Discovered this forum while in the process of researching choices for my next camera and it looks great. My name is Rob Crosby and in 3 more days I'll be retired from my career as a speech clinician in the public schools. To date my best piece of photographic equipment is a 17' Riot Kayak that lets me get close enough to take some decent pictures with very limited equipment. Specifically I've been taking pictures for a couple of years now and it's time to upgrade from my Canon S5IS to a decent DSLR. If you have a couple of minutes I finally got a video posted to YouTube that I took last summer with the little Canon. It features a loon swallowing a much larger fish than I'd have thought possible. I should be able to give the link, but for now I'll just say if you do a YouTube search for "loon lunch" by WOLRuss1 (a.k.a. me) I think you'll find it worth your time.
Looking forward to learning from all you folks. Thanks for the opportunity.:D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolruss
Appreciate the warm welcome guys. Have included my flickr address if anyone's interested in seeing the type of thing I've been doing. Nothing that compares with what you folks are doing, but I'm counting on your good will and generosity to help move me in the right direction. Pretty much narrowed my choice down to a Nikon D5000 or Canon T1i. Reading as much as I can on each and, of course, would listen closely to any advice folks might want to offer. Family business will have me out of state and largely off line for the next few weeks but I will be back! Thanks again! Rob
Rob, big welcome to BPN and congrats on your retirement!! dont hesitate to get started in Eager to Learn (ETL). great folks and little bit more gentler critiques. i hope i dont step out of line here, but i think i would go for a used D300 or something similar in the canon line before picking up either one of the two you mentioned. thinking you will be a lot happier in the long run!! dont hesitate to start a thread in PHotography Gear to get more feedback!!!