I picked up a Canon EOS 400D in January
’08. Let me begin by talking about the goodies that I got after
registering the product on the Canon website – A jacket with 4
pockets to carry stuff on a photo shoot, a book about photography, a
carry case and a free air ticket – cos you need to pay the taxes on
the ticket. Additionally there is a booklet of coupons – discounts
on accessories and a ticket to attend a half day class on
photography. Canon sent SMS about a class being held in Chennai. This
class was sure good.
Coming to the camera – this is my
first digital SLR. I had a little experience with film cameras
earlier and a couple of ordinary digital cameras. Since digital
cameras let you see the picture taken, on the LCD monitor, you have
the advantage of making your photo better by using different
settings. I find the exposure compensation a useful feature and this
is easy to set. There is an advanced options available for this like
auto exposure bracketing. You have control over auto focus like you
can lock focus on an object by pressing the shutter button half way
and then recompose your picture. Then there is the feature to select
the point of focus by selecting a particular area on the screen. The
standard lens that comes with the camera is an EF-S18-55mm lens.
The standard lens is OK. You can make
good pictures with it. But you always want to benefit from the added
possibilities a wide angle lens or a zoom lens gives you. So I added
a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens, a 70 – 300 zoom lens, a Nissin
Speedlite Di622 flash and a tripod to the gear.
The battery has good life. I have not
drained the battery to say how many shots you can make before the
battery requires a recharge.
This is a product that an armature
photographer can benefit from. I have not yet learned most of the
features available on the camera. But as time goes by, God Willing, I
will get to know this camera better.