EOS 30D Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f 3.5-5.6 Lens

Pros: Durable, easy to use

Cons: Screen can be misleading

Summary: I wanted to give it an 8.5 but apparently it is not allowed and I am not really bothered by the 9. I lke the camera a lot.

I won't repeat the specs you can read them yourself. Suffice it to say that I have had this camera for almost a year and I am very pleased with it. For me the competiton was the Nikon D200. Nothing against the Nikon but this seemed to present me with the best value option.

PROS: I highly recommend this camera especially today as prices are dropping and you can get one for less than I paid a year ago. Without repeating the specs it pretty much does what it says.

CONS: I have noted that the on-board screen can be misleading both in terms of the picture looking better or worse than you think by looking at the camera screen. I try not to delete any pictures uless I can really see that I got absolutely nothing of value. I have gotten home and found some great shots embedded in what appeared on screen to be a very under exposed pictures. This has caused me to pay more attention to and learn how to use the histogram. I also tend to shoot additional pictures even when I think I have a good shot based on the scren view.

I have shot under all kinds of conditions and packed it with me on numerious trips (Bahamas, San Francisco, and just returned from South Africa) and still pleased. I did not buy the stock lens...I went for the 17 to 85mm which is what I mostly use. I have also purchased a 300mm zoom, and 2x extender, a wide angle, and some other goodies. Digital makes life much easier (shot 2600 shots in South Africa) but it does not make you a better photographer unless you still learn some basics and take a lot of shots and critique your results to understand why things don't always come out as intended.

Lastly unless you are really into photography you may want to go with a Rebel or one of the lesser Canon DSLR (or a lesser Nikon than the D200). There are a lot of features in this camera that will go unused if you don't study and practice with the camera. This is just my opinion and I offer it to save you money. Match your "real" intended use to your purchase and save some of your moeny to buy other great tech toys. Good luck and good shooting!