Canon EOS 450D Review
(also called the Canon Digital Rebel XSi)
Review Date: May 28th 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of
between 2-6Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available
on the Canon EOS 450D which you can select at
any time. There is no
discernible noise between ISO 100-400, and ISO 800 also
looks pretty good. There is some noise at the fastest setting of ISO
1600 though, but it's still very well controlled. Canon have removed the Hi/ISO 3200 setting that was available on the previous 400D model, a surprising omission given the excellent performance at ISO 1600. Here are
some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO
setting:
File Quality
The Canon EOS 450D has 2 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Fine
being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100%
crops
which show the quality of the various options, with the file
size shown in brackets.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have
been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand
image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the
camera images at the default setting are soft and
benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe
Photoshop.
Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level
if you don't like the default results.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon EOS 450D's EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens handled
chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with
some limited purple and cyan fringing present around the edges of
the frame in particularly high-contrast situations. Here
are some 100% crops which show the typical chromatic aberrations
that
you can expect:
Flash
The flash settings on the Canon EOS 450D are Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, and Red-Eye Reduction. These shots
of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of
1.5m.
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Auto
Flash - Telephoto (88mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots.
As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Flash
On + Red-eye option caused any amount of red-eye.
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Auto
(100% Crop) |
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Red-eye
reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Canon EOS 450D's maximum
shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode for even
longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously
interested in night photography.
The
shot
below
was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds, aperture
of f/11 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image
to show what the quality is like.
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Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
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Image Stabilisation
The Canon EOS 450D's EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens offers image stabilisation, which allows you to
take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital
cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same
subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken
withImage Stabilisation turned off, the second with it turned on.
Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As
you can see, with Image Stabilisation turned on, the images are much
sharper than with anti-shake turned off. This feature really
does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a
successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Overall Image Quality
The Canon EOS 450D produced
images of excellent quality during the review period. This camera produces noise-free images at ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 800,
with some noise appearing at the fastest setting of ISO 1600. The
Canon EOS 450D also dealt very well with chromatic aberrations,
with limited purple
and cyan fringing effects appearing only at the edges of the photo
in high contrast situations. The built-in flash worked well
indoors,
with
no red-eye and good overall exposure. The
night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter
speed of 30 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light
in all
situations.
The 12 megapixel images were quite soft
straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting
and ideally require some further sharpening in an application
like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. Image stabilisation via the kit lens is a feature that helps the EOS 450D keep up with its competitors, and
one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in
low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the
zoom range.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon EOS 450D have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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