Advice needed for buying SLR.......please help!!

[Easy_Target]

If he gets the D300 though, all he can really afford is low to midrange glass. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it???

 

[Mike_E]

If he gets the D300 though, all he can really afford is low to midrange glass. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it???

If that's all he will ever have to spend, yes.

The days of a light tight box to hang a lens on are over. The DSLRs at the lower end of the spectrum are not enough different to matter in print quality. Being able to shoot at ISO 3200 with good results is an entirely new game.

Unless the OP is a pro who will be trading up every 2 years or so he'll have the same body for long time. The lenses are going to come anyway.

Just get a new body when it comes out is nice to say but how many of us really can do that?

 

[Samriel]

I'm just going to write a few items I think you should consider, you can combine them in any way you want. I'm shooting Nikon, so no suggestions for Canon. Here it goes:

A used Nikon D200 is about USD700. Sure, the D300 is much better, and with it's ISO performance can make many average lenses into fast lenses, but think about the price difference and if it's worth it for you.
The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is a very good lens as many already mentioned, and has a very good price perfomance ratio at about USD350.
The Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 ships at around USD850 here, and is a very good standard telephoto lens, although maybe too short for sports or wildlife.
For macro and portraits, a Macro (or Micro...) lens in the 90~105mm range from Sigma, Tamron or Tokina will deliver good performance at a reasonable price.

Hope it helps.