Youre right there! Im used to Canons, I find them easy to navigate and understand, I guess its what you get used to. Its all personal choice, 2 good makes, but there are other too carole, like the Sony?

All in all, there isnt much competition between the Nikon or the Canon (body). They are both user friendly, depending on the user!

Its all about how the camera feels when in your hands and which one your most happy with. The cameras dont produce the better photos, the lens does that and thats where Canon steps in as their glass does challenge Nikons somewhat BUT Nikons colour reproduction is superior..

Start looking into what lenses are available for whatever camera your looking at - it will give you a good indication on which way you want to go and also which model

I think a trip into town is needed to see the cameras in action I was looking at the Canon EOS 400D earlier on for just under £360 and then £45 cashback which means I could buy a lens too when I get my cashback.

I never thought it would be this hard deciding on a camera. Thanks all for your input so far

You wont be dissappointed with the Canon Carole, but go into a shop and handle each one you are interested in, thats the best way, dont be persuaded by pushy sales people, get what suits you the best, and hurry up!

As I said before there are 2 main camps, Canon and Nikon. Each side prefers their own make and there is an equal amount to be said for either make. Being a Nikon person, obviously Nikon is far superior to Canon but the choice is yours.

Bazza

Well said Dawn! don't be pushed into anything! have a play and get the camera you feel most at home with!

lmao

be careful with some prices, ive noticed jessops advertise (last time i walked past) the price inclusive of the discount. So the price you see, is not the price you pay... to get the advertised price, you've got to sort the discount out yourself with the manfacturer.

Some others within your budget worth looking at besides Canon & Nikon....

Olympus E410 or E510

Samsung (co Pentax) GX10

Pentax K10d

Sony A200 or A350

You can't go wrong with either the Nikon or Canon. People choose them for different reasons but quality wise there's not much between them.

I chose the Nikon D40 over the Canon 400D, because the Nikon came with a decent kit lens, and I felt the Canon kit lens was well, not so good - I'm not the only one that thinks that, even canon people themselves say get a better lens.

That meant if I went with the Canon 400d I would have had to get another lens, adding around £150 to £200 to the price... which made it almost THREE times more expensive than getting the D40 + kit. If I wanted to spend that much I would have got the Nikon D80, which is better than the Canon 400D.

Nikon did the right thing by including a good kit lens imo as you get very good quality images from the word go, and any lens you get are additional ones you'd use in conjunction with the kit lens.

Go on sites like pbase.com to see the cameras in action, but note the lens used with each pic! Also be wary of some reviews of the 400D, as they don't use the kit lens in the sample photos, whereas most D40 reviews do use the kit lens.

So for me, I found in terms of value Nikon were offering so much more in that price range - meaning I could get more lens if need be for the same price. Not sure what things are like higher up in the price bracket though, as I only really researched the budget end.

It depends on how long you want the camera for before you will upgrade, and what kind of lens you will want to get.

If you want decent quality images, but don't want to get too heavily into all the manual stuff, and at the same time don't want to get fixed (prime) lens (ie lens that don't zoom but are fixed at certain points). Then the D40 is hard to beat! Because with the money saved you can get another lens, a bigger flash, a tripod

That is the dilemma for me buy a lower priced camera and get another lens or go for a more expensive camera and not be able to buy a second lens until Christmas time :?