[tkinnj]

Hi,

I appreciate all of the other posts on camera selection, they've been very helpful. I'm finally upgrading from my 35 mm slr and a point and shoot digital to a dslr. My main issue is low light pictures. I take a lot of pictures at kids events - concerts, plays etc - and am looking for a dSLR that i can count on in an auditorium, without a flash, to take low light shots.

First off, I'm waffling between Nikon and Canon. My investment in existing lenses is small so that's not much of a consideration.

I'm tempted to go the lower end route with either the Nikon D5000/Canon Rebel t1i. From the reviews, the bodies aren't as durable (with kids around, that's always a concern - not that I'm expecting any dSLR to be kid proof) and the ISO levels might not be adequate. I'd hate to pick one of these up and find out halfway through the school year that they're not giving me the quality of picture I'm looking for

I was narrowing my choice to the Nikon D90 but with what I've been reading (pre-release) about the Canon EOS 7D, it may be worth waiting for.

So, not having experience with these cameras, my question to the community is, for good quality low light pictures, what level of dSLR do I really need to look at? The price tags of the lower end models obviously appeals but I'd rather spend the extra bucks for a camera that I'll be happy with for an extended period of time than have to upgrade quickly.

Thanks for your help

Tom