I'm in a budget and I'm hunting for a Digi camera SLR. The camera needs to be on the range of 600 to 800 dollars.

So far Ive chosen the Canon Digital Rebel XT. Is there something better for my budget?

 

the canon rebel xt is probably the best camera out there for your price range. the only other camera i would consider is the nikon D50. the D50 only has 6.1 megapixel compared with the rebel xt's 8.0 megapixel. but the thing i prefer of the D50 over the rebel xt is that the D50 is a full sized SLR camera whereas the rebel xt is somewhat more compact in size. some people like the smaller size, but others like myself find the rebel xt to feel too much like a toy. anyway, if you can get pass the more compact design of the rebel xt, then the rebel xt is an excellent camera which i would recommend over all other cameras in that price range. another thing to take into consideration is that the canon 20D is soon to be discontinued and replaced with the 30D, so you might find the prices of the 20D to drop a few hundred dollars, probably possibly even close to your price range. the 20D is the next step up in canon's line of DSLRs.

 

Your price range is the bargain basement of dSLR's. You didn't mention if your budget includes a lens. If so I think you're stuck with the D50 but that and the XT are all you'll find new at that price. If I were you I'd consider looking for a used D70 or 20D on ebay.

At the bottom end, Nikon's D70 kit lens (used to be a $300 adder to the D70 base price) kicks Canon's kit lens offering to the curb. The newer D50 kit lenses are not quite as good, call 'em equal to the XT's.

 

Check out www.stevesdigicams.com and www.dpreview.com

You can check the latest and greatest on both sites.

 

imo, if you're an amateur photographer, getting a 20D or D70, as opposed to a rebel xt or D50, will not help you to take better pictures. the entry level DSLRs have plenty of potential for even a moderate skilled photographer to take good photos. the $400 you save from getting a rebel xt instead of a 20D can be applied to some decent lenses.

 

I went the prosumer high zoom route for now. I was considering the REbel but figured I need to improve my photography skills first. By then the price level for DSLRs should lower even further. I got a great deal on a 10x optical s5200 for only $230. The only downside was it uses xD cards (which I hate). But at 230 bucks I couldn't pass up.

 

Im going to go for the D50, any special lens or should i just get what the camera comes with?

 

See http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/NikonD50v...XT_images.shtml for one direct comparison.

 

just get the body, and do some research on lenses to see which ones suit you best and buy them seperately.

 

Which one you guys think is a better camera, the Rebel XT from Canon or the D50 from Nikon?

I really like the D70 because of the white balance fine tuning but my budget cant get me there.