the Nikon and Canon are both fine examples of a DSLR, but dont limit yourself to just those two brands. The following also make DSLRs which are well worth a look:

Pentax (my personal favourite, lovely big bright viewfinders and the K100D has anti shake with all lenses)

Samsung (actually re-badged Pentaxs)

Sony (They bought Minolta, the new A100 looks something special. Has Anti shake with all lenses)

Olympus (the lenses get very good reviews, and they shake dust off their sensors rather well, though the smaller sensor makes them susceptible to noise).

Sigma also make DSLRs but Id stay clear. They look plastic, their performance in low light is abysmal and only Sigma make lenses for them whereas everyone else has at least some 3rd party lens maker support (including most of the Sigma range!)

The Sony may be out of your price range, but the Pentax may fit your bill nicely. Its more or less the same size as the 350D and IMO the erganomics are better. Its probably best to find a camera shop which stocks the lot (Jessops are quite good for this though I wouldnt buy from them if I were you, their warrenty support is terrible). Then you can hold the different models on offer and maybe take some test shots to see which one you like best.

All are capable of great things so you wont be disapointed whichever you get......unless you get a Sigma and try to do astrophotography, then youll be very disapointed indeed.

Jessops generally have a display model of each which theyll get out of the case for you to play with. If youre really lucky the battery will be charged and you get to see it working, but at the least you should be able to hold it and see how it feels.

Remember, these people are looking to make a multi-hundred £ sale, they are surprisingly willing to let you do more or less what you like if they think you might buy.

I ended up buying mine from Jessops, which was a mistake. It went in for a repair under warenty about 6 weeks ago, they kept it for 4 weeks, changed a few settings which had nothing to do with the problem and gave it back unrepared without a word. They basically played with my camera for 4 weeks and did nothing to it. Not ammused

Im afraid Im not sure about good places to buy online though.

They are both reasonable cameras, the Canon has better pixel numbers while the Nikon has the edge in the standard lens department. My brother ended up buying the Canon and a very nice camera it is.

One issue with digital SLRs though, they can get dust inside and if it lands on the sensor you could end up with problems. A recent trial in a magazine made it clear that a vibrating sensor may not be enough to clean off dust.

If the dust is able to get there, is there no way of getting it out or blowing it out or something?

Atleast Ive narrowed it down to the Nikon, the Canon or the Pentax


Any word on the different lenses, etc?

Serious is once again scaremongering.

Dust removal is a piece of piss. You use either a nice air brush (fine brush with a squeezy bulb), or you can use various other items like "sensorwands" (google it ).

Hell if you cant be arsed with all of that, just take it into a camera shop once every 6 months or so and get them to give it a go.

Dust only gets in there normally if you change lenses every 5 seconds, so professional photographer... yes... will end up cleaning the CCD every 6 to 8 weeks maybe more. Guy who has a 70-200 lens who just wanders around taking shots of landscapes, some "friend" shots, and is messing around with a camera, not so much.

1. he wont change lenses anywhere near as often
2. dust particles on the picture will only really bother him after it is reallly dusty and in fact with a little photoshopping you can get away without cleaning it for aaaaaaggeesss.

Put things into perspective.

My mate bought a 350D over a year ago now I believe, hes not cleaned it once.

Oh... and after seeing the costs associated with owning a dSLR, I would go for the olympus, more bang for the buck. and lenses appear to be cheaper also.

Same mate above has paid more in lens costs than he has for his camera.

1 x 50 prime
1 x 30-85
1 x 70-300
1 x macro doohicky that I cant remember what the hell it was, think it was an F1.8 at least.

Add to that his slave flash unit system, his tripod, his cleaning kit that he has yet to use.

Quote from: jamieL

If the dust is able to get there, is there no way of getting it out or blowing it out or something?

Atleast Ive narrowed it down to the Nikon, the Canon or the Pentax


Any word on the different lenses, etc?

Serious is once again scaremongering.

Obviously you are just being provocative. When they tested this - and Im talking about professionals - they found that in some cases the dust was *impossible* to remove using normally available techniques like blowers..

There are a lot of great cameras you can get for the £500-£600 mark these days. My advice would be to look at the available lens selection as well as what the body offers. If youre not going to use just the kit lens, then you need to know what your lens upgrade path will be in advance  

Thing is though, Im looking at the lenses and not knowing what I need.. Id like them all if I could! I have to keep the budget of the body with 1 lens strictly below 500. Just bought a car so Ive got all the costs of that.. Then I can buy another lens at a later date.

In that case then I suggest a small telephoto lens camera bundle. Being stuck with a lens that has only one trick is a pain in the arse, you will however want more zoom so will end up spending a nice amount of money on another lens soon after.

A dSLR doesnt just stop at the purchase of the body, like I said, mateybob of mine has paid more than the camera itself to get his lenses. They are the price of a compact digital camera pretty much.