integrated Cleaning System

Shutter speed range

30-1/4000 second plus Bulb, X-sync at 1/200 sec

Exposure Compensation

Manual, AEB ±2EV in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments

Self-timer

2 or 10 second delay or 10-sec. delay plus continuous shooting

Focus system

TTL secondary image-registration, phase detection autofocus with 9 AF points

Focus modes

One-Shot AF, AI Servo AF, AI Focus AF, Manual focusing (MF); AF-assist via built-in flash

Exposure metering

35-segment TTL full-aperture metering; Evaluative, Partial, Spot, Centre-weighted modes

Shooting modes

Program AE (Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, Flash Off, Program), shutter-priority AE, aperture-priority AE, depth-of-field AE, manual exposure, E-TTL II autoflash

Picture Style/Control settings

Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Def. 1 - 3

Custom functions

13 (34 settings)

ISO range

Basic Zone modes: ISO 100 - 800 set automatically; Creative Zone modes: ISO 100 - 1600 (in 1-stop increments), Auto

White balance

Auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, white fluorescent light, flash, custom; +/- 9 steps of colour correction in full step increments; +/- 3 steps of white balance bracketing

Flash

: Retractable, auto pop-up flash, GN 13; coverage up to 17mm lens; recycle time approx. 3 sec.

Flash exposure adjustment

+/-2 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments

Sequence shooting

3.5 fps for up to 6 CR2.RAW files, 4 RAW+JPEG or max. burst of 53 shots (JPEG)

Storage Media

SD and SDHC Memory Card

Viewfinder

Eye-level pentamirror with approx. 95% coverage; 0.87x magnification and approx. 19mm eyepoint; fixed, Precision Matte focusing screen

LCD monitor

3.0-inch TFT colour liquid-crystal monitor with approx. 230,000 dots; 7 levels of brightness adjustment

Live View modes

Live View shooting, Remote Live View shooting
(with a personal computer installed with EOS Utility)

Data LCD

no

Playback functions

Single image, Single image + Image-recording quality, shooting information, histogram, 4- or 9-image index, magnified view (approx. 1.5x - 10x), rotated image, image jump (by 1/10/100 images, or shooting date); highlight alert available

Interface terminals

Hi-Speed USB, mini B port; Video OUT (NTSC/PAL); Wireless (RS-60E3 remote control compatible)

Power supply

LP-E5 rechargeable lithium-ion battery; CIPA rated for 500 shots/charge (50% flash use)

Dimensions (wxhxd)

128.8 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm

Weight

 475 grams (without battery and card)