So, why did you buy a Canon?

[FlyingPete]

I was reminded the other day of one of the main reasons I choose Canon when looking at a AF SLR many years ago after trouble shooting a Nikon one of my team was using.

This got me thinking, I wonder why other choose Canon?

For starters for me I was looking at starting ground up when I went looking for an AF SLR, I had owned a couple of Pentax and Olympus MF SLR's (OM1 - OM10 - ME Super - P30N) which I had long since sold when I was a student strapped for cash.

This was the early ninties, my options were Canon, Minolta, Nikon and Pentax. The Canon EOS50 really stood out from the rest at the time for one reason - dials. It had real dials, everyone else had buttons and complex menus you had to hunt through (the Nikon I was messing with the other day was still the same).

I could flick a dial around to what ever shooting mode, metering mode of drive mode I wanted, quickly and easliy. That was my main reason, seen no point in changing since then, although I have less dials now and more buttons.

The other lesser reason was at the time, Canon was the only camera that had the AF motors in the lenses, the others all had then in the bodies, also several of the alternatives still had aperture rings on the lenses that needed to be set to 'A' to use full auto, P or Tv, an extra setting you had to remember to do. Also the Minolta had this dumb card thing happening, where you need to buy an expansion card to enable 'creative' modes, the Canon had them all built in from go!

I am yet to see a real reason to switch to anything else :D

[defordphoto]

I had only 3 film SLRs since I was 17, the last being a Canon EOS650. Already had a couple of lenses so it was a natural choice to stay with Canon when moving to digital. Add the proberbial cherry to the cake that Canon leads the digital and glass markets by a very long mile and the choice really is pretty simple.

[Scottes]

A friend owned a Canon D30 and said that Canon was the best for digital. After investigating Canon and Nikon it didn't take long for me to agree with him.

[mikesd]

Like Scott, after doing doing a little home work it was game over! I also already had a Canon ball cap and I wanted to photo-cordinate.

[Pekka]

When I bought G1 I chose it because it had very good image quality (low noise), hotshoe, used Compactflash and had RAW format. Later I bought D30 because it was the first affordable DSLR (28000 FIM back then!) and it had RAW - I also compared lens lineups for low light shooting and it seemed that Canon had biggest variety available. Haven't regretted that choice - got D60, then 10D and now 1D Mark II. Each time I had a better camera.

Big strong point of Canon is that when they release something you can buy it quite soon after release. No vaporware, they are always ahead the competition. And they have very strong R&D section and LOTS of money for it - extremely imporant in digital area.

[TiggerBear]

This takes me back...with my first pay cheque I went and bought a AE1-P, having recently broken my Dad's Topcon on a skiing trip.
Then upgraded to the 1000F when that came along, as I had two lenses by then....and loved the logo.
After this was stolen from my car, I picked up a 50E secondhand and started building my collection again...then I went through a twilight period of a Fuji digital, but couldn't resist the 300D when it came out. But alas only 24 hrs old I got mugged in Malaysia before even taking a shot! The next day I was convinced into buying a Nikon by a very pushy sales man..but luckily I came to my senses before the holiday had finished and came home with another 300D.

She was lovely but I am now happily married to my 20D; but can't help giving the 1Ds a little wink out of the corner of my eye when ever I see her pass.

But I never be unfaithful to canon again...

[Moppie]

I started off quite differntly, Iv always had an interest in photography, but during my "younger years" spent all my time and money on cars. Then towards the end of university, after rediscovering my artisitic side I decieded I needed to take a break from cars, least it bankrupt me. The sudden explosion of affordable, controlable digital cameras caught my attention.
Iv never liked film, its always been to expensive for me to buy and get processed, and I really don't like the idea of taking a photo and having to wait to see how it turned out (something about instant gratification). Going digital was going to more expensive at the start, but cheaper in the long run.
I then spent 6 months reading about photography, digital and film, and doing resurch into differnt cameras. The more I read the more I knew I wanted to go digital, and the more resuarch I did, the more I knew I needed a Canon. I built a list of everything I needed, only three cameras filled those needs. The, the G2 and the A40. Guess which one I got. :D

