A friend of mine has been considering buying a Digital SLR for sometime now, and on Saturday she decided that she wanted to do the deeds. I knew what she wanted (a wide angle, a telephoto, a body and a 1gb card) and I knew how much she could spend, so after a lot of thinking and research we came up with a deal.

The deal was, she was to get my Canon 350d (minus battery grip) and my 18-55mm USM kit lens, then she buys a new Canon 75-300mm USM (the same lens which I own). After all of that, I buy myself a Canon 400d body only with the money that I sold my camera to her for, plus a bit more from myself to make up the price. Of course, it would make sense for her just to buy herself a new camera out-right, but she couldn’t afford that, so hence me getting my new lens the other day.

Anyway we went into Jessops (again) on Saturday armed with internet print-outs of the cheapest places to buy a Canon 400d body and the telephoto lens she wanted. We got a good deal on the body only and a fairly good one on the lens, but nothing too much to shout about. Back in the car, we exchanged bits and bobs over, and as I opened the box to my new 400d, after lifting out the lovely body, only to find a lens!

Really, its their fault, so I decided not to go back in and tell them. Granted, its not the best lens ever, just another 18-55mm non-USM. But just to recap, I bought a Canon 400d for a body-only price, but got a kit lens in the box as well. I do like it when a mistake goes for you!

I also decided I wanted a black body. Looks so much nicer than the silver 350d I think. As new features and improvements go, there are a few to name such as 10 mega pixels instead of 8, a self cleaning sensor (world-first), a 2.5 inch screen and a few more.

One really great advantage is that the screen now displays shooting information such as shutter speed, aperture, etc, as you would expect. The large screen replaces the small LCD screen on the 350d and combines it, but one thing that the 350d never displayed was what mode you are currently set at (for example, P, Tv or M). This may seem obvious at first, but at night you can’t really see the mode dial easily, so having it displayed on the screen at the back will make life a whole load easier.

Overall, I am well happy with my new camera. The Canon 400d has some nice new features over the 350d, although as most reviews say its not usually worth the upgrade, that is unless you manage to find a similar deal to what I found myself in.