I'm after a reasonable SLR camera. Budget of $1,000 for everything.

Cris from Plasq says a Canon Rebel Xt and Brian of the world says the NIkon D70s.

What do you think? 

Probably won't get a new one for $A 1K.  Both the Canon and Nikon (d40X, d80 are the newest 'consumer' ones) are about $ A 1400.  Best to buy in the States from bhphotovideo in NYC.  Ship it out of state and there's no sales tax.

You may also want to try ebay, specifically Cameta Camera's store, as they sell factory refurbs.  I got my D70s there last year for $ US 600 with the standard 18-55MM lens, and I've bought an N65 film camera from them as well.  Both indistingisable from new, in function and appearance.  

I bought Nikon as I have a bunch of legacy film lenses I wanted to use, but I think the software from canon is better than nikon's picture project.  I have a canon point and shoot and the software is far superior for downloading from the camera to the PC and basic raw conversions.

Does anyone know if there is a replacement for the Canon 30D coming soon?

Dunno.  Take a look at http://www.dpreview.com and read the boards.  Isn't 10MP enough for you?

well if it is coming out in a few weeks then i might wait

I've not read anything in Shutterbug mag about a new one.  They usually play leapfrog with Nikon, and the D40X (10MP) just came out a while ago.  If a new one does come out, maybe you'll get a deal on the older one.  I paid 600 bucks for a new Nikon D70s with lens after the d80 came out.

I've been advised to get the 400d? Or it's called the Rebel xti in USA.

Def buy in the states.

What lens? Looking for reasonable priced one, maybe with f2.8? 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/category/989/Digital_Photography.html

This looks pretty good;

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/494372-REG/Canon__EOS_Digital_Rebel_XTi.html

Happy to buy lens seperate, although the packaged one with lens is only $60 more. Almost worth getting it just to have.  

You won't find a zoom that fast for reasonable money.  Most medium zooms are f3.5-5.6.  If you want a fast lens, get a dedicated focal length 50MM or 35MM (better on the aps sized sensor). You can find an F2.0 or so in these, but sacrifce the zoom.

Yeah, ok. Fair enough. Might get the package deal and then see what happens after that.

I'm not a pro, so it will probably be ok for me.

Unless I can just get the body and a $200 lens, but I'm not sure how to know if it's better than the package one. 

I'd get the zoom in the package, as it's cheap and very useful.  Besides, a fast lens is not as important when you can boost the "iso" on a digital camera by changing the settings rather than the film.  They usually get noisy over ISO 800 or so, but it's better than no image at all.  DP review probably has a test that will show how noisy the sensor gets for a given ISO.

This lens might be ok;

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/463428-REG/Sigma_581101_18_50mm_f_2_8_EX_DC.html

	View List 14 of 26
Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon Digital EOS

Phonga > 40D is coming soon.

1.6x 10.1M CMOS senor (30D has 1.6x 8.2M CMOS Sensor)
Anti-dust feature New!
2.5 inch LCD (30D has 2.5 inch LCD)
9 focus points (30D has 9 focus points)
5 fps (30D has 5fps)
Compact flash based memory cards (same as 30D).

Mick > Canon 400D + Canon 17-85 IS USM

Add an additional battery, a 2gb CF card and a polarizer filter and you're good for years of photography as a serious amateur

When you want to go to the next step, add a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM and a Flash Canon 580 EX II , it will make you a pro photographer 

btw, this is a must have: Canon 50mm f1.8 II (US$80). 

This is what you can do with the Canon 50mm f1.8 II :

and:

This is what you can do with the Canon 17-85 IS USM :

I want the 50mm 1.8 can't afford it atm though, even though it is pretty cheap!

Wow, awesome feedback Pierre.

Thank you so much. I've built a wish list from your sugguestions.

And amazing photos. That seagull one! Wow. Did you get poop on you? 

 Is there anything cheaper than the 400d but good?

I guess the 350d/rebel xt is one of them. Can get it for $480 at B&H.

Great shots!  You may find the Olympus DSLRs good value.  Their old film SLRs, OM-1, etc were really good.  If you don't have any legacy film lenses you'll want to use, then you can expand your search a bit.

The Canon 17-85 is usm looks great, but I might have to go with the 50mm f1.8 and the packaged lens to start with for budget reasons.