The A40 served me very well for nearly 2 years still it was uplifted by someone less deserving.
I quickly replaced it with an A80, with out even hesitating or even looking at another brand.
Iv always been a bit un-convenional in my approach to things, and I viewed SLRs with some distaste for sometime. Something about running Le-Mans in a Triumph Spitfire appeals to me, and I figured I would exceed the limits of the most basic before I stepped into something more powerful. My next purchase will be a DSLR, but only because Im starting to need something a bit faster down those long straights, and with more control in the corners.

[tim]

I bought the 300D because of the proven upgrade path, the large range of Canon and 3rd party lenses, and because it and Canon have a great reputation. I upgraded to the 20D because I like toys, as well as appreciating the extra features.

[Fer]

My 1st camera was EOS Rebel S waaaaaaaaaaay back in college. Then I bought a little Power Shot S300 for fun and then I realized that I needed something better, EOS DRebel was my choice because I already had lenses for it, and the price was quite acceptable. What can I say?... I am a Canon fan ;)

Hope I can get more lenses soon :)

[FlyingPete]

I bought the 300D because of the proven upgrade path, the large range of Canon and 3rd party lenses, and because it and Canon have a great reputation. I upgraded to the 20D because I like toys, as well as appreciating the extra features.

Tim, how is the upgrade going? It rained for the first month of me owning my 20D, so not that many shooting oportunities!

[FlyingPete]

My 1st camera was EOS Rebel S waaaaaaaaaaay back in college. Then I bought a little Power Shot S300 for fun and then I realized that I needed something better, EOS DRebel was my choice because I already had lenses for it, and the price was quite acceptable. What can I say?... I am a Canon fan ;)

Hope I can get more lenses soon :)

Amazing how many people owned Film EOS's then got a Powershot, loved it, missed the SLR features now have a Digital EOS, I for one am another of those!

[Andy_T]

After having a N***n 601 SLR for some years, I got the G2 because it was the best affordable digital camera at the time (actually wanted the N***n 5700, but couldn't afford it :rolleyes: )

Then I found this forum ... the rest is history :lol:

Best regards,
Andy

[Tom W]

I bought a Canon because of my experience with this:

http://home.comcast.net/~trwilk3/Images/FT_Pillow.jpg

[FlyingPete]

I bought a Canon because of my experience with this:

http://home.comcast.net/~trwilk3/Images/FT_Pillow.jpg

That looks so much like my OM1 its no funny! I even has the mechanical self timer lever on the front of the body!

[RJSorensen]

Canon and Apple like fries and a Coke, seamless integration. Best combo going.

[FlyingPete]

Canon and Apple like fries and a Coke, seamless integration. Best combo going.

Are you a Mac man? Three out of the eight shooters in my team last week were using i-Books to compliment their DSLR's. They looked good from where I was, nice and quick, couldn't find a Mac version of NeatImage, so all the image cleaning had to be done on a PC.

Was particularly impressed with i-photo, until I tried to open a disk on my PC!

[RJSorensen]

Yes I am a Mac user since 1986 or so . . . I like things that just work, I don't want to know all of the insides . . . just 'compute' and or take pictures.

[KevC]

I went with an S230 by recommendation from another forum. When it came time to choose a dSLR, I was dead set on the Nikon D70. But I found my dad's old EOS650 and found out that the EF35-105mm lens that he had could be used with the Digital Rebel. I also found out that the Digital Rebel could be hacked to act almost like a 10D, and the sensors were the same in each. The final nail in the coffin was that I found out the cost of the Digital Rebel had just dropped once more, and I was saving over $300 by going Canon than Nikon. So I bought it. And here I am, a Canon fanboy :D Canon Printer, Canon Scanner, Canon Paper, 2 Canon Cameras, 3 Canon Lenses :D

[vcutag]

My name is Tom, and I'm a Canon user. I will never have money again.

