XSi vs. 40D- Which to Buy

[UCSD_SF]

I have never owned a DSLR before, however I'm heading off to Africa for two months, followed by a trip to Amsterdam for 2 weeks, and I dont think that my SD890 is enough to capture all of the things that I am going to see on this trip. In particular I am most concerned about being able to capture animal shots and large landscape photos. The 40D has the higher ISO (3200 vs. 1600) and for most of the animal shots will be taken in low light, and will be action shots, which the benefit of that higher ISO might come into play. That being said, i am a college student, and I am spending enough money on this trip, and I don't really want to spend the extra couple of hundred on the 40D, but if you all think that its going to perform much better than the XSi for what i want to do, then I would be willing to invest the extra money.

So any recommendations that you guys could give me would be very appreciated.

[pwstegeman]

UCSD,

I would consider a couple more things. The 40D has a metal body, so it will be more sturdy and a better stable platform for long lenses

Also, look at burst rate since you will be taking action shots. The 40D has 6.5fps vs 3.5fps for the XSi

And remember you get what you pay for. Both are great cameras, but if you can squeeze your student budget a bit, the 40D is the way to go,IMHO.

[SMcEvoy]

I agree with pwstegeman about those considerations, but the big thing to consider on a trip to Africa is the lens. If you're shooting wildlife, you're probably going to want at least 300mm e.g a 70-300 or similar so allow room for that in the budget. An 18-200 will work for many scenarios, but you won't get the real zoom in's.

[stevod]

Sure the 40D is better, but I'd be inclined to agree with the idea of going with the cheaper body and spending more on glass. I think you'll probably get more benefit our of that.

Cheers,

S

[Buddy4344]

I just went through this with my son. We went for a used 40D which I was able to pick up for $670. Normally, I would argue to go for the lower quality body and put some money into lenses. I took some great and memorable shots with my original Digital Rebel (300D), so I no those bodies can deliver; however, when I shot in Africa, I shot early morning and late afternoon, so being able to shoot fairly high shutter speeds at higher ISO is handy. I know folks talk about 1600 and 3200 ISO shooting, but what I needed in Africa was only 800 to 1000 ISO, but my earlier model Canon couldn't do that without high noise.