If you had a thousand dollars

[jack russell]

Would you go with a T1i kit or D5000? I'm getting ready to jump from my SX10 P&S and need some swaying ..

[Photoboothguy]

I personally have the T1i and love it. The differences between the T1i and the 50D are incredibly small, and the T1i actually has a few more features (for far less money). I think I snagged my kit for about $700 on e-bay.

Nikon is good as well, and usually does better with high ISO than Canon (until you get in the $2500 range). My advice is to go to Best Buy (or other camera store) and play with both. You can't go wrong with either, but a lot of people say they like the "feel" of one versus the other. Pick the one that feels comfortable to you.

Another thing to consider is what your friends are using. It makes it easier to borrow gear if they're using the same thing

[i speak in math]

I wouldn't go with either of those awful cameras

[Photoboothguy]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

I wouldn't go with either of those awful cameras

Yay! Flamebait!

There is a small minority of Pentax, Olympus, and Sony users. I don't know much about Oly or Sony (I tend to stay far away from Sony products), but Pentax makes a pretty nice camera. My friend has one, and it has some pretty cool features. I would definitely say the image quality out of the Pentax is better than my Canon.

The big disadvantage of any camera other than Canon and Nikon is the small amount of used and third party products. Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron all make lenses for the big dogs...and they don't always make compatible versions for the others (not cost effective).

Sony is especially notorious for designing their products so that ONLY Sony accessories will work with it. Combine that with their ambitious copyright agenda...

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by rt80639

Yay! Flamebait!

Not trying to flamebait, but if one were looking for a DSLR and had a budget of $1000, I know there is no way I would recommend either of those cameras.

Nikon D5000
- Menu driven setting changes
- Contrast detect AF so slow it's useless for most types of photography
- 11 focus points (only 1 cross-type sensors, Very low for Nikon)
- No built-in AF motor restricts lens choices to more expensive lenses
- low-res LCD (230,000 dots)
- smaller pentamirror viewfinder (frame coverage 95%, magnification 0.78x)
- single control dial
- smaller battery (510 shots at max)

Canon T1i
- Menu driven setting changes
- Only 9-point autofocus
- smaller pentamirror viewfinder (frame coverage 95%, magnification 0.87x)
- Visibly more noise in RAW files than some of the competition
- Contrast detect AF so slow it's useless for most types of photography
- Pricey for entry level
- Tendency to overexpose
- single control dial

Just for the heck of it (you know I love my pentax)
Pentax K-X
- Menu driven setting changes
- Contrast detect AF so slow it's useless for most types of photography
- smaller pentamirror viewfinder (frame coverage 96%, magnification 0.85X)
- 11 sensor points (with nine cross-type sensors)
- low-res LCD (230,000 dots)
- no weather sealing (the other don't have either but most pentax do)
- AF points not highlighted in the viewfinder
- uh...small? (not sure thats a negative)

[fletch]

Out of the two options you gave I would go for the Nikon.

The Canon entry level cameras don't fit well in my hands and I find them really awkward to hold. Couldn't possible ever buy one.

That is why I chose my olympus. Best bit of advice, you generally get what you pay for and all cameras of the same price are virtually identical. The only way to decide is to see what is confortable in your hand.

[Aegea]

Amazon is listing the D90 with the 18-105 lens for $1019 ... I think I'd go for that.

[candleman]

D90 .... can get body only easily for that price..

[jack russell]

thx guys .. I have a thousand buck there abouts to make this leap .. video is not a big deal for me but I've enjoyed the odd one .. what is bothering me the most is the abilities of my sx10 - though limited big time by sensor - zero distance macro to half decent superzoom .. some are telling me to buy a decent body with kit lens (lenses) to start then buy good to better quality lenses that I'll keep when I upgrade body .. I'm not sure if any of you have seen my shares on sys, but most are landscapes, some close up and some macro .. all that said I'm trading in my sx10 where I bought it for half that $ retail, so deals on ebay etc are out for initial .. I looked at 50D as well, would love to do 7d but feel it may be a tough sell at home, a kit there is 2 g's at least .. I hate being this close, this addicted and to compound it having a couple of bucks burning a hole in my jeans .. there's such a plethora of choice out there .. ugh!

[inkista]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Just for the heck of it (you know I love my pentax)
Pentax K-X....

Yeah, but in Japan, you can choose any color combo you want!

If I had $1000, I'd probably buy a Panasonic GF-1 with the 20/1.7 kit lens, and then get and adapt either a Contax-G 45/2 or the CV Nokton 40/1.4. That's because I have a 50D and a ton of Canon glass already.

I'd actually recommend seeing if you can use your SX10 to get in on the Canon Loyalty program to get a refurbed 50D for $629 (it actually came to $700 for me, with shipping and sales tax). I'm not sure they let you trade the P&Ses for the higher-end dSLRs, but the refurbed 50D or XS kit is what I was offered when I sent my XT in for repair,and I know that refurbed XTs and XTis have been offered for P&Ses in the past. What's on offer for which cameras does change a lot, and it's only accessed by talking directly to Canon service, so there's no place where you can look up what's on offer. But it's worth a shot, even if your camera's not broken.