Canon has dispensed with the 350D’s 2 x status LCDs, replacing it with a single large 2.5” LCD monitor. We found the layout of the camera’s status and setting info on the monitor to be extremely good. The camera has a proximity sensor that shuts the LCD down when your face is pressed against the eyepiece to prevent any distraction by the LCD’s light. After a shot is taken the LCD displays the photo briefly (default is 2 seconds, adjustable up to 8 seconds). Despite the larger screen, battery life is exemplary.
Canon has been introducing its ‘Picture Style’ feature across its camera range, and it’s no surprise that the 400D has it. These presets for colour setting and saturation settings offer modes for: Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral and Faithful. You can also create custom settings.
Up top, the Mode Dial allows selection through a range of either ‘Creative Zone’ settings: Program AE; Shutter-priority AE; Aperture-priority AE; Manual exposure and Automatic Depth-of-field. Just in front of this dial is the familiar secondary selection dial, where you can adjust the selected mode, aperture in aperture mode, for example.
The other half of the Main Dial is the ‘Image Zone’, which is Canon’s gift to keen beginners. Its presets do a superb job, taking control of the aperture, shutter and all colour setting for the modes: Portrait; Landscape; Close-up; Night portrait and Flash-off.
Combine these modes with the ‘Picture Style’ setting from the main menu and you have a powerful tool capable of creating stunning images even a rank amateur can knock out with ease. We did a lot of testing snapping away carelessly with the full-auto mode, an extraordinarily capable mode when combined with the 400D’s very fast processing power and fabulous 9-point AF, make for a deadly weapon in the hands of recent compact cam graduates. Full-auto will end up being used by many as a sole mode, we guess, it’s that capable.
The 400D now sits alongside the Nikon D80 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 in the 10 megapixel ‘affordable’ market. It has everything required to satisfy the desires of photographers wishing to purchase their first D-SLR, and is strong enough with the new features and refinements to warrant a serious degree of upgrade consideration from exiting 350D owners.
It’s great fun to use and, like the 350D, will bring many amateurs into photography, being easy enough for beginners and powerful enough to let them grow into advanced photography.
