Great Camera Debate

I've been pondering DSLR cameras for a while, but started seriously doing some research after playing around with one on a recent visit to my parents' house. I then realized that while my point and shoot takes lovely photos, I'm really missing out. I also feel that it's not completely unreasonable for me to look into shifting into better quality photos, given that I took photography in college and really enjoyed walking around with my camera in hand -- and since I now have such a fun subject, I've really been itching to start up again. 

After doing initial research, I narrowed it down to two companies, Canon and Nikon, which are pretty much the leaders in the DSLR business. Since I already own a Canon SLR, I decided that I'd just run with it and stick to what I know. I didn't bother looking at Nikon, because it was a lot easier to compare models within one family than look at the multitude of options that arise when you open the playing field. Until a week ago, I'd settled on the Canon T2i. It's on the higher end of entry-level cameras and was pretty much going to max out my budget, but I decided that maybe I should invest in a body that I could grow into and invest in a nice lens at a (much) later date.

However, I went over to our friends' house and got to play around a bit with his new Nikon. I really liked the feel and it prompted me into expanding my research. After doing a bit more digging, I learned that you're pretty much a "Canon" or a "Nikon" kind of person, so I didn't take this search lightly knowing that it would likely set my camera preference for the foreseeable future. A million camera forums later, I came to realize that unless I'm going to really start to do specialized professional photography, a good entry-level DSLR body will do, but it's the lens that matters. With the Nikon that I'm looking at, I'll save about $200-250 on the body and kit lens, which means that I can really learn how to use the camera and invest in a good lens right away.


I went to a couple of camera shops in town and played around with both. I think my mind is set, the Nikon is my camera of choice.