So here are two options.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (a.k.a. 350D) 8.0 Megapixel, SLR, Digital Camera (Black) Kit with Canon 18-55mm EF-S Lens

or

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi (a.k.a. 400D) 1 0.1 Megapixel, SLR, Digital Camera Kit (Black) with Canon 18-55mm EF-S Lens

 So what's the big difference between the 350 and 400D which cost s the $120?

2 MP more, and probably refinements to the firmware over the 350D.  Both are good choices, but I pay the extra 120 buck and get the newer one, if no other reason than it will become obsolete later than the 350D.

400D has a bigger screen, but I have a 350D and it's good enought

The Canon 18-55mm EF-S is really crappy. But I think it costs about us$70 so for this price... Will make a good lens to take in "unstable" environments (like party, where you don't want to crash your us$1000 lens)

Hmm, ok, I guess that's why they 'give' it away.

Is there a good lens in the $200 range? 

depends on what size

Both Nikon and Canon virtually give away the 'normal' lens.  For my old N80 film camera, I bought a Tamron 28-200MM super zoom.  There are equivalents for the APS sensor DSLRs, you may want to get one with the 400D body and be done with it.  Downsides are that they're heavy, and a bit soft if not stopped down a bit, but the convenience of a large zoom range is great, and less worry about dust on the sensor as you'll not need to change lenses that much.

Here's a good list of advantages of 400d over 350d;

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/ 

• 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor with improved microlens array, fill factor and lower noise
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
  • Anti-static coatings on sensor surfaces plus anti-dust materials in the camera body
  • Separate low pass filter with ultra-sonic vibration
  • Software based dust mapping / removal
• Nine point Auto Focus sensor (same as EOS 30D) with F2.8 support
• Continuous shooting burst up to 27 JPEG and 10 RAW images
• Single large, bright, 2.5" LCD monitor with 160° viewing angles (horizontal and vertical)
• Camera settings and adjustment on LCD monitor
• Proximity sensor below viewfinder eyepiece to disable the LCD during composition
• New viewfinder view includes 9 AF points as well as EOS 30D style status bar
• Picture Styles, larger range of image parameter adjustment (same as EOS 30D)
• Improved user interface
• Image magnification available in record review
• Histogram available as brightness (Luminance) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
• Three settings for long exposure noise reduction (adds Auto option)
• Auto rotation with three options (not recorded, record don't rotate, record and rotate)
• Additional custom functions (magnified view in record review, LCD display at power on)
• Up to 9999 images per folder on storage card
• Automatic storage of setting adjustments (no longer requires a press of the SET button)
• Improved print / share / direct print features
• Lower introductory list price ($100 lower)

those improvements are good but not crucial.

10.1 MP is bad. Means less pics in the card, more space for storage, more ressources for postprocessing. And you will probalby never print a A2+ size of your pics with photo quality anyway...

The best improvement IMHO is the 9AF focus. Next would be the dust removal, and the 2.5" screen.

btw, if you buy at BH NY you will have to pay the NY taxes. Then you can maybe claim them back at the airport.

The other solution is to buy over internet (then you don't pay NY taxes, but you will probably pay the GST), but with australia you can only do that if you have a Master Card (Visa aren't accepted with Australia (I tried lol)). 

Better compromise: State taxes are levied if delivery is taken in the same state the vendor is in, or if the vendor has a physical presence in the state delivery is taken in.  Beat the 8%+ NY Sales tax by shipping the camera to California when you are there.  You'll pay shipping, of course, but it avoids the taxes and if the package is high value/low weight you'll save a bunch of $$$. 

You can not claim back state sales tax at any international departure point that I'm aware of, unlike Aus, CDN or Europe.  We want to keep your taxes.  Welcome to America! 

ha ha good to know!

My first pics with my new camera. Thanks for all your advice everyone.

Looks great!

Some more new pics;

Notice the spider web in this one...

The TechCrunch Cauldron

Yahoo Touchdown with Mark in the background

Is the ball supposed to be purple?

Pierre, I followed your advice too closely. I bought a 67mm filter, not a 58mm filter to match my lens.

I

Am

Doofus!

loool

My first decent portrait;

Oh! Beautiful!!

pfff... so much easier when you have a wife to torture... My flatmates are so tired of me and my camera... lol Must get a girl friend...

btw, canon 50mm I believe Gives nice DoF.

40D specs have been released:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082010canoneos40d.asp#specs

...and it's all good!

Taken with a Nikon D40