I'm in the same boat as you. I looked at which? to see what came out best in their reviews. The cannon EOS 350D was the best buy, with the Nikon D50 coming a close second. I'm just trying to justify the expence.

GET A D40X!!!!!

What's your budget? I'm aiming at 400 or less essentially..

The d40 has 6 mega pixels, and the d40x has 10. A £100 price difference seems reasonable, but i'm not entirely sure if the difference in picture quality would be noticable enough to justify the extra expense.

thanks ecky ducky.. any in depth advice?

Sorry, got a wee bit overexcited. I bought a D40x recently, also investing in a 50mm lens to go with it. I've found it wonderful - functions beautifully, has extraordinary battery power, and I've been able to get some really great shots with it.

The only thing that upsets me is the poor flash it is built-in, but basically you'll never get a great in-built flash - you'll always have to fork out for a Speedlight, no matter how awesome your body unit.

Here are some example pics I've taken with the D40x, others are located here.













Also check out Sam's photos - he blogs under the name 'Label' on Threadless, and uses a D40. As you can see, he gets amazing shots with it.

It's all about your optics, gotta have quality lenses and the kit lenses that come bundled with the camera are usually pretty soft. I'm a nikon user, but I've been impressed with canon lenses when I've seen them. I'd recommend going to a shop and having a hold and a play with their display models, see which you like the feel of best. That's important.

Also, re: lenses, I've been reading good reviews of 3rd party Sigma lenses which cost a lot less than the Nikon or Canon branded lenses. Maybe worht considering?

*Worth.

Hey Tonteau, so the Sigma lenses can be fitted to either brand body? That's pretty sweet, I'd like to invest in some more awesome lenses. The 18-35 I got included with my body ain't got nothing on my 50mm.

^thanks guys.

I actually was recommended Sigma lenses by the guy in the store. They seem very reasonable in comparisons.

Right.. i'm going to get looking at these photos!

ecky_ducky on Sep 12 '07 at 4:55am Hey Tonteau, so the Sigma lenses can be fitted to either brand body? That's pretty sweet, I'd like to invest in some more awesome lenses. The 18-35 I got included with my body ain't got nothing on my 50mm.

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Yeah, Sigma and Tamron are two 3rd party lens makers who have been getting good reviews (Sigma, moreso). When you buy you just have to specify the type of fit.

I actually bought a Sigma lens (18-50, I think) for a wedding I did a while back, it performed really well, was a bit soft round the edges at 18mm, but a good, bright lens and it felt quality, too.

depends what you want to be shooting and if you want to expand in future. Canon lenses are generally regarded as better, especially at the high end. Just look at any sports games and check out all the white lenses. Nikon used to be the leader but that isn't true anymore.

canon 400d is a good entry level camera.

But at the end of the day, go into a store and hold both of them, comfort is important.

It's a tamron lens I have for my film SLR which is a nikon. It's really nice. It had to be overhauled due to me dropping the whole fucking camera, but both are now fine again.