HELP!! beginner needs camera advice!

I'm a beginner and am interested in landscape photography, but I want to use the camera for other photographs as well. What is a good camera for under $600 that will provide sharp images?? I have been kind of reading about the Canon 30D and 40D but I don't really know much about the lenses to get with it. Those seem to be the camera's I hear about the most. Those and the Nikon's anyway.

 

The ones that I have been leaning toward so far are the G9 and the Rebel XTi. Any thoughts on those?

 

If you are aiming for a DSLR in that price range of 600$ then a Rebel XTi with the kit lens for start, it`s a great choice.

The G9 is a "point and shoot" camera and it`s very different from a DSLR (the main difference is the interchangeable lenses).

30D and 40D are some good choices but there are little more expensive (30D costs 800$ and 40D costs 1100$ and just the bodies without the lenses).

 

How about a Nikon D40? Can't go wrong with that.

 

Excellent value for the money. One caution... Older "AF" Nikon film lenses will not autofocus with the D40 and the D40X. Lens must be "AF-S" for autofocus. Manual focus works fine.

 

XTi or Nikon D40. nuf said.

for the money you cant really go wrong with either of these cameras. just plan on upgrading lenses and figure in the cost

 

I just picked up a Nikon D40 in the last week and love it. It's my first DSLR and the D40 has had a very easy learning curve. I'd definitely recommend the D40, based on my experience.

 

Only thing with the d40 has been stated with the lenses...
Well I got one in November and now its on ebay. So thats where it stands on that.
TOO EXPENSIVE!.
lol.
picked up a 30d with a 28-135 lens from Best Buy for 800 bucks! plus the warranty and stuff it was like 1200 but still it was awesome.

 

I have a pentax K100D and it serves me well. definatly cheap prices and comes with an 18-55mm lens and plenty more are compatible with it...

 

Sony a100's are going to be super cheap very soon the a200 just was released for the same price and the A300 and A350 will be out in another 2 months so The A100's are being dumped off for a very respectable price I've seen some as low as $450 already

 

Wow! Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I think that I have decided on the XTi since it already has the AF. What would be the next step on that one for a lens in case I wanted to upgrade that? Is there anywhere that I can learn alot more about lenses? I am pretty new to camera hardware.

 

In my experience with landscape photography, after getting the camera, the 18-55mm kit lens with the XTi is not bad to start off with, no point straight away just buying a slight upgrade, better to keep that and get a tripod and remote release along with some ND filters and Polarizing filter first, they will be more useful to you than just taking a slight upgrade. The next upgrade id suggest for a lens is in the the region of a 24-70mm f2.8 Sigma make a good construction and yet price effective version of this lens, or perhaps even the 14-28 f2.8.