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Message: <blockquote data-quote="stu78" data-source="post: 1599612" data-attributes="member: 26729">If you can get a second hand 40D for a similar price to a new 450D, I would definitely go for the former. I have a 400D and a 50D and I would say that the biggest difference between the two series of cameras is how quickly you can change camera settings. The 50D is just a much better designed camera. The wheel thing on the back of the xxD series enables you to change exposure compensation very easily, which I find invaluable.  Also the 40D has 3 customisable settings which you can quickly select with the dial. This is incredibly useful for when something good flies overhead. With the xxxD series it is generally very tricky to quickly alter settings and I can't tell you how many Harrier and Falcon BIF shots I missed with my 400D due to not being able to change aperture, AF mode, exposure compensation and focus point selection quickly enough. With the 40D you can select your preset Bird-in-flight setting in a split second and shoot away!The 400D is a great camera but for wildlife photography, when you frequently do not have much time to get the shot, the 40D or 50D are certainly superior cameras. Plus of course 6.5 Frames a second is far better than 3.5 FPS for flight shots!</blockquote>