I blame our photo editor at my school's paper, for which I run the website (http://www.commonwealthtimes.com). I was looking at buying a "real" camera, since my cheap little Nikon Coolpix 2100 wasn't cutting it, right about the time he was looking at selling his 300D to buy a 10D. So, instead of sinking money into a Nikon, I got his 300D and battery grip for $600.

The rest is history.

(Oh, I just ordered my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, I can't wait for it to get here.) :-)

[Tom W]

That looks so much like my OM1 its no funny! I even has the mechanical self timer lever on the front of the body!

That is not only the timer, but also the DOF preview lever if you push it towards the lens. Mirror Lockup is on the other side of the body, above the flash cord socket.

[vcutag]

Yes I am a Mac user since 1986 or so . . . I like things that just work, I don't want to know all of the insides . . . just 'compute' and or take pictures.

I've found that Macs are a good system all around to use, having crossed back over from the dark side about two years ago. I grew up on Macs, started using System 6 when I was in middle school (early 90's), and stopped using them when OS 8 stalled out.

Anyone else looking forward to 10.4?

[Tom W]

I've found that Macs are a good system all around to use, having crossed back over from the dark side about two years ago. I grew up on Macs, started using System 6 when I was in middle school (early 90's), and stopped using them when OS 8 stalled out.

Anyone else looking forward to 10.4?

I can't tell you what kind of computers were available when I was in middle school, but they used IBM cards. Actually, the school system had but one computer at the time.

[FlyingPete]

Yes I am a Mac user since 1986 or so . . . I like things that just work, I don't want to know all of the insides . . . just 'compute' and or take pictures.

Yep I hear you, I was a Mac user from 89-mid 90's when I got a job as a graphic artist, where they only had PC's (go figure?), turns out I was better at fixing the PC's (hadn't had much experience fixing my mac, as it never broke ;) ) than I was as the graphics, ended up as a engineer supporting PC's.

I am now at that point where I want it too just work, no messing around. (sorry off topic!)

[vcutag]

I can't tell you what kind of computers were available when I was in middle school, but they used IBM cards. Actually, the school system had but one computer at the time.

For what it's worth, we used typewriters in my typing class in HS... it was an odd school system. I'm one of the few early-twentysomethings I know that can say they learned to type on an honest to god manual typewriter. :)

[FlyingPete]

For what it's worth, we used typewriters in my typing class in HS... it was an odd school system. I'm one of the few early-twentysomethings I know that can say they learned to type on an honest to god manual typewriter. :)

Oh I hated those, when I was learning to type at school we had those in half the class, and later that year that got some electronic ones, but there was not enough so we spend one week on, three weeks off the electronics. What I really hated was if you slipped between keys on the manuals and got your finger stuck! Should have used the Acorn BBC's from next door for typing!

[vcutag]

Oh I hated those, when I was learning to type at school we had those in half the class, and later that year that got some electronic ones, but there was not enough so we spend one week on, three weeks off the electronics. What I really hated was if you slipped between keys on the manuals and got your finger stuck! Should have used the Acorn BBC's from next door for typing!

It was weird, really, each classroom had one Mac, the old LC II pizza box, but there were no computer labs until I was in my sophomore year in HS. This was in 1997, so that tells you how ass-backwards Isle of Wight County was. It's gotten significantly better, from what I've heard.

We have an old manual in the newsroom, I'm thinking about dusting it off for an April Fool's Day joke... my PowerBook is on the fritz, and I'm having to shoot film. :-)

[FlyingPete]

It was weird, really, each classroom had one Mac, the old LC II pizza box, but there were no computer labs until I was in my sophomore year in HS. This was in 1997, so that tells you how ass-backwards Isle of Wight County was. It's gotten significantly better, from what I've heard.


The first computers I had at school were BBC's (Model B), the school forked out (I mean that!) for them, and we had one in our classroom for a week each term (at the time there were three terms per year). By the time I got to high school, they had a lab of those, and a lab of Apple IIe's, later with two Mac pluses with external 20MB drives, that was in the early 90's. Seems strange for a school not to have a lab until 97???

