I wouldnt say less quality, the 550D is a great piece of kit for sure.

I just think glass is more important than the body.

The difference in IQ/creative control going from a 18-55mm to a 50mm f/1.8 is astounding.

You can also reverse a 50mm (using an adapter) to get some crazy macro performance !

Hmm. Im still undecided (sorry!)...what will get more use 40d/550d, considering Im pretty much a nature photographer...sure more fps is great n all, but I never really had much issue with the 3.x of the 400d. 40D is bigger and heavier, not so good for carrying up a hill/mountain (but still doable).

I have small hands so the size of the body isnt much of a biggy. Im swayed by the HD video, but ultimately I dont see myself taking videos anyway so I dont get why Im that bothered by it! Biggest thing is the MP I think. 400D-40D is just a bit of an upgrade in terms of quality and functions it seems as otherwise it matches the 400D (sort of). Im guessing the 550D will be a bit noisier...but surely as its higher res if the image is resized down it wont be as noticeable? Such a dilemma! I guess if I got a 40D or similar and a 50mm lens, hopefully shutterstock and the likes will give it a rest on the noise front, and from the riches I make from the stock (HAH!) I can eventually upgrade to a 7D when Im 70.

Hmm. Im still undecided (sorry!)...what will get more use 40d/550d, considering Im pretty much a nature photographer...sure more fps is great n all, but I never really had much issue with the 3.x of the 400d. 40D is bigger and heavier, not so good for carrying up a hill/mountain (but still doable).

Cameras dont weigh much at all though so I wouldnt worry about carrying one up a hill even with a few big lenses etc...

the fps is perhaps useful if you want to capture birds in flight etc... or indeed anything that will move fast/suddenly - I guess it depends what sort of nature photography youre going to be into - I guess if you just want to do macro pics etc.. then perhaps a 550d will be better.

then again, given the price the 550d is currently at perhaps the 60D (when it comes out in a couple of months) could be a viable option.

The 40D is very well built but it has one little problem. The Card slot pins are vulnerable to damage when inserting a card. Check the card slot, especially the pins. Shine a torch in and make sure they are all undamaged.

Will hopefully have a 16gb card in there providing the write times arent *too* slow. When I bring a tray of insects back to photograph each insect might need 20 photos taking for a stack and each tray might have a few dozen specimens, would be handy not having to transfer photos etc. I read that a 4gb card for raw images would take about 250 photos.

Id agree with you tbh, Ive only ever "run out of film" a few times. Its sounds obvious, but the only times you tend to run out of memory are the times you dont want to run out of memory...I mean its not very often youre messing about at home or something and taking a few hundred shots and then cant instantly upload...its another matter though when youre out and about doing wildlife or something...even then 9/10 you dont see much, but the other 1/10 times the only thing that makes you stop shooting is the last picture on the last memory card. When I went out dragonfly shooting last year this happened. This year with Binary I was a bit more reserved

Yeah, the problem is being tethered via usb cable. At home my desk is too small & cluttered to have samples, microscope and a laptop next to it. Uni itd be doable but Id be doing it on a netbook and would still end up needing to transfer from that to a PC for proper editing

The workflow for a camera and a remote is also much easier. 1 hand on fine focus and the other on the remote, twiddle the focus by a mm or 2 and press shutter button and repeat, rather than having to use a mouse or press a key on a keyboard.

It could be useful for stopmotion though