An SLR?

For quite sometime now, I had been scouting for a new digital camera to replace my old but ever reliable Olympus C-730UZ. Oh, I love still my old camera. It had given me thousand of beautiful pictures and tons of memories - mostly in the Middle East. But sad may may seem, I have outgrown my Oly and I believe it's high time for me to move to the big league - the SLR arena.
I tell you, the urge of buying the latest model was consuming me. I had many brochures in the house: Olympus E-series, Canon 350D, Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon D50, Nikon D70s, Konika Minolta, Pentax, and others. I also had several dozes of model comparisons that I culled from the Internet and opinions from different usergroups. All of this didn't help though, but rather add confusion to the already muddy comparisons. Anyway, I rather rely on my own analysis. As of now I have short listed two models: E-330 and E-500. Why Olympus? Of course, brand loyalty and simply because I was happy with their products.

So... why not buy the camera?, you may ask.

Hmm... the Oly E-330 is not yet out in the market until the first week of March. I believe they will launch it in the IT Show slated on Mar 3-5. Huh! I can't wait to get hold of the new camera!

But wait a minute!

While surfing in the Internet, I stumbled upon an auction that caught my attention. It's a Canon 20D kit offered at $1870. Hmm... this is a good offer, I thought. The street price for a 20D kit is pegged at $2999 and the least would be $2800. Tsk, tsk... this made me think twice. The Canon 20D is very good camera classified as mid-range and placed above the Digital Rebel or 350D but lower than the 5D. My research also shows that 20D is far better than E-300/E-500/E-330 in performance, ruggedness, and functionality. This is what the pro is using, critics quipped.

Confused, I wrote an email to Bobby Timonera (my photography mentor back in college) asking for his opinion. And you know what the response was? Get the 20D!

Okay... it's final. I'll bid for the 20D to acquire it for two compeling reasons: First, because my experience photographer friend recommends it, and 2nd because Canon has a wider range of lens to offer for both Film and Digital camera bodies.

Wish me luck!