Canon EOS 40D

You've got to the stage in your photographic development where you've outgrown the teenage point-‘n'-shoot crowd and have maybe thought seriously about composing shots where you have more say in the settings, effects and lighting conditions. You might even be thinking about stepping up to pro status, but are nervous about spending thousands of pounds on high-end SLRs that might prove just too complex.

The best compromise is to head for a sturdy, semi-pro DSLR which will still have some features that remind you of what's important, and where you can switch to auto when you're in doubt, whilst still giving you much more control. This is where Canon's eagerly awaited replacement for the EOS 30D comes into its own.

Like the 30D, the 40D has a reassuringly solid build and, to enhance this, even the grip has been slightly modified to allow your middle finger stronger purchase. Although the dimensions are broadly the same, there are some immediately obvious changes. The CMOS sensor has expanded from 8.2-megapixels to 10.1-megapixels and the image processor is Canon's standard DIGIC III (replacing the DIGIC II).

The LCD has also grown in size from 2.5 to 3.0-inch and the optical viewfinder is also marginally larger. One very significant physical change is the proliferation of new buttons and controls, designed to give you easier access to more settings. Beneath the LCD are five buttons for playback, delete, jump (for skipping playback photos), info and picture styles, the latter offering seven preset parameters for portrait, landscape, neutral, etc., which can be adjusted, plus you can create new ones.

There's also now a large, quick control dial for menu navigation on the back, plus a mini joystick (for more refined selections) and a smaller display on top that reveals all the camera settings at a glance. The other big change is the ability to use the main LCD for Live View when in the ‘creative zone' - i.e. when not in auto or scene modes - when you can have greater accuracy at manual focusing (the AF system now uses 9 cross type points). You can also use Live View for remote controlling through your PC, connecting via USB or optional Wi-Fi.

The 40D introduces a new dust control system at start-up that can be further refined through the accompanying software, and the continuous shooting rate is a competition-busting 6.5fps, which will be especially good news for sports photographers (the top shutter speed is 1/8000 second). Not only is the picture quality exceptional but you are offered two RAW formats (standard plus sRAW) and a PC terminal for external flash units.(itreviews.co.uk)