Cannon IS S2 or 350D?

H

Hulk

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I am very interested in starting a hobby in photography.

I have narrowed down my camera choices to the two cameras listed in the topic. There is a $250 price difference between the two which is quiet a lot for me.

The pictures I am most interested in taking are close-ups, like exteme close-ups, of insects, etc. I would also like to take pictures of nature as well as people.
 
Apples and Oranges.

The S2 IS is an advanced compact, while the DRebel XT is a DSLR. I would save up for the 350d and never look back. If you get the S2 IS, you may want more in the future and end up with the 350d anyways. That's what happened to me. I bought a Nikon coolix 8700 and loved it for about 7 months until I saw the Canon 20d in a Pop photo magazine. I ended up buying the 20d exactly one year after I bought the coolpix 8700. I've never even used my Nikon since.
I guess it all depends on your wants and needs, and if you like changing lenses.
I just bought the ef-s 10-22mm Canon lens for an ultrawide view, which has nothing to do with this topic I know, but I'm very happy. :D
 
I think I know what will be the deciding factor for me:

Let's say I buy the 350D (just the body) for $600 - how much do the most popular lenses cost for that camera?
 
I just bought an S2 IS (they're really cheap right now) and am very happy with my purchase. The rebel is definately a better camera, bu the S2 IS is like $350usd shipped where as the rebel is almost twice that without a lens. A moderate lens will be at least $300usd, a "good one" can be $1k no problem.

Lens are often the more expensive part.
 
If you are a budding photographer and want a camera that you can learn with and give you more flexibility and power in the future, get the Rebel XT.

If this is just a camera for general photography, and it's not really a hobby thing, I'd lean towards the Canon S2 IS, which is still a fine camera.

Lenses are pricey, in mild terms.

The cheapest lens of much use (IMO) is the 50 mm F/1.8 which costs $85 - 100.

A cheap zoom lens is the 70-300 mm F/4.0-5.6, which covers wide range of focal lengths, but tends to be slow in terms of aperture, but image quality is decent enough. This lens traditionally costs $120 - 140.

The kit lens the XT starts with is 18-55 mm, which is fine to start with. Later on though, you might want a higher quality wide angle, so you might be look at several hundred for a 17-40mm Canon.

Then, if you want some high quality optics, you might want to move up to Canon L (I do think the main reason to buy Nikon or Canon is to use their respective high end glass), and one of the nice, and most affordable L lenses is the 70-200mm F/4. Nice, nice lens, $600 or so.

Or you might need speed, so you want a 80-200mm F/2.8, which is one of the fastest zoom lenses available for Canon cameras. $900 - 1000. Or you might even want the Image Stabilization version of the lens, for $1600.

Or you want macro. Well, gotta get close up filters or a real macro lens.

etc. etc.

As for me, well I use a Nikon D70 with 3 lenses. 18-70 F/3.5-4.5, a 50 mm F/1.8, and an 80-200 F/2.8, which set me back bout $920.

So...choose wisely. The basic XT kit will not give you as much reach as the S2 IS, which has a...12x zoom I think? However, it gives you many more options, more power, and such through high usable ISOs, the ability to use dozens of lenses, etc. If you do go the SLR route and get some good glass, you can keep using those lenses for years and years (unless you switch companies or Canon changes its mount or something). The investment is much greater, so unless you're gonna be a hobbyist, I'd just go with teh S2.
 
1. From what I see, there's about a $400 price difference.
2. The S2 has a super macro mode; focus range starts at 0.0 in.
3. With the cheap adapter the S2 supports any 52mm (?) filters/adapters.

Just throwing out more info.
 
I'm going with the S2 IS because it is a lot cheaper plus you can record video with it, too, so it's great for vacations. I plan on getting a 2GB card for around $70 from the egg. Thanks for all the info.
 
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