Canon EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi / Kiss X2 Digital)
Hands-on Preview, April 2008, Phil Askey

Preview based on a production Canon EOS 450D

Four and a half years have passed since the first affordable digital SLR from Canon; the EOS 300D (Digital Rebel). In that time we have witnessed two further iterations (the EOS 350D and EOS 400D) leading up to todays fourth generation EOS 450D, with twice the megapixel count of the original (twelve versus six) in a smaller body with a far wider range of functionality and features and a $200 lower list price. Since those heady days in 2004 when the EOS 300D was the only kid on the block we've seen Nikon, Pentax and Olympus all attempt to hit the same sweet spot of size, features and price at the 'lower end' of the DSLR market, with varying degrees of success. Without a doubt the EOS 450D will have to do more today to prove itself against the popular Nikon D40 / D40X / D60 and to a lesser degree the Pentax K200D and Olympus E-420.

On the third page of this review you'll find a detailed breakdown of all of the changes and updates compared to the EOS 400D but the headlines are; a larger 3.0" LCD monitor, Live View with both passive and contrast detect AF, Spot metering, improved auto-focus, 3.5 fps continuous shooting a larger viewfinder and a switch SD/SDHC for storage (all previous cameras in this range were Compact Flash). Other features appear to be inherited from the EOS 40D; 14-bit image pipeline, Highlight Tone priority, optional High ISO noise reduction, 'My Menu' and display of the ISO sensitivity on the viewfinder status line.

A brief history; Canon entry level digital SLR series

• 20/08/03: Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel (6 mp)
• 17/02/05: Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT (8 mp)
• 24/08/06: Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi (10 mp)
• 24/01/08: Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi (12 mp)

Foreword / notes

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read some of our Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

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Dpreview use calibrated monitors at the PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally also A, B and C.