Canon Digital Rebel / EOS-300D Digital Camera with EF-S 18-55mm Lens

Firstly I should say that I am an ex 35mm slr amature photographer, so I understand the basics and some more. A few years ago I ditched my whole 35mm slr kit, and bought a compact digital. At the time DSLR's were just coming out, and were way too expensive for most mortals. But that is now not the case. There are many sub £500 DSLR's around now. So with this in mind I decided it was time to rekindle my old passion. At first I looked at new cameras and found that the slightly more expensive Canon's had better 3rd party support, so you could save the extra you paid on the camera if you plan to buy another lens or two. I had prety much decided on a Canon EOS 400D at under £400, but with an open mind I started to look at used earlier models. In particular the 300D Rebel which first came out in 2003 for around £900, but can now be picked up for around £200. So the question is, is it worth considering the used 300D for half the price of a new 400D. I studdied as many proffessional and independant reviews as I could, and was supprised to find that other than the amount of megapixels not much has changed. The 300D is 6.3 megapixel and the 400D is 10 megapixel. So the next question is do I need 10 megapixel? After studying a mirriad of photo's taken with both camera's at varying sizes, I came to the conclusion that unless you wanted to make pictures the size of bill boards, 10 megapixel isn't necassary. And as for the overall quality of of varying types of photo, there really is nothing to choose between them. Essentially the bits of the camera that make the picture are the same in both models. So I found myself a 300D for £195 that was in mint condition. It really is an unbelievable piece of kit for the price. I have already tested it over a range of conditions and am getting superb results. It has a fully automatic mode which is great for snapshots and general everyday photo's. But then there is an array of manual and automatic options for your more serious pictures. It is suprisingly light for the size of it, and is very comfortable in the hand. all of the main controls are in easy reach of your fingers. The lcd panel is easy to understand, and the menu is very easy to work through. As for those extra lenses you might decide you need, I have just ordered a Tamron 55mm-200mm zoom lens for under £70 new. WOW! Ok so are you going to want to put the pictures onto your computer using the USB cable and software that comes with it. This will be no problem if you are using windows xp, but vista is not so well supported for this earlier model, and even worse if like me you are using vista 64bit. Have no fear I have found a solution. In the menu if you find communication and select PTP, you can then use the USB lead provided or a compatible lead and plug into your vista computer. According to the instruction manual PTP is for use with any printer supporting Pictbridge, and allows you to send your pictures straight to the printer. Although this works well, there is no facility for editing your pictures. Here comes the good bit. provided your vista is up to date, when you plug the cable in vista will recognise it as a Canon camera, install the necassary drivers, and treat your camera as another drive. you can then open up your pictures with any software package you are using. You will not read this in the manaul, it is just a clever thing that vista does. So in conclusion: If you can pick at a 300D in good condition at the right price, you have a winner.