I've joined the Digital SLR Camera craze

Well after MUCH deliberation. I finally decided I'd head to a recommended camera store in town and ask them flat out what they had to say between the 3 cameras I was trying to decide on.

The 3 were in order of personal preference from my own reviews:

Olympus E500 2 lens kit
Nikon D50 body only with separate purchased lenses
Canon Digital Rebel XT with separate purchased lenses

The salesman at The Camera Store here in downtown Calgary was very informative. Explaining that while the Canon and Nikon's had good groundwork, the lenses that came with them were crap. Mainly constructed from cheap plastics and not really a good choice. So if I were to go that route, it was suggested that the body should be purchased and then spring for a better lens (which was going to put me a few hundred dollars out of my price range).

Then he started talking to me about the Olympus and the more and more he looked into the camera the more and more he was impressed over what it had to offer with the 2 lens kit. He explained that the lenses were actually very decent for what I was planning to use the camera for and far superior to the Canon and Nikon counterparts. Not only that, but the package deal has a rebate of $100 right now as well. So this was my selling feature and I was sold.

Almost. Haha, unfortunately they couldn't find the 1 box they had somewhere in the store but they have more on order. So I'm waiting for a phone call in the next few days to tell me my new toy has arrived. Can't wait to start snapping.

A full review on the camera can be found here from this very informative camera and accessory review site: Olympus E500 Review

Here's a pic of the camera with it's lenses: