A new Canon SLR is enough to initiate orgasmic ripples throughout the camera community. Of course, along with all that hype comes the pressure to deliver - and that's not something Canon has had much trouble with in the past. Sitting just above the bottom-rung 4000, the 4500 bumps the resolution up to 12 megapixels, throws in a class-leading 3in LCD, whacks the continuous shooting speed up to an impressive 3.5fps and adds Live View for framing shots on the LCD. The only obvious omission is an image stabiliser, with a stabilised kit lens having to provide the steadying prowess.

Firstly, Canon's done a great job making this both an enthusiast's camera and not overly complicated. The combination of dedicated buttons for certain functions and a really clear info display on that huge LCD is a treat and makes the picture-taking process intuitive.

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The image quality is best described as accurate rather than inspiring a tremendous tonal range is captured, with a look that's very true to life. If you like really saturated, hyper-real blues and greens, the Nikon does that better, but the Canon gives you crisp, finely detailed reality - and there's nothing to stop you boosting those colours in Photoshop later.