I think photography is more an obsession than hobby, it's certainly all consuming......must improve, must try this, must try that... You know what I mean, I'm sure. But!! I read in digital photo mag this month a so called head to head thingy they had, and it was comparing entry level DSLRs against the top of the range jobs. I was somewhat surprised at the summary with regards to image quality. According to the wizard doing the test there was not too much difference in the image quality. I was assuming that the top model would give far superior results, but apparently not. Just a thought before you take the plunge. A good lens on the other hand..................

Dean.

Yes but it's the ability of cameras to take things more easily and quickly as you go up the range, that can make all the difference. Why only today I managed at least 30 rubbish low light shots of Greylag geese landing at 6fps with my 40D - with a lesser camera it would have been more like 15 at 3fps for me to delete!:D :rolleyes:

I suspect you need an across-the-board test rig, ie camera, lens of equivalent quality, prints at A2 or larger & of course most on-line things do not show tests on reasonable size images (imaging-resource being a notable exception). Its certainly a waste of time having expensive lens on entry-level camera to print A4s, my 350D with the kit lens is fine for that.

As for the frames/sec thing, if you are going to compare 40 rapid takes of basically the same thing to find the best, then you need a really fast computer and fancy software to make it worth it

hence my ledge half-way-down-the-cliff analogy

Welcome to the club Chris, It's been my obsession for 50 years, mind you I did start young :)

My only regret is that digital wasn't around when I first started, all those 100s of lonely nights in a darkroom, Far better sat in front of a PC with photoshop

Can be quite an annoying obsession!!!.Several years ago,I was happy just trundling around with a pair of binoculars,bird watching(NOT twitching or ticking!!!!) but now I fell compelled to try for a reasonable shot of the bird(s) I have seen,and feel the day has not been successful unless I have at least one decent shot.I have spent several sessions during the last 4 days,trying for a shot of a Grey Wagtail.He is there in the river,but as soon as the lens rests on the harbour wall,off he goes.But that is the fun of photography,esp wildlife ,makes the moment memorable when does manage the elusive shot,a great feeling.

Well I made £40 off of 11 jpegs on a disc last night... that could become quite an obbsession.

Hobby was before obsession and involved spending lots of cash on different cameras as I climbed the ladder towards my hearts desire, and that is now obsolete.

Obsession was forming and running a works Photographic Club.
Obsession was doing the works photography as well as my normal day job. Money made here funded polaroid film for club use in my Bronica.
Obsession was processing 30+ Cibachrome prints a night to meet a publicity deadline ( 3 am finish was nothing unusual ) and all done in a bit of capped drainpipe and rolled on a bench. ( could not afford a Jobo unit ).

That obsession led me to taking up model engineering as a hobby to give myself a break. Power on and I was away, power off and go to bed. Clean up tomorrow ......... very attractive.

Now photography is just a hobby, and being digital I don't have to spend ages mixing chemicals, worrying about temperature control, or spending time at the sink washing out a drum after each print.
Press a button and the darkroom is live, switch off and its done.

Chris, Well done on the HC, and on the subject of kit I would strongly agree with Duncans post.

Don