[vcutag]

The first computers I had at school were BBC's (Model B), the school forked out (I mean that!) for them, and we had one in our classroom for a week each term (at the time there were three terms per year). By the time I got to high school, they had a lab of those, and a lab of Apple IIe's, later with two Mac pluses with external 20MB drives, that was in the early 90's. Seems strange for a school not to have a lab until 97???

It was weird the way they did things there. Most of the money went to the Vo-tech programs. There was one classroom with a bunch of IBM PC's, but we didn't use it for typing class... I think it had something to do with the business classes.

It could just be that they wanted us to learn on typewriters, like learning longhand cursive. I don't know anyone who uses that, either, but they taught it to us in elementary school in the 80s.

The county didn't start to really focus on technology until I was in HS, I went back there not too long ago (I graduated 5 years ago), and it was completely different.

Then again, the area is going from predominantly rural to suburban, bringing in more people and tax dollars.

[RJSorensen]

You guys are killing me . . . with the old time stories. My first was the Mac SE20, I got the first one in the valley with a Hard Drive. It was a twenty meg model and was just huge . . . back in the day of dual 400k floppy systems. So of course I learned to type on a typewriter. Best thing that ever happened to me. The typing skill is most likely the only HS skill that still has any value in todays world. Nice to find a few Mac men round and about.

[vcutag]

You guys are killing me . . . with the old time stories. My first was the Mac SE20, I got the first one in the valley with a Hard Drive. It was a twenty meg model and was just huge . . . back in the day of dual 400k floppy systems. So of course I learned to type on a typewriter. Best thing that ever happened to me. The typing skill is most likely the only HS skill that still has any value in todays world. Nice to find a few Mac men round and about.

I'd hardly call it "old time" when I pre-date the first Macintosh by two years and some change. :-)

[theflyingkiwi]

I started my cameras with canon g3, The reason I picked that is because I read all the reviews and at the time it was the best way I thought I would wont to get in to photography. At this point I had no lenes. After 6months after using a friends 10D (there was no 300D, and I even if there was I don't think that I would have got it anyway) that is when I decied to get that.

At the time I hadn't looked at the lens or understood many much of photography. The only logic that I had used was I had an extra battery that I could use with the 10D.

Now I understand a great more, and if I had to choose again, I would choose Canon.

Flying Pete, I remember the old BBC, my collage had those when I first started, and still had the same ones when I had left. how sad is that :lol:

[Wazza]

Why did I buy a Canon?

Because I've been browsing these boards for the past 9 months or so (but only posting last 3), and the members here have hooked me. Glad I never registered at that Nikon forum. Who knows what I could be using right now.

As for computers, I've grown up around them. My dad owned an Einstein, and then everyone in my family had Amiga's. So damn expensive for what they did! I used to just play the racing games, like Jaguar XJ220. Later in the 90's, we went through DOS, and then Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, and witnessed more and more computer crashes. Strange that.

[Jesper]

I had a Minolta camera and I was thinking about getting a digital SLR sometime in the future, so I did some research and found out that Nikon and Canon were the leaders with regard to DSLRs at that time (around May 2003). Nikon had the D100 and Canon had the 10D (the D70 and 300D didn't exist yet). After comparing specs and looking at lenses and other accessories, I concluded that the 10D had a slight advantage above the D100 (it was just a bit faster, had a bigger buffer etc. and was about 10%-15% cheaper than the D100). Also, Canon's lens lineup looked better than Nikon's (knowing which lenses are compatible with which bodies is a science in itself with Nikon!), and Canon stuff in general was just a bit cheaper than Nikon stuff.

So I sold my Minolta camera and bought an EOS 30 (not a D30, but EOS 30 - known as Elan 7E in the USA), still with the idea "someday I'll get a Canon DSLR". I also bought a film scanner (Minolta Scan Dual III) and scanned my slide film with it. My first Canon lens, which I bought together with the EOS 30, was the EF 28-135 IS USM.

