The grip on the canon is quite small atleast on the 350D but on the 30D quite nice.

Since I have large hands I prefer the Nikon but I have not seen the pentax live yet.

The feel of the D50 is not quite as nice as the D70 I wonder how the D80 will be.

Actually I think I will be happy with either one of the cameras mentioned above.

The salesperson spoke more higly of the canons than of the nikons for some reason.

I went to another place wich sells pentax and that camera feels veray similar to the D50, little bit more of a plastic feeling than the more expensive ones.

The salesperson at this place also stated that the canon would be the best choice and that almost nobody buys the pentax.

I was in a similiar position last week (but I also had the Olympus E500 in my list). to me the only negative to the Pentax was the battery... I hate AAs (rechargeable or not) and they always need very frequent charging up.

If I had even 1 Nikor lens from the past I would have gone for the Nikon D50..but to me it was Olympus in the end as since I was startinf afresh i was kind of bought in to the 4/3rd system.

But is AAs are not an issue for you..the K100D is really good. very quick focusing and in my hands had an excellent "feel good" factor.


BTW I know what you mean by taxes and the D80 although sounds amazing, would be way priced over the US market in europe.

I wonder if stores get a higher payback on Nikon and Canon over Pentax? I think it is so interesting that at the moment none of the big on-line camera stores can keep the K100D in stock for long if no one is buying them. I know that's the initial rush by people who want that SR and it won't last long, but it's interesting when a camera store salesperson says "no one is buying Pentax any more."

My experience was different - I went to a local store that carries mostly Nikon and Canon equipment, but does a little Pentax business. I asked to see their (only) K100D, which the sales person showed me, then we talked a little about lenses. He mentioned how good Pentax lenses were! It was nice to have a camera salesman who wasn't pushing the major brands they carry. Oh yes - I did buy their K100D.

Some of you experts can correct me if I've got this wrong, please. But my understanding is that the independent lens makers (Sigma, Tamron etc.)will make a lens and then put it out in different mounts. In other words, the same lens optically will be sold with a Nikon or a Canon or a Pentax mount. However, the lenses can only be used on the camera type you buy - in other words, you can NOT buy a Pentax mount lens and use it on a Nikon, or a Canon mount on a Pentax etc. I have noticed a few times that the same sounding lens can be more expensive when sold in a Nikon mount than in a Pentax mount - don't know if that wasthe store mark-up or what - but it is something I've seen more than once.

Generally aftermarket lens manufacturers make their lenses available in mounts that will sell enough units to justify licensing/ engineering. You are correct in assuming that many Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc... lenses are available in several common mounts for several different manufacturers. Generally price premiums are seen less in new lenses than on the used market, where supply and demand alone drives cost. (a dealer won't sell a lens for a loss no matter how obscure the lens is- they simply won't retail unwanted products.) I'm not saying you won't get a small spread of prices over differing lens mounts, but the difference in used glass can be pretty big.

Oh, and you are also correct in assuming that you cannot buy a Pentax mount lens for use on a Nikon or Canon body.

Just when I am about to buy a camera so are the to main brands upgrading their cameras. Whenever you buy the product will be old in a year or two so you can never win.

Prices where I live are not that diffrent but is it worth the extra $$ for a brand new model?

Canon EOS 400D kit with 18-55 $1200
Nikon D80 kit 18-70 1600$
Nikon D50 kit 18-70 930$
Pentax K100D 18-55 890$

I havent read very much about the 400D but if it has as small grip as the 350D then its not interesting.

Both the new Canon and Nikon will be inte stores in two weeks.

What would you recomend?

I read in some other thread here on the forum that a downfall for pentax would be to move up to more advanced cameras, but is that really true? I can find information on the net that Pentax is about to release 2 new DSLR Cameras one 18MP and one 10MP this fall.

The recommendation to actually hold the camera before you buy it is excellent. Based on reviews my husband had decided to buy the Canon Rebel XT. When we got to the camera store andheld the camerawe both hated the way it felt. I had read that if you have large hands you might not like it. My hands are not large so I never dreamt that would be an issue for me. It was.The grip is too close to the lense and I felt like I wasgoing to drop the camerawhole time I held it.

MaryRose wrote: I did drop one, in Future Shop, luckily the anti-theft tether kept it from hitting the floor or I would have had to buy it I guess.

Ira