Canon 450D -Vs- 1000D

Any thoughts on why the Canon 1000D is much cheaper than the 450D but doesn't have than many less features? Is it something to do with the kit lens and if so, does anyone know if the 450D kit lens is that much better.

www.jessops.com 450D = £450; 1000D = £322

Well Trevor, the kit lens offered on both is generally the 18-55mm IS lens as you will have seen at Jessops for example. The 1000D is a sort-of detuned 450D and priced to be competitive with Nikon's offering of a 10 meg camera, their D60.

So, there's your first difference; it's 10 megs instead of 12; the metering systems are different; the rear screen is smaller, the continuous shooting speed is different. So, lowering the specs here and there of the 450D keeps Canon in the game in the entry level camera sector, notably against Nikon's offerings.

I ended up buying the 1000D; what a superb bit of kit.

I think that the main feature I miss from the 1000D (detuned 450D) is the lack of spot metering. I also understand that the 450D has greater bit depth to it's RAW files, but I am not convinced that it would have made much difference to me. The extra megapixels don't really affect me nor does the smaller rear screen. So all in all from my perspective Canon have detuned the areas that make this a very attractive camera, especially when you consider the price difference.

In terms of price deals, I managed to get Jessops to sell me the 1000D complete with lens kit, plus a 8GB Sandisk Extreme III (they had no Extreme II's in stock), plus the Tamron 70-300 and UV filters for both lenses all for £450. I should be receiving my cashback of £30 from Canon soon so that means I have got it all for £420. You can't even get the 450D body for that price!!!

Hi Ron - Yes Paul's comments were useful so thanks to him. It's good to have an independent view rather than relying on sales blurb and professional reviews.

Glad I could help in whatever way Trevor and looks like you got a pretty good deal there too into the bargain with a noticable savings; probably even more so as Nikon had a significant price increase in mid-January, and Canon from the 1st Feb due to the Yen/ GBP  situation, so not delatying too long may well have saved yourslf a bit more too.

A handy site for quick price comparisons you'll find here and gives you a good idea of what the prices are in the marketplace fairly quickly.  http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

Hi I know I'm not in very good books

so I won't try to be clever but the easy answer is

 When Canon launched the EOS 300D back in 2003 it was widely regarded as the first affordable digital SLR and secured Canon a seemingly indomitable number-one spot in the market. Since then the 'small' Canon has gone through three further iterations and the current model - the EOS 450D - offers a feature set and image quality that could only have been dreamed about five years ago (and at a price point well below the 300D's). However, the competition haven't been idle spectators and have recently launched a number of de-spec'ed cameras that have redefined the entry level segment and undercut the EOS 450D in the DSLR hierarchy.