Yep, it's exactly what it looks like. My first proper DSLR in the shape of the Canon 450d with twin IS lenses.

This makes it my fourth digital camera in around ten years, starting with the Canon a20, a two megapixel chunky bugger (which still takes exceptional photos considering how early on it was in the development of the digital genre). The Canon S3IS, which had an awesome 12x zoom in a reasonably compact body & yet another Canon with the IXUS750 as my "in-the-back-pocket all-the-time" camera.

It's the S3IS which is really being upgraded. It's a good camera but there were some shortfalls which stopped it being great. Focusing has always been an issue, with shots not coming up quite as sharp once uploaded as they looked on the camera screen. I've discarded many a picture I thought was going to be better than it turned out because of blur. The manual focus too was an issue, being 1) hard & slow to perform & 2) very limited in steps between each focus point, so again, lots of shots just didn't work. The macro ability on the other hand is truly amazing on the S3IS, allowing focus from a 0mm distance from the lens. I have taken really nice photos with the lens actually touching the subject!

Up until a few days before I handed over my credit card for the 450d, I was looking at the 1000d to get into the SLR realm. The pricing for the 1000d has always been reasonable with the kit lenses, but it has still fluctuated considerably between stores week on week. All of a sudden I had a catalogue delivered with the 450d & lens kit for what most places were doing the 1000d for!! I thought it might have been a typo, but after they searched the store to find it, they discounted the price even further & well, it's mine now!

Of course, it's been raining every day since I bought it or I've been working & it's been dark when I get home. At some point, I'll get me some sun & really try this camera out, until then, you get these ordinary shots from the IXUS750.

The standard lenses are the EF-S 18-50mm IS & 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS & from the images so far, they're pretty decent. I'm still hooked on having a long zoom lens, so it will need to be a habit I break so I'm not continually swapping lenses.

My next addition will be a 50mm prime (we all love a bit of bokeh!), then I'll start looking at options for macro lenses.

The first question people have asked me about the new shooter, is how well does it take videos?! Well, it doesn't. The next model (500d) does, but I've never taken a video on any of my cameras, so it's not an issue, even though no one seems to understand this!

The only thing the 450d doesn't have which upset me for all of 30 seconds, was the loss of the ability for wide screen photos, instead of full frame. It's something I've used for every photo on this site so far, mainly because it frames a subject nicely, but I don't think I'll be bothered cropping to continue the legacy. It'll also make it nice & easy to spot which camera I'm using. Big photos = 450d. Wide shots = IXUS750.

Anyway, I've got a new camera & here I am wasting time blogging about it rather than taking photos....