No just normal family outdoor night stuff. Rc stuff goes day and night all outdoors. The rc track has tons of light though during the night. Its like light at a football field but I can get very close to the track.

with the t1i do i need to buy another lens up front or will the stock lens that it comes with be ok for now. I have to assume that the stock t1i lens is 10 times better than the current point and shoot 4 year old kodak that i use. Yes or no

It seems like you do take a decent amount of low light, and the night shots at the track, the higher iso of 3200 and 6400 would actually help allot on the T1i.

But neither the kit zoom lens of the canon with the ef-s 55-250mm or the nikon 55-200mm will be good for your track needs. Either way you will want to move up to the canon or nikon 70-300mm for the faster AF motors that is still a reasonable price. Granted they are not pro lens like the ef 70-300 F4 IS USM or the nikon equivalent. But are better then the kit zooms lenses for that action shooting you do.

I would get the canon T1i or d5000 with one kit lens, and invest in the higher grade lens. The nikon 55-200 will not give you the results you will be looking for, some for the canon 55-250.

Thanks I appreciate all of the help. Sorry for the newbie annoying questions.

One last one though.

You mentioned the nikon and the canon

Which one should I get.

For you rc interest, the canon T1i would be the better choice because of the better AF system. It will give you a greater number of keepers when you are shooting in Ai Servo mode when taking them in burst.

You can opt for a canon pro lens for you RC the ef 70-200mm F4L non IS for 650 dollars it will most likely give you better action results The IS version is 1200 dollars.

But ef 70-300mm IS USM is a more versatile lens with longer reach and the IS for the long range non action shooting and night time shooting it helps out.

Ok looks like the t1i for me. I just noticed it takes video as well. That is a plus. So the video mode is just like the D90 that I see in commercials?

What lens should I get to go with the t1i that is a step above the stock one. I dont want to spend more than 200 on a seperate lens.

actully the t1i shoot hd video at 720 and 1080, the d90 only shoots at 720.

Are we talking about the long zoom or the stardard 18-55mm? You will want the 18-55mm for your family stuff. It is a good range for those gatherings. And it is a sharp lens.

For the longer zoom, if you factor out the RC needs the 2 lens kit with the ef-s 55-250mm IS is a nice lens. It will not be the best for action shots but for everything else it will work nicely. It is 250 dollars.

The next one up would be the ef 70-300mm IS USM that would do a decent job for your RC. But that is 550 dollar new, about 470 used.

I would not recommend the ef 75-300mm USM, it is not a very good lens.

A slightly less expensive option then the canon ef 70-300mm IS USM would be the new sigma 70-300mm OS HSM. But this is a pretty new lens, not to many feedback about it yet. It is around 490 dollars

Dishsoap,

I noticed you put that link to Costco in your original post. I also have been looking for a DSLR and still trying ot make up my mind. But Costco online is one place I check and it seems like the cameras in there change every other day or so. I have even seen the T1i in there on occasion. They have it in one of the stores I go to with the 2 lens kit, card, bag, etc. and I believe it was around $900. Seems like there is some kind of discount on it all the time there. I think I am leaning toward the T1i too after looking in this forum all the time. I'm not in a big hurry so maybe in a few months if the price goes down I won't hesitate anymore to buy one!

Good luck dishsoap my only two cents about it all is that after a ton of research and trying differnt models, the cannon without question is the fastest auto focus I have seen ...the others do get there quickly ,but that canon has definitly got the edge...hope this helps