they are all good, i prefer the canon line. I have a canon digital rebel XTi. over 10,000 shots with it.
4 lenses in total, including one i modded for extreme macros.

Glass is where you really need to worry about investing, bodies come and go, but glass will last as long as you take good care of it. ultimately though, its not the glass or the camera... it has more to do with the man or woman behind the lens.

I have a great friend who is a pro photographer. i'm sure you have seen some of his work as he pus a lot in magazines. He gives me many great tips except when it comes to macros, he don't do macros. He likes mine.

With digital, you have removed a lot of the expense, and you can concentrate on shooting. afterall with digital, if you make a bad shot, delete and repeat till you get it right if possible.


here is one of my macros shots, i scaled it down about 90%
this aphid is less than a millimeter long.

I was outside in the bright light, stopped at 9, exposure time 1/2 sec, iso 100, partial metering mode, focal length, 2 inches, manual focus. not on a tripod.
the dof is less then 1 mm, so from the top to the bottom he goes out of focus a bit... the stop helps a little, adds about 1/64 of an inch in depth. On the full sized pic, you can count every hair on his body, but i dont think anyone wants me to post a 10 meg shot..lol.

anyway, this is with my custom lens and the above settings.

can i have a borrow !

Lol!

As someone starting out, I had no bias towards Canon or Nikon, but the more I read, the more it seemed you pay for Canon's name but there seems to be more quality (esp. Nikon glass) and mileage with the Nikon brand.

The 500D isn't much different from the 450D (Rebel Xsi) - I personally wouldn't have gone for that as the 450D is fine (my uncle uses it and as a mountaineer and climber it serves him v well) and the differences aren't major. There's no real development.

I ended up narrowing my search to the Canon 50D or Nikon D90, and the D90 won hands down. More for your money etc. I've been very happy with it.

You will always get Canon-lovers and Nikon-lovers but the best thing you can do is your own research and go with your gut instinct...what suits you and your budget. I have a couple of friends who are professional photographers. One uses Canon, the other Nikon...but something clicked for me with the Nikon...

When it comes down to it they're much of a muchness. I do feel like I have a great camera with the D90...I just have to learn to use it properly

Make sure you actually try one, hold one, and see that it 'fits' you...some people need this.

All the best with your search!

Canon Digital Rebels rock like hell.

I used to be a NIKON dude when I did "film". But Nikon was very slow on getting their digital shite together so I switched teams. Now I've used everything from the first digital Rebel (I think it was called a 300 or 350?) up through the 20D, 30D, 40D. Currently 50D as back up, 5D MkII as main. They are superb cameras.

BUT - Nikon has got their shite together now. Their newer cameras are great.

BUT - so are the new SONY cameras. So are the new PENTAX. Yes, even the OLYMPUS rock.

And, as mentioned already, the glass on the front of the camera is at least as important as the camera body itself. Good news: Almost ALL lenses now made are excellent optically. True, the pro level Canon & Nikon lenses are world class, and are tough as hell. But Sigma, Tokina, Tameron make great glass now.

So - what to do? I'll tell ya. Just pick a camera that feels good in your hand, and that you can figure out the menu system in less than 5 minutes. You'll be good to go. THEN: shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot. Go to the library and get as many books on digital photography and photoshop for photographers you can find and read read read. I promise you your choice of camera will NOT hold you back from great shots. Only YOU will hold yourself back. In fact you don't even need an SLR (though i recommend one fer sher) to take great shots. Develope the most important tool you have to take great photos: that gray schtuff that holds your ears apart!

Me- I love my Canons. To me they are the MAC to the NIKON's PC. (my humble opinion). But as is proved here everyday, the end result is NOT product based at the end of the day. It is the person RUNNING THE MACHINE that matters most.

See how I screwed up this Laptop Camera shot?

Shameful!

Okay - I'm handing Blue back his soap box now.

Thanks everybody for sharing your tips and thoughts. I will continue to look around these days before I decide. My focus is on Canon and Nikon. It's true that in the end it all comes down to skills and knowledge but I think a good tool is also important !

My previous cameras are all Canon and maybe therefor I preferer Canon instead of Nikon. Or perhaps it's time to change... we'll see

Thanks

Thats really odd, i've just got hold of a Canon 500D.
It was £650, and so far i'm really pleased with it.
Yesturday i went out to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, it was a reall good day out and they launched 97 balloons around the same time.
The 500D took some really good shots, when i've had the chance to sort through them i'll post some on here.

As for the camera, it has a nice feel to it and is very easy to work your way through the menus.
Its 15 megapixel so images will blow up to a large size with not much loss in quality.
It takes SD memory cards which are alot cheaper than compact flash cards.
I cant praise it enough, you will need to buy a better lens though as the standard canon lens that ccomes with it is only 18 to 55mm, so if you want to zoom in on stuff or take good macro shots another lens will be necessary.

Anything else you would like to know about the camera just ask.

hey SCWIDVICIOUS would you care to show us how you modded a lens? i'm interested....

so you have photoshop and you want to waist your money on a top of the range camera, i feal violated

The problem is that I don't know how to use photoshop
I don't think the camera I'm looking for is top range, more like starter range (slr)

I just bought a 500D.
I spent a long time weighing it against the other cameras from all the different companies and decided on this one. It is a GREAT camera. If you buy it, you won't regret it.

Taken with the 500D:

For the Photowalk I used a Canon 10D.
An old camera, but still good. I love Canon cameras.

But something to keep in mind when it comes to cameras is also do a search for the objectives you plan to use. Do you plan to take portraits? Nature? Macro? What price? Search for reviews on the net. The objective makes all the diffrence.

No point having an exellent camera and a crappy lens, and viceversa.

And learn the camera and camera techniques before starting to shoot. When you have the basic skills start getting creative

Yes - a good camera body with a crappy lens, or worse: a crappy technique, will give you crappy pictures.

Save some bucks for a good lens. I just recommended that a friend get the lower model CANON Rebel and with the difference in money get a good lens. Any camera that has around 8~10megPix will give you a great shot if you have a good lens on the front of the camera.

I am looking for a SLR since last week...my brother and my dad both bought one (Sony Alpha 330) but I want a Canon 500d or Nikon d5000, so I've spend some hours on internet reading these useless forums...bottomline, no one can tell which one is better, it's a personal taste thingy.

Ok, so I did a search on PSC and I'm glad I found this tread...I prefer the Canon one now! Sonic, Jazpur, Reinman, FootFungas, and anyone else who has Canon EOS 500d (Rebel T1i) experience...is it really really good?!? Tell me plz

I like my Canon! Can't give you a comparison since I don't use Nikon. Matter of preference I guess!

Ok thanks CC! I like them Canons too
I just hold one in a store...I think I'm gonna get it!