need basic advice

[glennz]

hi ! my daughter is graduating college with a degree in fines arts and a minor in photography. she is doing wonderful woirk in photography presently and wants a digital camera for her graduation. She would like the highest pixels possible within the budget and she does do really big work (large format) and would like to be able to attach other lenses to the camera i.e. telephoto,micro,zoom. Can you recommend a digital camera moderately priced to fill this need from a professional viewpoint. thank you !!

[CyberDyneSystems]

For interchangable lenses you are looking at either a 10D for $1,500.00 with no lens included, or the new 300D/Digital rebel for $1,000.00 with lens included.

(there are other SLRs as well but they are more expensive)

Both will take Canons entire line of over 50 lenses as well as other manufactures lenses. Bot are 6 megapixels, and capable of exceptional large prints.

For a student of photography I have to assume that an SLR camera with interchangable lenses is a must. Of the two listed above the 10D would be far suprior as it has more manual functions and controls available which may be neccesary for bot an artist and a student.

[Ardiem]

The Digital Rebel has my vote. Not only do you have interchangeable lenses, but a wide selection of options involving Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed. After reading the review on the Digital Rebel my S50 all of a sudden feels so "Limited" in features. =\

If you don't mind the "plastic" feel of the rebel, then by all means get that.

If you need another option, a Canon G3 would also be good.

[stopbath]

Seeing how she's into 4 x 5 photography, if you have a budget in multiples of 10 of thousands of dollars range, you could look at a digital back for the 4X5!

[phidong]

A degree in fine arts and a minor in photography. She sounds serious about what shes doing and deserves none less than a 10D. Its priced at 1500 w/ only body so you'll have to get her a lens too. If thats too much, you can always wait a little and get her a 300D, which is coming out soon, but you'll be taking hits on the creative area b/c theres considerable firmware crippling which make the 10D a superior camera (although the picture quality is about the same). If 1500 + lens is out of your range, the 300D will look very nice and should be an excellent camera no matter what people tell you. (its 1000$ w/ lens)

Or you can get her a S50, adapter, and filters which would run you way under $1000. I have one w/ adapter and lenses and it works great (although it may not be what shes looking for - a more professional cam). My buddy just ordered one for a bit over 400$, the adapter is about 20$, and lenses/filters range from 5$-40$ (because the threating is small).