It is not the first time that this has happened. The more modest camera model assumes a responsibility to reveal a new technology that will eventually be taken over by more glamorous models. Thus it came to pass, that the EOS400D played the role of guinea pig. It was the first Canon SLR system with integrated sensor cleaning. With this service as a cornerstone of its current cutting edge cameras, the EOS 400D paved the way for other entry level SLR products from Canon. Some minor amendments and more than 2-megapixel resolution helps distinguish it from the EOS 350D, which inherits its good quality, good price … and some outstanding issues for improvement from it’s predecessor.

It was inevitable and necessary. I refer of course to the inclusion of the cleaning system sensor that Canon has developed and, for the first time, has installed on a SLR. Apart from the 10 megapixels or pricing discrepancies, there is no doubt that the EOS 400D is the company’s response to a demand for a automatic dust cleaning system, that allows photographers to focus exclusively on taking pictures.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex, and DSLR (which people commonly see) stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. SLR cameras allow the user to see exactly what the camera is seeing.

It’s an extended zoom camera that is powerful and has an optical zoom of 20x. Its resolution is 10 megapixels, it has wide angle lens, an LCD screen of 2.5 inches and image stabilization as a feature. You can usually find one for under $350.

The aforementioned cleaning system is based on two separate actions for the same purpose. On the one hand, the sensor-or rather, the Low Pass Filter, has a special coating that seeks to prevent dust particles from attaching to it.

The optical zoom is 3.7x and you can go with the digital zoom up to 4x. The photos are saved in JPEG format and the ISO varies between 80 and 1600. You can choose between manual and auto exposure and it also comes with lens-shift image stabilization. The lowest prices you can find them at is $300.

This cleaning process takes place whenever you turn on the camera, and lasts less than a second. It can also be activated manually, by a simple pressure on the shutter trigger, prior to capturing a photographic moment. Of course, the cleaning system can be activated at will and at any time. Moreover, we can always raise the mirror to perform a manual cleaning process, the old way.

The ISO can go as high as 12800, it has an EF/EF-S lens mount and you can save photos both in RAW and JPEG formats. It’s an expensive camera though, as you have to spend around $1200 on it.

Tests of the new cleaning system with a more challenging dirt have occurred. Deliberately placing dust particles on the sensor surface, the vibration could not complete eliminate all dust. In this case you would have to resort to manual cleaning.