Canon 40D

The Canon 40D has become really cheap recently. Under $1000/£600! I am not sure why, it seems unlikely that it is about to be replaced.
[Video review. tOP post about it. Text review.]

It's a great deal, because it's not out of line to consider it a professional camera, for example it can take 6.5 pictures per second, which is very capable indeed. And it has rubber sealing for weather proofing and interchangeable focusing screens, both of which are features traditionally reserved for professional cameras.

It is not totally inconceivable that the 40D may be replaced soon, but that would be very early for Canon, who usually has an 18-month cycle, and this one is from August 2007. More likely is that a replacement for the full frame Canon 5D might come soon, which may have a very powerful low-light capability. But such a camera, of course, is sure to be over twice the price of the 40D.

The 40D is a much more capable camera than the 400D or 450D, but the latters are not at all bad, and much smaller and lighter:
... The D40 (still on the right) is dwarfed by the D1 Canons, though...


Good companions to the 40D are the new image-stablized zooms, the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm. Both are low-weight and economical lenses with high image quality. (Be sure to get the IS versions. Not only is IS invaluable, but they are sharper too.)

Paul said:
Excuse my ignorance, what´s the meaning of IS?

"Image Stabilization". It means it has a mechanism which counteracts the shaking of your hands so you can use longer exposure times, and thus shoot in lower light. It's very effective.
Other manifacturers have other terms for it, Nikon calls it "Vibration Reduction" and Sony calls it "anti-shake", etc.