I'm finding my papa's brand new 450D seems to like the old Zeiss CY 28. The Oly's are good on it, but the Zeiss has that ol' magic sharpness and contrast that leaves others in the mud. Must be the ever shrinking pixel. Here's a shot of the grumpy old devil at 3200 iso:

It would be really interesting to see this test on the 1000D. I may just pick one up as my light weight digital solution with either C/Y 28/2.8 or Oly 21/3.5, depending on the situation.

Here's one that I have pushed 2 stops. That's iso 6400 from a 450D. Yikes! I slightly missed focus on the eyes. Does anybody know whether I can get a plain matt manual focussing screen like the Ee-S for the 450D?

Great noise recovery.

Dumb question.... how do you push 1 stop on a digital camera?!

In Canon DPP you can slider slider up to +2. If you set iso 1600, -2EV exposure compensation, and then push the slider in DPP when you convert the raw, you are effectively shooting iso 6400, in the sense that your shutter speed and aperture are what they should be at that speed, so that's your real iso speed.

brainiac wrote:
Does anybody know whether I can get a plain matt manual focussing screen like the Ee-S for the 450D?



Does 450D accept interchangeable screens? I think 400D only has fixed screen.

Thanks for the tip on the ISO push. I'll try it out.

So it's a toss up between a 450D and a D3 ;-) The 450D seems to be more detailed though. Only joking. I can hear the noise of flamethrowers lighting up...

I was eyeing on this camera as a backup...well not really a backup....
Well...wanted it for a camera that could give different view (at least mm wise...) of my alternate lenses.
Seemed like everyone is pretty happy with its IQ.
Will there be any mirror issue?

The Canon 450D seems to be quite good at high ISO.

I am begining to think if it's time to give up the old 30D and move to a 450D. The 4 extra M-pixels may be worthwhile after all if it can hold up this well to high ISO. Just wish the 450D had the quick turn dial on the back and a bigger viewfinder.


FWIW: For those that find the viewfinder on the Canon 1.6x FOV bodies a tad small, get the $50 Olympus ME-1 eyecup - it fits on perfectly without issue and eliminates the tunnel vision syndrome on the XT/XTi/XSi, 20D/30D/40D etc.

Paul Yi wrote:
Will there be any mirror issue?

I doubt it. 1.6 crop mirrors are pretty small.

>Just wish the 450D had the quick turn dial ...

I find the controls really good even without the quick turn dial. A dedicate white balance button by your thumb and a dedicate iso button by your index finger is great. As soon as you're used to it it's instinctive to press index for iso, thumb for WB. Exposure compensation is right by your thumb too, but requires index finger scrolling while you hold down the EC button. Very easy, but difficult to do by accident, the way it should be. The controls and ergonomics really are excellent, and so like the 1Ds3 that I'm considering getting one as a backup/2nd or 3rd camera.

Everybody keeps waxing lyrical about the D300 and D700, but the 450D seems to me to be a gem, and what a price...

I really want to buy one of these for the resolution and (lack of) weight but the 1.6x crop really knocks my favoured set of hiking primes (28/35/50/90) too far up the focal length range. They're just OK on 1.3x and would be even better on 1.0x but 1.6x is too much.

pascal03 wrote:
FWIW: For those that find the viewfinder on the Canon 1.6x FOV bodies a tad small, get the $50 Olympus ME-1 eyecup - it fits on perfectly without issue and eliminates the tunnel vision syndrome on the XT/XTi/XSi, 20D/30D/40D etc.

The 40D has a respectable viewfinder IMO, though it's a bit lacking in terms of resolution (crispness?) compared to the 1Ds3. The XSi seemed very similar to the 40D. I don't know if they are the same size, but it didn't feel different. A magnifier wouldn't hurt (on a XSi or 40D). Just wanted to point out that these cameras do have larger viewfinders compared to their predecessors.

With the magnifier - can you still see the display info easily? Is it this one? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/416283-REG/Olympus_260234_AS_ME1_Eyecup_Magnifier.html

Cheaper on Amazon.

John Black wrote:
The 40D has a respectable viewfinder IMO, though it's a bit lacking in terms of resolution (crispness?) compared to the 1Ds3. The XSi seemed very similar to the 40D. I don't know if they are the same size, but it didn't feel different. A magnifier wouldn't hurt (on a XSi or 40D). Just wanted to point out that these cameras do have larger viewfinders compared to their predecessors.

Yes they do. I've held my father's 40D in one hand and my 1D2 in the other and switched quickly across my eye between viewfinders. The 1D2 is very slightly larger but there's so little in it. A really big improvement and if the 450D is the same as the 40D then I expect few complaints.

John Black wrote:

With the magnifier - can you still see the display info easily? Is it this one? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/416283-REG/Olympus_260234_AS_ME1_Eyecup_Magnifier.html


Yeah.... that's the one. And I can still see the display info in the viewfinder on the 30D.
Not sure about the 40D as I don't personally own one. I will try my ME-1 on a friend's 40D and report back.... or someone else with a 40D and ME-1 could chime in. With the ME-1, it does provide a much bigger and maybe brighter display on the canon's - big enough to focus without a split screen and still get sharp focus at large apertures.