Canon EOS 500D

So here it is: the newest model in the most successful family of D-SLRs on the planet.

Arriving just eight months after the 450D, the most immediately impressive aspect of the 500D is its monitor screen. It’s the same size as the old model – 3in – but four times the resolution at 930,000 dots.

It looks fabulous and really helps when it comes to analysing sharpness, especially for checking focus in movie mode.

HD everywhere

Talking of which, the 500D is the first consumer-level Canon D-SLR to go all-out with video capability, recording at a cinema-esque HD 1080p (that’s a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels).

The shine is taken off when you learn it can record at only 20fps at full resolution, but the 720p mode will let you go to a full 30fps. And it still gives stonking quality.

The 500D isn’t really a replacement for a camcorder, though, because of the lens’ acoustically noisy focus mechanism.

To keep things sharp, you’re reduced to manually prodding the autofocus button during appropriate lulls in the action. You’ll then have to edit the footage to cut out the chunka-chunk of the focus motors on the soundtrack. Not very convenient.

Stay still

For stills, the 500D offers 15.1 megapixels. The sensor is ever-so-slightly larger too, boding well for light-capture capability and image noise. Still, with 15.1 million pixels packed on an area of 22.3 x 14.9mm, there’s still some pretty serious pixel density going on.

Nonetheless, things remain admirably controlled – noise is barely more than noticeable at ISO 400. Get up the top ISO 3200 and your shots will still be very much usable, especially if you want to go arty and convert them to black and white.

We’d avoid the 'HI' modes of ISO 6400 and 12800 though, unless you’re basically taking pictures handheld in the dark and have nothing to prop the camera on.

Falling upwards

Continuing the strange upward trickle of features from digital-compact-camera land, pop the 500D into Live View mode and you now get optional face-detection and tracking.

That makes sure the faces in your shots are in focus and properly exposed. Useful on a Friday night out when you’re not really concentrating on such things, but we’d venture to suggest most people don’t take their D-SLR out on the town of a weekend.

Vive la difference. Or not...

So, do the extra megapixels make a difference? Not really, with the possible exception of the ability to crop a shot a little bit more and still be able to print at a decent size. What does make a difference is that screen, and the definite uptick in overall image quality at high ISO settings.

How much?!

The downside to all this is the price, which has floated up to a fairly shocking level. Digital camera prices have been rising during the world’s economic collywobbles, but it’s still way too high for what amounts to a casual amateur’s camera.