Canon 450D Review : Recent Articles

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Canon 500d Close Up Lens - A Review

The Canon 500D Close Up Lens is a small double element lens attachment that easily fits onto your Canon 450D non-macro lens and allows you to take close up (or very similar to macro) shots.



The lens attachment has a number of advantages over a standard macro lens most noteably that it is a lot less expensive than the macro lenses available. It is also faster to attach to your lens than changing to a macro lens so is very useful when you need that close up shot quickly.

How does the Canon 500d Close Up Lens Perform?

It is important to remember that this is a lens attachment and not a true macro lens so generally you should not expect the same level of results as a true macro lens. However, it is much cheaper and can be a very easy route to getting started with macro photography. In tests the lens attachment performed very well using a variety of different Canon lenses such as the standard 17-55mm and my trusty 300mm Canon telephoto lens. Most of the shots were very good but some loss of detail was noticeable towards the edges of the photographs. Overall I would recommend the Canon 500D Close Up Lens as a low cost way to get into macro photography.

Another Advantage of the Canon 500D Close Up Lens

There is another advantage of this lens attachment that macro lenses cannot compete with and this is entirely because it attaches to an existing non macro lens. This means you can attach it to any Canon lens and get a closer shot than you would otherwise do, very useful when shooting wildlife!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Canon 500d is announced!

Canon has announced the launch of the successor to the incredibly popular Canon 450d in the Canon EOS 500d. The Canon 500d has an incredible 15.1 megapixel resolution and the headline grabbing full HD video shooting at 1080 pixels.

The EOS 500d takes everything that's made the 450d such a success such as live view, integrated cleaning system, and full EF/EF-S compatibility and combined it with some of the best features of the Canon 50d. (Read More)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Canon EOS Lenses what options are there for my Canon EOS dSLR

Whilst writing my recent review of the Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens it occured to me that a general guide to the wide variety of Canon EOS lenses would be useful for anyone unsure as to what options are available and why you would choose a specific lens type for your Canon EOS Camera.

Most of the cheaper Canon dSLR Cameras can mount two types of lens, the more expensive EF mount designed for the expensive 'full frame' cameras such as the Canon 5D and Canon 1D, and the cheaper EF-S mount designed for the less expensive dSLR cameras such as the Canon 450D, Canon 1000D and Canon 50D. Whilst the cheaper cameras can usually mount both lens types they are at their best with the EF-S lenses and the more expensive camera's, the 1D and 5D can only mount the EF lenses.

Canon EF-S Lenses

Canon EF-S lenses are designed to work with the lower priced Canon EOS dSLR range starting from the Canon 1000D all the way up to the Canon 50D. These EOS cameras are not able to capture a full frame image with the APS-C sensor they come equipped with, so any EF lenses that are used, whilst they will work, will give a different image through the viewfinder as to what is actually captured on the card. (Read More)

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Can I use Canon EF Lenses on my Canon EOS 450D

Most Canon digital SLR cameras can mount two different types of lenses. These different mount types are called the Canon EF Lens, and the Canon EF-S Lens (also often called Canon EFS Lenses). Most Canon dSLR cameras can mount both types of lenses, however there are some digital SLR's from Canon that can only mount the Canon EF Lens.

The good news is that your Canon EOS 450D camera can mount both types of Canon lenses however there are some important differences between the two lens types that may well have an influence on which lenses you decide to buy. (Read More)

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Canon 450d body : Is it better to buy the body only

Most people who buy a Canon 450D camera buy it from one of the major retail stores where it comes supplied with the standard kit lens, but is this really the best choice when buying your Canon 450D EOS? Well there's a number of very good reasons for buying your Canon 450D with the standard kit lense and one of the main reasons is if you don't have much experience yet with dSLR photography. Listed below are a number of reasons why you may want to buy your Canon 450D with the standard kit lens followed by the reasons you may want to buy your Canon 450D as 'body only'.

Why buy the Canon 450D with the standard kit lens?

• The Canon 450D standard kit lens is good
• The 450D kit lens has inbuilt image stabilization (less camera shake)
• The Canon 450D standard kit lens has a good everyday 18-55mm focal range
• I've found that the 450D lens is fast and quiet in operation
• Buying the Canon 450D is a good starter choice if you haven't much dSLR experience
• If you don't own any other Canon dSLR lenses then it will be less expensive than separate purchases

Why buy the Canon 450D Body Only?

• The Canon 450D body only will be less expensive than buying it with the kit lens
• You can buy a Canon 450D lens with a wider focal range so less changing of the lens is needed
• You can shop around for the perfect Canon 450D lense to suit your requirements
• You already own a number of Canon dSLR lenses and don't need the kit lens
• You are buying your Canon 450D for a specific purchase such as telephoto or macro photography

So which Canon 450D lens option would I recommend?

Well, if you've already got some decent Canon dSLR lenses or your budget can stretch a bit then I would buy the Canon 450D body only. There's certainly nothing wrong with buying your camera with the standard Canon kit lens but one of the main advantages of a dSLR camera is the ability to change the lenses and there are some terrific options out there whether you're looking for a standard focal range or something more specialist.