Good point about Minolta, thanks Jim.

JTF. what camera did you eventually get, we haven't seen any of your photo's yet in the gallery.

Hmmmmm ..... If I was doing it over again, I'd buy it backwards. In other words, I'd ignore the camera side of things and figure out which lenses I was going to buy over the next few years. You will wind up with vastly more money sunk into lenses than the relatively small amount you'll spend on the camera, and your lenses will last you for a long, long time, where you will probably replace the camera with a newer model before too long.

Work out which lenses you want (think a couple of years ahead) and then buy whichever camera will suit them.

I agree with Tannin, start with the lenses and then buy a body to suit.

Without adopting that approach specifically, I realise thats what I've just done. I sold my Film SLR kit (Contax 139/Tamaron 28-80 & 70-210/Vivitar 400) and have been using a Minolta A2 for just over 12 months. That has been a good camera and packs a lot into one package but I've been wanting improved low light focusing accuracy & speed and reduced noise at higher ISOs so I decided DSLR was the way I'd have to go. I looked at the 18-55mm kit lenses supplided with a number of DSLRs and concluded that while I'm not particularly a wildlfe photographer, a) the zoom range would soon leave me wanting more and b) a number of write ups commented on the image quality not being as high as some of the manufactures other lenses.

Admittedly Nikon offer an 18-70 which gets v good write ups from the quality point of view but I was still looking for greater zoom range. Their new 18-200 VR looks quite an attractive proposition but I wonder what the image quality would be like at the extremes on a 10x zoom. This lead me ineviatably to the Canon 17-85 IS as the ideal main lens (for me) with the option of adding the 70-300 IS when funds permit so that the two lenses give a 35mm equivalent range of 28 - 480.

That then reduced the choice to 350D or 20D and while there is about £250/300 difference with the kit lens, with this lens the difference reduced to ~£150. From what I've read there is v little to choose in terms of image quality and I felt that the 20D handled better with this lens and to me, that, and the (slightly) improved speed/feature set, were worth the extra.

It arrived yesterday and tomorrow evening will be the first opportunity to have a real play. Hope the weather improves before then :D

Hi Gidders

So pleased for you, use your new equipment in good health and may you find fair light and weather.
Had a look over your gallery, which already has some great shots in it, and look forward to seeing the photographs from your new outfit.

Cheers

Brian

Congratulations, Gidders! I bought my 20D two weeks ago and so far I'm delighted. It came with a 18-55 zoom and I added the 70-300 zoom. I would love to have a x2 converter and a macro lens but they won't be in the budget for quite a while I'm afraid.

1st results posted in my gallery here

Still getting to grips with all the controls and options, but I just can get over how fast the camera is and the quality of the 17-85 lens is stunning. :D