I bot one D300s with 18-200 mm zoom, at http://shop.heinigerag.ch/de/products/152380

I normally like Nikon but there are some better cameras in canon with cheaper price so u really need to figure out what u need, not easy to recomend because it's all depends on ur needs

what ever u buy check it at http://www.toppreise.ch/index.php u will find the good price

good luck

check out www.buchmann.ch, I was really surprised to see how cheap they sell (www.bhphotovideo.com sells many things at similar prices, which is very unusual for Europe)

I personally recommend Canon 5d Mark II - the best you can get

plus, Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8 IS L USM lens

if it's too expensive for your needs buy a similar but slower lens, say at f/4.0

cheers,

Denis

Nikon or Canon?

what are the main differences?

Ok, first and main question: For what are you going to use the camera?

All the cameras mentioned above are either professional (Canon 5D MK II) or semi-professional (Nikon D300s) ones. If want to get into photography, and if you want to know the main differences between Canon and Nikon I guess you are, I don't recommend you neither of them.

First, because you may not want to use all the extra features that they offer, second, because you'll spend much more money to get quite the same results and third because usually you'll find them much more difficult to use.

So, if you're a beginner: Canon or Nikon? Both are good choices, nowdays the differences are not that big.

Some people like more the colors that you get with Canon, some others prefer the ones that you get with Nikon. In professional cameras Canon gets better results with low isos and Nikon gets better results with high isos (let's say from 1600-3200 on). Probably you'll have some more dynamic range with Canon. I recommend you to see pictures taken with cameras of both brands to see which one do you prefer.

So, after this: which one?

If you like Canon and you don't want to record video buy a 450D. If you want to record video get a 500D or a 550D, depending on your budget.

If you like Nikon you can get either the D3000 (the "worst" one), the D5000 or the D90. The D5000 is a bit newer, but I don't know anyone that has a D90 and doesn't like it.

About the lenses, if you want something with a lot of zoom I recommend you to take a look at the "4x4" lenses, something like a 18-270. Lately the quality of this kind of lenses has increased a lot.

Hope this helps!

just FYI : these D3000 and D5000 are really entry level, i wouldn't go for them unless u r looking for something really beginning, D300s also have really great automatic futures as well as fully manual setting, if u want to learn and became to professional level then get the good professnal camera, dont go for this entry levels. if u are just going to take some shot and not really interested becoming as expert then go the entry levels

What are the main differences between the D3000 and the D300s for a beginner? The most important ones: you don't have live view (but the D5000 has) and the continuous speed is lower, but this won't matter unless you want to take pictures of animals or sport events. Does a beginner care about having 11 or 51 AF points? Or about having better results with high isos?  In fact, for the last one most of the people won't notice any difference unless they want to print their photos at a really big size (let's say 100x70 or even bigger, for example).

I just took a quick look in flickr, and all these pictures are taken with a D3000:

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wojciechzielinski/4389289103/" title="Sin título por Wojtek Zet, en Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4389289103_48bdb890b6.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt=""></a>

http://flic.kr/p/7yK5Pj

http://flic.kr/p/7NGU18

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chamellieon_photography/4177214613/

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15464902@N07/4084073056/" title="Selfportrait por Vlada..., en Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/4084073056_a4df2e3864.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="Selfportrait"></a>

As you can see, what matters is what is behind the camera :)

Check the prices, think about what do you really need, and think that you may discover that photography is something that fits you like a glove, but also that you don't like it that much and you'll have spent a lot of money in a camera that you don't even use. You wouldn't be the first.

Well, sorry about the links, I guess you'll have to copy&paste...:P