Noob looking for Descent SLR

[kyazh]

1) Budget : $500 - $1000

2) 7+ Megapixel

3) What size camera would you prefer?
SLR like -SLR

4) I will be shooting:
a1. Scenery ie: sunsets, mountains, stars, bodies of water and so on
a2. Scenery at night ie: bridges, lights, and such
b. Plants and animals
c. Objects ie: cars, homes, general still life.

5) I want the ability to change lenses (mainly macro and wideangle)

6) I plan to do some processing in photoshop.

7) No specific brands but Canon or Nikon are brands I always hear about.
( some recommendetions I have gotten: canon rebel XT, canon 20d )

8) Average or above average battery life would be good.

9) Im fine with buying online or in person.

10) mostly used for snapshots

11) A large LCD would be nice!

12) Dont really care about looks.

13) How long do you want the camera to last? Well, I dont want to dish out $1000 dollars on a piece of equiptment thats going to crap out after 3 years. Maybe at least 5 - 6 years I mean cmon what kind of a question is this. I want the most reliable one they have lol.

14) Storage capacity maybe 1 or 2 gigabytes but I mean thats all based on the memory card.

15) I dont really care for video recording capability.

I want to shoot scenery like i stated before, mountains, sunsets, objects in water, pictures of pools, pictures of lighted bridges at night with sparkling lights and rich colors, close ups of plants with rich colors, macros of water droplets, and so on. I want to be able to add a wide angle lense and some nice filters would be nice (specially the one that takes glare off glass). But yea this is the type of camera Im looking to save up for in the next year or two. I just wanted some opinions because I am not very knowledgeable about pro quality cameras like SLRs. This way I can know what to look at when Im at stores, I can narrow down my options and anaylze the cameras that fall into my needs (wants) . Also, if possible, can I get some suggestions or prices of decent wideangles lenses (for a beginner) so I know how much that will add to the price of the camera. And if there is anything else that I need to know about, please tell me. Thanks for reading my post and any help is appreaciated.

 

[bitteraspects]

a lot will depend on how soon you plan to buy. in the last 2 years cannon has developed 3+ slr's (correct me if im wrong, i didnt research) and a whole slew of p&s cameras. also in 2 years, the price and availability of a lot of cameras and lenses currently on the market will be drastically changed. youre better off shopping around when you have the cash, or are a bit closer to having the cash.

 

[Big Mike]

My suggestion would be to get a DSLR over a "SLR-Like" camera. The biggest difference between the two (IMO) is the size of the sensor. Not the mega pixel count but the actual size of the sensor. Go to www.dpreview.com and compare any DSLR to some of the 'SLR-like' cameras. You will see that there is quite a difference.

Also, when you get a DSLR, you are buying into a system (Canon, Nikon etc.) While it is true that additional lenses will cost a lot of money...lenses (& a DSLR body) hold their value very well compared to digital cameras without interchangeable lenses.

If you haven't already, go into a store and try out the different models.