I have a Nikon Coolpix and the Canon 350D. One thing that strikes me is the cost of Accessories. Canon appear to be far cheaper, e.g. the remote release for the Canon is around £20 (wired or cordless) whereas the Nikon is over £100. Canon Converters are also a lot cheaper. Re the size of the 350D, I have never found it a problem but for anyone that does there is always the optional battery grip.

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time and trouble to give advice and information. I'll have to get to the shops and try the D50 and Canon 350D. Having been a Nikon slr user from day one I am very tempted to buy the D50 body and use my SLR lenses on it for starters. However having used my wife's Canon EOS bodies and lenses I have been equally impressed with these. Decisions!!!

Once again many thanks to all.

Roy

The Nikon Wireless remote for the D50 and D70 is £14.99. TC's are more expensive with Nikon... but the Kenko Pro 300 series will be the best bet for Canon or Nikon users wanting extra reach anyway.

If there are already both systems in the house it's probably time to decide which to go for - if you both use the same (Nikon or Canon) then all of your lenses will be interchangeable. When I went over to dslr one of the things that swung me to Canon was the fact that birding friends were already using the EOS system - now when out we can use eachothers lenses and tc's.

Being smaller and more lightweight is something that attracted me to the 350d. Being female and also a sufferer of fibromialgia weight is a big issue with me. I have used both the 350d and the 20d and the 20d is just too bulky. The lightweightness of the 350d also offsets the extra weight of the bigger lenses
The only complaint I have with the 350d is that you often set off the self timer with your nose and can sometimes miss a shot as a result.

I was thinking about the MC-EU1 remote for my cp4500 which was £100+.
Not sure of the price of the Kenko Pro but I recently bought the Canon 1.4 tc for less than £160 (includes £35 voucher rebate).

You can get a Kenko Pro300 for £99 in the U.K. Must admit you did exceptionally well to get a Canon 1.4x EF II for under £200 in the U.K.

Was pretty lucky with the Canon 1.4tc. Bought it from 7 day shop for £194 a few days before Canon 'pulled the plug'. I had read that Canon would not pay rebates for goods purchased from 7 day shop but I figured there was nothing to lose by trying - I recieved the £35 rebate in under 2 weeks.

I am in the same boat I bought my Canon 1.4tc beginning of August from 7Dayshop but have only just acquired a voucher. Do you think it is worth sending it off now ?

Rob

You can get a small accessory (EP-EX15) that fits onto the back of the camera - an eyepeice extender - it moves the viewfinder about 15mm away from the back of the camera. A very simple, yet very useful little add-on.