I bought this camera almost a year ago and it has been great! This is my first SLR, always had a point and shoot and it has served me well with over 2500 pictures taken. Not all of them have been great but I suppose that is me, not the camera! by the way I used a Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM lens instead of the kit lens and highly recommend it also.......

This is my first SLR and it only took three years of research and self-justification to finally take the plunge and so far I don't have any regrets!I went with the 18-55 kit lens and the matching 55-250 lens to stay within a budget and even my worse pictures in automatic mode are optically better than my late model point and shoot.Moving from a point and shoot to an SLR is a little overwhelming. Concepts like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and how they relate do take some time to understand but once you get past that hurdle - all of the buttons just seem to make sense somehow. If you don't have a friend that can help you, I definitely recommend studying the basic mechanical concepts and reading up on composition tips - and then go out and shoot a ton of photos [just for fun] and try out some different things. Also, I haven't had any problems with the auto-focus issues that some have described - though now that I'm shooting in what's called Av or aperture priority mode, I changed my AF setting to use the center point instead of the all points mode and I get great focusing.P.S. Don't try to shoot flying butterflies, it's not practical :)

Sturdy enough for a SLR camera and iPhone. Light enough to carry it around with ease.

I'm old enough to have used manual slr's back in the day, so this doesn't bother me. I was very impressed with Big Mike's Elkectronics excellent instructions that came with the lens. Much better printed support than you usually receive from a seller. It is a slower lens with a smaller objective lens than the much more expensive choices.

For quite some time I was wanting to get a digital SLR camera, because I was sick and tired of the shutter lag that regular digital cameras have. Though I was happy with the pictures my Konica Minolta Dimage Z10 made - especially outdoors, I dreaded to make pictures indoors or trying to capture moving objects on picture (now you see me, now you don't).So I was contemplating for month which digital SLR I wanted and needed. Since this is my first camera of this kind and I'm merely a hobby fotographer, I didn't want to shell out several grands. But I wanted something that had enough "oomph" to it to justify the price tag. So I looked into the Canon Rebel XTi, Nikon D40, Olympus E30 and Olympus E50. The thing I didn't like about the Olympus was the fact, that it seems that I had to buy Olympus picture cards and they are kinda pricy.So I went back and forth between the Canon Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40. Then I looked into the XSi and read the repords on amazon.com and other sites, compared both Canon cameras side by side. After a week or two I finally decided to spend a bit more but have a few more extras with my camera.And I had a lot of fun in the last few days with this camera. I can take pictures with it, that come out clear and vivid even in lower light indoors. I would have had smudgy blurrs with my other camera under the same condition. Right now I am only using the Canon lens EF 50 f/1.8 II for it's higher sensitivity to light, but wait until I go on vacation to Northern Germany in 2 weeks and I will try out the lens that came with the camera. Can't hardly wait!In a nutshell: So far I haven't regreded my desicion to buy this camera!To see a few pictures that I took in the first couple of days owning this camera using this lens 

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens









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For someone who is used to a non-digital SLR, you will feel right at home with this one. All the same functions are there, just shown on a menu to select electronically, instead of with manual adjustments. You can use this as a point-and-shoot digital, or you can play to your heart's content. The lens is great, and you can add a telephoto lens if you want. It will take some learning for someone whose only experience is with a digital, but is a good choice for someone who wants to convert to digital from manual without losing all the versatility of the SLR camera.

I had never used an SLR or digital SLR prior to buying this camera and I love it. I thought it was fairly easy to get up to speed (the Canon on-line tutorial is great). I have had the camera for about a month and just returned from an East African safari and the pictures we got are unreal...I am so excited and happy with the camera. It worked well in so many different situations (low light with gorillas in the jungle to full sun on the African plains). I would buy it again in a heartbeat (and this coming from someone who had never used an SLR and now would never go back for a trip like we just took). LOVE IT!!!We also bought the Image Stabalized 70-300mm lens and this is the one I used most on the trip but I would use the lens that comes with the kit for most of the shots I take with family/friends and around the house.

I have had a Canon digital SLR for several years, but have never owned an L series lens until now. I never thought I would drop this much $$$ on a lens, but it became pretty much a necessity in order to shoot all of my kids' sports activities especially gymnastics where I needed a fast telphoto zoom lens because all the events are inside and there is no flash photography allowed! I considered the non IS version, but my experience with other Canon IS lenses moved me to make this choice.So far I haven't been disappointed in any way. The lens is very solidly constructed. The IS and USM work great, and the zoom is very smoooth. All of the images I have shot with this lens are sharp throughout the zoom range.The bottom line...this is an awesome lens though it is a bit pricey for non professional photographers. The upside is that these lenses retain their value well when properly cared for as can be attested to on Ebay.