CANON 450D
£670 with EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (£600 body only)

Handling & ease of use:
The EOS 450D retains the light weight and compact dimensions of previous generations of EOS models in this price sector, but feels more solid and less plasticky, thanks to its rounded body and rubberised handgrip and rear thumbrest. It is very comfortable to hold and provides a very secure grip, and as you’ll discover as you start to use the camera, the buttons are nicely positioned for fast access. Getting used to the controls takes very little time at all, in fact, the EOS 450D ranks as one of the most intuitive DSLRs to use. Small tweaks like placing the metering pattern selector and drive functions on the four-way control help speed up use, as does the ISO button on the top-plate. All little things, but along with a couple of other minor refinements, adding up to a much improved ease of use and speed of operation. The rear of the camera is dominated by the 3in LCD, which extends literally half the width of the camera, making it far easier to use the menu navigation system, but also very useful when reviewing images, histograms and when magnifying sections to check sharpness. The EOS 450D offers an improved Live View system that works with AF as well as manual focus, but it falls well short of the Sony Alpha 350. The viewfinder is much the norm at this price, in other words bigger would be better, but it’s adequate for most, providing a sharp, clear image. The screen displays markings (which illuminate when activated) for the AF points, as well as a central circle for the Partial metering zone. Along the base is the exposure information and scale, which is fairly basic by today’s standards. Behind the rubber hood lies a dioptric correction dial, while below the window is a sensor that switches the LCD monitor off when it detects that someone is looking through the viewfinder.

Features:
The EOS 450D offers the highest resolution of any Canon consumer model, with its APS-C sensor housing 12.2 million pixels (the EOS 400D has 10.1-megapixels). This places it ahead of Nikon’s D60 in the resolution stakes but behind a few other main rivals, including the Pentax K20D and Sony Alpha 350. The autofocus system is based around its tried and tested nine-point diamond array, with the option to leave all active or select individual points to use. Three modes are available - One Shot to lock AF on a subject; AI Servo for tracking moving subjects and AI Focus, which is a blend of both, locking AF, then tracking if the subject moves.
The metering system is very comprehensive with no less than four patterns to choose from. As well as the highly-rated 35-zone Evaluative pattern, there is a choice of Partial and Spot meters, as well as centre-weighted average. The integral flash has a decent Guide Number of 13 (ISO 100, m) and coverage for lenses as wide as 17mm (35mm equivalent of 27mm). 
There are plenty of creative options too. It uses E-TTL metering for accurate exposures, with first or second-curtain synchronisation and flash compensation for when you want to balance ambient and flash exposures. These options are available with compatible external flashguns fitted to the dedicated hotshoe. Those wishing to experiment with in-camera digital techniques may want to look at the Picture Styles options, for changing image parameters such as colour saturation, or setting the camera to shoot in monochrome etc. The EOS 350D sports a dust removal system, 13 Custom functions and depth-of-field preview, but there is no PC socket for studio-flash. It can be fired remotely via infrared or an electronic remote, while an additional grip is also available. Overall, the EOS 450D provides an up-to-date specification, without offering anything revolutionary.

Performance:
In terms of general performance, it's very difficult to fault the Canon, as it works so well in all of the main   departments. Handling has already been covered, but it's worth  repeating that despite its small size, it does feel more solid and hard-wearing than the EOS 400D. The autofocus system works extremely well and you're pretty much guaranteed that the AF will quickly lock on to the subject in almost all conditions and proved particularly good at close-ups with the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. In low light, a strobe AF assist beam is automatically activated, but its effect can be uncomfortable for night portraits, so you may want to switch it off when shooting people. The Evaluative metering system is also very reliable and apart from underexposure with backlit subjects (something virtually all cameras have problems with), the EOS 450D provides consistent results. Having the choice of Partial and spot metering as a back-up is good, although I do wonder if both selective patterns are required or if just spot would be enough for most people's needs. The flash system works well too at delivering accurate and exposures and decent fill-in.
Image quality proves to be very good, with the new 18-55mm and 55-250mm image stabilised lenses delivering decent results, while the 60mm macro lens really delivers prime sharpness. The Auto White Balance does a fair job at delivering natural colours, but as always, using the presets give a slightly better result. Used correctly, it gives very good colour and tonal reproduction, with skin tones looking very smooth and natural. Noise too is handled well and you can use it up to ISO 1000 without any drastic loss in quality.