Just a few months later I decided "why don't I get the 10D now, I do have the money". So I got the 10D and it is so much easier and faster to use than scanning film and repairing the dust and scratches visible in the scanned slides in Photoshop...

I absolutely don't regret choosing Canon, they are still the leader at making DSLRs. Nikon still doesn't have a direct competitor to the 20D.

[kb244]

Canon : For me seemed to be the best bangs for the bucks, I went from a Kodak DC3200 -> Canon Powershot Digital Elph S110 -> Canon Powershot G3 -> Canon Digital Rebel. Canon seems to provide all of the general shooting abilities in their consumer models as well as shooting modes and so on, where as another manufacture may lack this, or lack that, and end up costing more. Again I chose canon because more times than many they seem to be the best bangs for the bucks.

[cruzyn56]

Went from old Konica film cameras to a Canon A70 from the reviews I read. Was impressed enough that my wife bought one, then an A60 for her daughter, then knowing that I missed the SLRs, bought me a 20D.

[Olegis]

I got my 10D almost by accident, in fact I went to the store ready to buy the Nikon D70, which just arrived in Israel (at that time I felt that the Nikon D70 kit was a much better alternative to the 300D kit, and the 10D was just too expensive for me at $1900 for body only). When I got to the store, the salesman told me that somebody already bought the only D70 kit they received and that I have to wait another two weeks for the nest shipment. Then I saw the 10D box and the salesman told me that they got two 10D bodies and one of them was olready sold. One I took that camera into my hands, I couldn't let go - it felt so good that I decided to buy it inspite the low budget.

That's how I got my 10D with the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 :D

[musthavemuzk]

twas a no brainer. purchased my fuji 3800 dec of 2002. at that time i wanted a camera with some control. it had that. by the time the rebel was released the following fall i had decided i needed more control so i was thinking it was time to step to a DSLR. the D70 came out. the rebel came out. the 10D was out. all good choices. this was oct 2003. i was like cool i will do one for a gift to me christmas 2003. well started having car problems so camera was put on hold. so summer of 04 came along and decided christmas for me would be a new DSLR. by then i was set on the rebel. well i decided i better build me a new computer to handle the larger files and the editing and processing i would be doing. as i had a duron 950 with 512 megs PC133 ram. not quite a speed demon. so late summer i bit the bullet and built me a pretty stout computer. XP3200+, Asus board, a gig of XMS PC3200 ram, and another 80 gig drive to go with the one i had as well as a dvd writer. so now that i had a computer i was set. then i decided to bring mom into the computer age and built her a computer as well. but with that it put my camera on hold. which was OK with me. so come january 05 taxes filed i started looking at rebel prices and then was told about this place by a friend of mine. so then the 20D was put on the plate. had not planned on spending 1500 on a camera. so with lots of searching and reading others stories and such i felt it would be the wise choice to step over the rebel to the 20D. this way i was not kicking myself later when i found the rebel lacked something. if the money was there i would have just stepped up to the 1 series but that is just not in the mix at all.
so this morning i ordered my 20D kit and the 50/1.8.

why i chose canon??? simply the fact that they seem to be the best for the money when it comes to the lower end of DSLR's. be it the D30, D60 when they came out. or the rebel, 10D or 20D....they just seem to have it going on. lots of lens choices by 4 makers.
that D70 was right in the mix then later it was dropped and the rebel was the chosen one. even with the possibility of a new DSLR in the next month or so i felt now was the time to get me one.
had i not found this place the rebel would be enroute and not the 20D.
thanx POTN for spending my money.... LOL
but i do believe i made the wiser choice. especially when it comes to having a body for awhile. as well as the extra features.

planned uses for the 20D...racing pics (both oval and straightline), mayb birds and scenic, mayb macro, who knows...i should be able to do it all once i find that money tree to get me more glass...

Monty

[FlyingPete]

What I didn't expect from this thread was the number of people where a Canon DSLR was their first Canon SLR, or first any SLR.

