Scratch That; Replace Camera

I ordered my Rebel XT body for the unthinkable price of $320. You may Google the camera and get results showing some place selling it for $300, but after researching those "stores" it turns out that they're just scams run out of New Jersey. So I have this order in for one of the two Rebels they have in stock and today I go back on to see if they have any equally sweetly priced lenses, which they had a standard kit lens for about half the price of anywhere else, and found another camera, the Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D for about half the price! I looked into it and it's due to the fact that Konica Minolta no longer exists as its own company since it was swallowed up by Sony. The camera comes with the same warranty as the Rebel I ordered and gives me money to buy that long lens now and already comes with a kit lens. The lens mount system is also supported by all the new Sony-released lenses, so this situations just seems win-win. As I said in my last entry, there seems to be no bad digital SLR that's been produced in the last two years. Digital Photography Review gave this camera "Highly Recommend" marks just like all the rest.

In addition to the price, there seem to be a couple of advantages to getting this camera over the Canon. First is the built in CCD stabilization system that gives you a maximum of 3 stops worth of compensation for a shaky camera hold. Second is the dominantly metal camera body that gives the 7D a clear edge over the XT's plastic body. The 7D also has dials and knobs all over the body for image customization that can be done without having to navigate through the camera's menu system.

There are a couple of drawbacks, though, most noticeably the 2 megapixel drop-off from the 8mp XT to the 6mp of the 7D. There's also a startup time in the neighborhood of 2.6 seconds from off to shot. On top of that, it's just hard to say goodbye to Canon as I move forward into digital. I'll be having one for my Canon Digital homies this weekend, but also one to my new 7D friends.