PENTAX K20D
£1,050 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (£900 body only)
Handling & ease of use:
It isn’t surprising to see the latest Pentax following the style and build of its older cousin, the K10D, which received plenty of praise for build quality and handling. The K20D looks like a very serious bit of kit and feels very robust and expensive. It’s larger than the Canon and heavier, but is equally comfortable and balanced to hold, thanks in particular to how the right hand curves naturally around the nicely shaped grip. It’s designed to be very well protected from the elements too, with 72 seals on the camera body and 38 on the battery grip. The camera’s top-plate layout has a very traditional look, with the exposure mode dial (and metering switch) on the left and small LCD info panel on the right. Virtually all the other main controls are found on the back of the camera, around the large 2.7in LCD monitor. On the left of the LCD are controls used for accessing and using the on-screen functions, while on the right are buttons for selecting the main camera functions. The controls aren’t as intuitive as the system used on the Canon and although it won’t take too long to work out where the main functions are, I think that more could have been done to improve ease of use. In particular, the visuals used by the on-screen menu system could do with brushing up to make them a little more user-friendly. The viewfinder is good – it’s slightly larger than the Canon but a little dimmer too. Black lines mark out the area covered by the AF points, which illuminate red when activated and a central area indicate the spot metering zone. I like the way that Pentax has placed the depth-of-field preview on the dial around the shutter button, and this system can be set to select Live View instead, or to provide a digital preview of the image to check exposure and focus before firing.

Features:
The biggest selling point of the K20D will no doubt be its 14.6-million pixel resolution, which is the highest of any consumer-level DSLR (until its near-identical twin, the Samsung GX-20, hits the shops). Pentax has done away with the subject-based program modes and concentrated on providing the core four creative modes, as well as a Full auto green mode, an ‘X-sync’ for studio-flash and its Sv and TAv modes, which adjusts the ISO setting, rather than aperture or shutter speed, when shooting. The three metering patterns (16-segment, spot and centre-weighted) should cover most shooting conditions with plenty of overrides to choose from too. The autofocus system uses 11-AF points that cover a very wide area at the centre of the frame and can be engaged simultaneously or individually selected by the photographer. The integral flash has the same power as the Canon (GN:13) and very similar coverage (18mm). There is no shortage of flash modes, which include first or second-curtain sync, red-eye reduction and Wireless flash, with the option to use one from the large number of Pentax dedicated flashguns. As with the Canon, there is a dust reduction system, but what it has that the Canon lacks is a body-integral Shake Reduction system that can be used with any lens. It also incorporates a feature called Dynamic Range Enlargement (DRE), which looks to widens the dynamic range of images by one stop. As with the Canon, the image settings can be changed to boost colour saturation, contrast etc and there is a choice of digital filters, which can be applied to images (JPEGs) already shot on the camera. Unlike the Canon, the K20D sports a PC socket for direct connection to studio-flash, while there is another socket for fitting a corded remote release. Finally, the bracketing facility can be set to bracket contrast, colour, WB and more, as well as the more common exposure bracketing.

Performance: 
As someone who grew up using 35mm SLRs, it was easy to find my way around the Pentax's main controls, as they follow a very traditional design. However, once you get down to the various menus and sub-menus, it does become a little more fiddly than some to use and did lessen my enjoyment with the camera a little.
The Pentax proves to be a very capable camera with the autofocus system zipping into focus and locking on well in daylight and in low light. It's not as quiet as the Canon, which is near-silent, but isn't much slower. The metering system also does a good job for general scenes. As you'd expect, it does underexpose with backlit subjects, but I did find that landscapes sometimes appeared around a half-stop underexposed if a third or more of the frame had sky. While this is a situation where care needs to be taken of the brighter sky, using the Canon for the same scene gave a correct exposure. The integral flash system delivers good exposures, both as the main light source or as a fill-in. Image quality is very good and the higher resolution means that you've larger files to print or crop from. As with the Canon, the Pentax 18-55mm and 50-200mm lenses deliver good detail but it's the prime 50mm macro lens that shows off sharpness. Colours are very well reproduced in AWB and are far more saturated than the Canon, making landscapes appear lush green and skies a deeper blue. Where image quality starts to struggle compared to the Canon and other rivals is with high ISO settings. From ISO 800 and above, noise becomes progressively more evident and don't quite match its rivals.

TEST VERDICT
Although these two cameras are aimed at a similar level of photographer, they are quite different in terms of size and handling, as well as in terms of features. Canon has produced a DSLR that has the small, lightweight design ethos of the EOS 400D, but with a solid feel that has more in common with the EOS 40D. Its specification sits somewhere in-between too. Pentax has kept to the larger, more robust shell that made the K10D so popular and liked, but bolstered it with a much higher resolution as well as a number of other improvements. Both deliver very good quality images, with the Pentax offering a higher pixel count and the body-integral Shake reduction, while the Canon has the edge in terms of ease of use and overall performance. Overall, the price difference is too great to be ignored and the Canon EOS 450D offers a very capable cut-price option over the Pentax (and its own stablemate, the EOS 40D for that matter). While both SLRs on test offer plenty of creative options, the EOS 450D's price tag makes it a far more tempting option.

CANON EOS 450D
Handling & Ease of use: 23/25
Features: 22/25
Performance: 23/25
Value for money: 22/25
FINAL SCORE: 90/100

PENTAX K20D
Handling & Ease of use: 22/25
Features: 23/25
Performance: 22/25
Value for money: 20/25
FINAL SCORE: 87/100