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The new Canon EOS 450D will use SD memory cards instead of the previously preferred CompactFlash, which has been the stalwart of DSLR models for many years. Its nearest DSLR rival, Nikon, dropped CompactFlash in its lower-end models including the D40, D40X and D80 some time ago, also in favour of SD.

Click here to see our video of the Canon 450D in action.

Canon says using the smaller

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SD cards has helped it to shave 3mm off the body design of its new camera. "It obviously helps slimline design," says Malcolm Andre, UK product manager.

But Andre also believes SD support will attract more amateurs to the 450D. "It helps any digital still compact camera owner who has SD in their camera to upgrade to a DSLR," he says. However, with Canon stating that it hopes to woo a number of 350D owners to the new model, those buyers will have to factor the cost of new memory cards into the overall price.

Canon - the world's biggest digital camera maker - hasn't revealed whether it will phase out CompactFlash across its entire line-up, but the decision to drop it from its biggest-selling DSLR range is still a potentially decisive blow for the format.

And with the mobile phone companies leading the push for a new, universal memory card format called Universal Flash Storage, it might not be the last format to fall by the wayside.