I will make this quick and painless I have a 10 mp point and shoot and now I am looking for a Dslr since I am in a slr class and would love to shoot with the dslr and the canon ae1 that I will be shooting with. also looking at canons mostly because I got told the lenses for the ae1 would work on a new dslr so I would have a Wide angle, normal and telephoto that should fit the body.
I found 2 that caught my eye the T1i and the XSi but the T1i interests me more since it is 15 mp vs the 12 of the xsi. if any of you have hands on or first hand knowledge plz tell me what you think and for those that are just fan bois tell me what your choice would be

 

I have used both the XSi (dad's) and T1i (mine). Don't get sucked into the megapixel game. Look at the camera features as a whole. I chose the T1i for its screen and video function. My dad's XSi didn't have live view either, but the newer XSi does. The T1i also has a higher native ISO rating which was a factor in my choice as well.

I looked into Nikon's as well and their offerings at the time I was researching things didn't stack up, feature & price wise, with the T1i.

As far as using your old lenses from the AE-1, you'll have to get a conversion mount to use them. The AE-1 uses the older FD mount while the newer Canon dSLR's use the EF & EF-S mounts.

One of the nice things going for Nikon is that they really haven't changed their mount at all. This makes upgrading easy as you progress and grow out of a camera. With that said, unless you are a professional photographer, you will likely not be upgrading your body for quite some time. Since I did not have any lenses, this was not a factor in my decision.

If you can hold off a bit more, I guess Nikon is supposed to be announcing their new models in the beginning of February. It may be worth the wait.

 

i choose fan bois! sounds exotic...

 

I've dealt with canon...........and I like them............I have the 40D.....but I think that is a discontinued model......I've heard good and bad with both Canon and Nikon.

 

Nikon is nice IMO, but people find things good about both.... Dont look at Megapixels, as they are not as important as other aspects... I could have a 2 million mega pix camera and it would still suck with a crappy lense and if the photo sensor sucks...

 

My bad...

I miss read the title and thought it was for Camaro buffs...lol

 

I have a Canon Xs and so far I love it. Again don't get into the megapixel race.

The lenses really have more to do with picture quality than the body. You can have the most expensive camera body but put a ****ty lens on it and you'll be taking the worst pictures

I'm still toying around trying to figure things out but as a cheap entry level package, my XS was a great investment.

 

I have a sony a20 its a 10.1 takes good shots if you know how to use it. Check out ebay for deals on camera packages I got a really good deal on mine with a bunch of extra stuff

 

I am no pro but know many. I have a Canon 40D that I shoot and I love it. I have also owned Canon 20D, Canon XTi, and have used Nikon as well. As far as the megapixles go all you need is at least 8mp for blowing up to like poster size. Good quality lenses also help a lot. The cheap lenses are not worth buying. I prefer Canon, but just because that's what I have learned on. Canon is also usually a bit less expensive by a few bucks. Canon also upgrades models more fequently than Nikon. Everything is also relative to what you can spend. If you can't afford too much, My advice would be buy last year or two ago model of canon xti or xsi. This can save you a bit of cash to buy a better lens to go with it. The canon "L" series lens are awesome, and take super sharp images.

Here are a few pics I have taken with a canon 20D and 40D, only 8mp and 10mp cameras with a good "L" lens. Go there and check them out. Specificly look at the Nature Photos

http://web.me.com/wadewalcher/WadeWalcher/Welcome.html

Wade