Camera Advice

[jimbeau]

OK, I have (ALMOST) made up my mind which camera to buy. I am sitting on the fence, whether to get the Canon 20d which comes with a 18-55mm kit lens, or go with a less expensive Canon Rebel XT but get a nice 17-85mm lens. The XT is over a hundred dollars less even with the nicer lens.......Anyone have an opinion?

[Hawkfish]

I have both and the 20D is certainly better. You can take great pictures with either camera but if you are into sports photography, the 20D beats the Rebel by a good margin.

[Jeff_edge540]

I have both also. If you REALLY need the features of the 20D (that the XT lacks) then I'd say go with the 20D. Otherwise, it would be wise to buy better glass as bodies will always be upgraded several times over before you invest in a better lens.
Also, I strongly feel the 20D will become obsolete soon when Canon announces it's replacement.
Things I don't like about the 20D (personal opinions):
No LCD on back - this is a real pain when the camera is up high on a tripod. You cannot see your settings. You have to either tilt the camera back to look at the top or look thru the viewfinder.
Small screen & tiny histogram - I expect this body (at it's price point) to have a larger preview screen & since I usually keep the histogram view up I would have really liked to have the histogram over the image in full screen.

As for the 17-85 - I'm not really happy w/ it at 17-20mm. The image sharpness over the outer 50% is very poor. However, I'm not shooting that much in that range. If I need to shoot that wide (rarely) I will grab the 10-22 in my bag.
My 3 most commonly used lenses: 10-22, 17-85, 70-300 IS.

[jimbeau]

Thanks everyone, I think I am no closer to making up my mind

[autochek]

Go with a Nikon D70 or D70s. You will not be dissaspointed.