Canon's new Digital Rebel brings a 12.2MP image sensor and 3" Live View LCD

When it comes to D-SLR cameras, Canon and Nikon are usually the first companies to come to mind. Both companies trade blows back and forth year after year as they release new models with more advanced features.

In late 2006, Canon introduced its Digital Rebel XTi to much fanfare. The XTi brought a 10.1MP image sensor, 2.5" LCD screen and the EOS Integrated Cleaning System (ICS) to the Digital Rebel line.

Today, Canon is going one step further with the Digital Rebel XSi. The XSi brings a new 12.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 3.0" LCD screen with Live View, a 9-point autofocus system, DIGIC III image processor, larger viewfinder, higher-capacity battery and a 3.5 FPS burst mode (53 JPEG or 6 RAW). Canon also made the move to SD/SDHC memory cards with the XSi -- it is the first Canon D-SLR with this capability.



"The EOS 450D bears the fruits of more than 20 years of ongoing investment into EOS," said Canon's Mogens Jensen. "This camera continues Canon’s policy of taking technologies proven in the professional arena and putting them within reach of a wider market of amateur photographers."

The new XSi measures 5.1" x 3.9" x 2.4" and weighs one pound without the battery. Dimensionally, the XSi is slightly larger than its XTi predecessor.

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi will be available soon for $799 in a body-only version. The kit version of the XSi with an 18-55 mm IS lens will cost $899.

Digital Photography Review has a hands-on preview of the Digital Rebel XSi for those who want to take a closer look.

Half a year late with high-capacity notebook drive but still climbing the charts

Seagate's new line of notebook drives has been listed at a number of online retailers for some time but today the number one hard drive manufacturer announced the official launch of its Momentus 5400.4 line of 2.5-inch hard drives.

The Momentus 5400.4 line builds on the Momentus 5400.3 series by not only utilizing platters and heads that support the perpendicular magnetic recording but also by incorporating the SATA 3 GB/sec interface. The 5400.4 series comes in capacities of 120GB, 160GB, 200GB, and the highest capacity in Seagate's notebook drive line of 250GB.

The higher-bandwidth interface makes way for an increase in performance as the 5400.4 line boasts a 58MB/sec sustained transfer rate, a 14MB/sec increase over the Momentus 5400.3's 44MB/sec rate. The Momentus 5400.4 series also improves on the average seek time from 12.5 to under 12 ms but skimps out on the handling of operating shock as it can withstand only 325 Gs, down from the 350 Gs the 5400.3 was able to handle.

Seagate took a back seat on the drive capacity front, however, it continues to top sales charts and it shows as it has climbed to the number two spot in notebook hard drive sales just last year while it maintains the number one spot in hard drive industry overall.

Official pricing on the 250GB model has not been announced, however, many online retailers have listed the ST9250827AS between $170-250.

Source from DailyTech