Canon EOS 400D (EOS Digital Rebel XTi / EOS Kiss Digital X) review

Please allow me to contribute my 2 cents worth. I've just bought a 400D secondhand for a bargain price, along with the 2 basic kit lenses. My first DLSR. Now I'm reading all sorts of comments about how poor the EFS 18-55 lens is - 'Go get yourself a better lens..' Yeah right, another £450-£700? I don't think so.
Even so, there was the nagging feeling that I could have done better. The only thing to do was compare the results with my existing 'prosumer' compact, a Panasonic FZ7 with Leica IS lens (taking into account that the FZ7 is only 6MP).
The images are not in the same league. The 400D takes far better pix at ISO 1600 than does the FZ7 at ISO 400 (noise reduction in Photoshop on both samples); which balances the claimed 2 stop advantage gained by the FZ7's 'Mega OIS'). Shooting RAW, the colour is more accurate, there is greater shadow detail, and edges are far cleaner.

The next thing was to find out if the 400D would work with my ancient Cobra twin-head flash, which has served me well for over 20 years. Manual mode, iso 200, 125 @ F5.6 - spot on. Was I pleased? You bet!

Someone will no doubt claim that this is an unfair comparison, but I'm writing to assure anyone thinking of moving up from a compact (even a good compact), that the 400D will not disappoint; especially if, like me, you are on a tight budget. And since there are enough enthusiasts around who will no doubt be upping to the 450D or better, there'll be bargains to be found.

If you come across one - grab it.

Problems:

Trouble installing supplied software on my PC.