Camera Labs

I posted this in the nikon forum also so as to compare the two and account for bias.

I am a Student with an intrest in photography. I currently have a Kodak z740 5 megapixel camera, which I have outgrown. In the last year (it was a christmas present) the picture count has gone from zero to at least 10,000. (mostly due to the nessity to take muyltiple shots to end up with one that was both in focus and good color/white balance on a kodak point and shoot) I love to photograph trips as wel as family events. I particularly like photographing people and buildings and things in nature. I am Bumping up to an SLR, and have narrowed it down to the D80 and XTi, but am leaning to the D80 due to several qualities standard to most DSLRs that Canon has not incorporated into the rebel line, or had dropped on the XTi.

A couple of these are:
No spot meter on ANY rebels.
No top LCD for settings.
questionable sensor quality on the new rebel (acording to Cnet)
as well as others seemingly common to many reviews I have read.

Also, the XTi seemed a little small to me, but I am still open to that option as I am willing to sacrifice short term quality for future usefullnes. I am looking to spend no more than 1000 dollars on the body and no more than 150 on the first lens, (which is only to get me through to my birthday when I will upgrade the lens).

Chosing the brand is important now because I plan on building a lens collection that grows over time. I would appreciate if anyone could help me make this decision, and also guide me to resources about lenses and brand choice regarding lenses, as there is plenty of info on bodies but none I can find about lenses. Thanks

You write "Choosing the brand is important now because I plan on building a lens collection that grows over time."

I couldn't agree more. Any lenses you buy after the kit lens are likely going to outlive your initial choice of body so providing the initial body is good enough the lens system is the critical choice.

Gordon does great in depth lens reviews but obviously doesn't have the time to test them all so if you want a good overview of the Canon range you could do worse than visit

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/

Bob.