I know a lot of you current have a Canon Rebel XT and are considering upgrading to a Canon 40D. Well, I'm here to give my initial impressions between the two and help make up your mind for you. Please keep in mind that I have only had the camera for a week but I wanted to give you early adopters an impression from a ex-XT owner.

Build Quality Difference

I think it goes without saying that the 40D feels like a lot more of a professional feel. It is much heavier, larger and wont fit into any case that you bought for your XT/350D. The 40D also has weather sealing that your 350D didn't, so you might catch that shot in light rain when you were scared to bring your XT out to.

Image Quality Difference

While a 2MP difference doesn't seem like a lot, it is when it's coupled with a better automatic focus(AF) system and a heavier camera (which I believe has made a difference in camera shake). I have only examined the difference between a few photos and I can't believe that I thought my Rebel XT photos were sharp. I am comparing the same Canon 28-135mm USM IS lens with both and it doesn't even seem like the same calibre. There are a lot of examples out, and I'm afraid I am still awaiting my Sandisk Extreme IV card (40MB per second) to take it outside to shoot (I have been shooting with the EOS Utility). I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the 40D.

Noise Reduction Difference

I don't know about the other Rebel XT owners out there but I couldn't go over 400 ISO without getting lots of noise in any low light situation. I have been playing around at 800 and 1600 and 'WOW'. With the in camera HIGH ISO Noise Reduction turned on and the use of Noise Professional in Photoshop CS2 I don't see much at all. I'm looking forward to weddings where I can shoot without a flash.

Ease of Use Difference

I read the instruction booklet before I picked up the 40D and didn't have any problems. I'm sure if you didn't read it a few things might not be intuitive right away. Ie. Changing aperature and ISO in Manual mode, but it is fairly simple to learn. Make sure you play with the custom functions and other menu features as they contain valuable tools to take your best shot.

Battery Life Difference

I experienced about 500-700 shots before recharging my 350D. The manual claims to have the XT beat by about 400 shots. I have been using the LCD a lot to review pictures with the 40D using the RGB/brightness histogram and playing with liveview so I have expericed about 1000 shots per charge.

Initial Difficulties of the 40D

The problems that I had were trying to focus while in Liveview Mode (which as it turns out HAS to be in manual mode (on your lens) UPDATE: or holding the AF-ON for a moment to refocus in AF mode). Navagating a different set of menus and the uniqueness of the new AUTO ISO feature. This feature may seem like a pain in the ass but just make sure to understand that you may need to apply a little noise reduction (Noise Ninja or Noiseware Professional) to the final product. I also noticed that in AV mode the shots came out a little dark at 0 EV, I just set it to +1 and it was fine. I'm sure this will be fixed by the next firmware upgrade.

6.5fps Vs. 3

It sounds like a machine gun is the best way to describe the difference. If you take 6.5fps of people jumping you get more than twice the amount of reactions. I can tell you that if you take the 40D to a sporting event the difference will be 'night and day'.

Overall Impression Difference (Summary)

I'm sure a lot of you have read the specification advantages of the 40D over a Rebel XT but until you pick one up it's tough to actually describe the feeling of going to a 'prosumer' camera. Not only is the 40D easy to use (with reading the manual), but the build, image quality and noise reduction alone should be convincing enough to make the average 350D owner upgrade to the 40D. The liveview feature isn't as useful as they make it out to be; but if you are a macro photographer or do lots of portrait shooting this is a must have feature. The software that comes with the camera also feels a lot more polished than what the XT came with. Also, the 3" LCD is pretty incredible coming from such a small LCD. All in all a great upgrade.