I thought I would fins a lot more die hard Canonites, you know the line always had a Canon, always will!

SLR sales ans lens sales in general must being going through the roof with this new digital revolution!

[DocFrankenstein]

Poor student. Having worked for a month to get that Drebel and that lens... to have "all I need" for photography.:rolleyes:

So... We have the rebel for a 1000$... We have D70 for 1800... the nikon has that weird red triangle on it and looks ugly.

No idea about lens lineups...
No idea about AF capabilities...
Canon had a reputation for good sensors and 10D was 2000$...

So I thought: Good, I'm getting a 2000$ sensor in a 1000$ package.

[musthavemuzk]

What I didn't expect from this thread was the number of people where a Canon DSLR was their first Canon SLR, or first any SLR.

I thought I would fins a lot more die hard Canonites, you know the line always had a Canon, always will!

SLR sales ans lens sales in general must being going through the roof with this new digital revolution!

sure hope this is encouraging and not discouraging.

Monty

[Steven M. Anthony]

I had 3 film slrs, all Minolta. Then I bought a 4mp sony. A few months later I sold that and got the 5mp 707. Loved that until a neighbor let me use his drebel. Loved it (except the plastic). Went out to look at dslrs. Minolta didn't have one, Nikon felt weird. Canon 10D felt good. I had looked at all the reviews and didn't see much difference between D70 and 10D ( frame rate isn't an issue for me). SO I went with the canon.

[XXWoodmanXX]

Me? I already had a film SLR (Elan II), so I decided, if I was gonna upgrade from my Sony F717, it only makes sense to go with Canon.

[FlyingPete]

sure hope this is encouraging and not discouraging.

Monty

Encouraging! New converts are always good!

[karusel]

Why? I did a lot of research, I became a member of this forum just after I decided it was going to be Canon, I was just unsure whether 10D or 300D, in the end 10D it was. I chose Canon, becase at least at the time Canon D-SLR's produced images with least noise, because of better arsenal of lenses, not to mention that most of L's are of better quality and faster (35 1.4, 85 1.2, 200 1.8) than you-know-whose top of the line, whatever it's called, also many tele lens are image stabilized. Final reason - good prices on cameras and on lenses.

[zzpza]

my 1st canon was an av1. i really liked it but bought it in a 2nd hand shop in the early 90's on a whim. my 1st and 2nd slr's were both praktica's (pl nova 1 and bca) i'd replaced my bca with an olympus om10 and hated it. i really couldn't see why people raved about the om series so much, but i thought i would give them another chance as i was on the bottom rung of the olympus ladder and bought a nearly new om40. this was a much better camera than the om10, but i still didn't like it and wasn't very impressed with the lenses OR the underexposing metering system (ESP). so that's what drew me to the av1 - needle match. :) i loved that camera and used it a LOT. i had a very nice fd mount hoya 200mm f2.8 lens that was very handy. then i was burgled and the om40, av1 and my bronny etrs-i were stolen along with all their accessories, i was not impressed. :( :( :( but with the insurance payout, i decided to concentrate on one system that i liked and saw had a solid future. as i hadn't tried a n**** yet, i thought i would give it a go and tried a new f80? against the just released eos 300 (film). the canon won hands down and the rest is history.

i do still use my praktica's on occasion - you never forget your 1st love. :)

j.

[zzpza]

forgot to say that the n**** lens mount 'system' looked like a real headache trying to remember which lens fits which camera and which features will / won't work with each combination. :(

also canon significantly reduce their time to market with new technology by introducting it in their next body and not doing a top down technology refresh like n*****.

j.

[Sketcher]

I held off getting into photography until digital became 'affordable' to me (film would have kicked my ... in processing cost alone).

1. I evaluated and chose which lens lineup met my needs and interests.
2. I then purchased the best digital SLR I could afford at the time.

My mindset was that camera bodies come and go; lenses last a lifetime. I prefer Canon Lenses.

[lensmen]

Becoz of the "L" lenses and my happy experience with the S40

[MT]

Got tired of waiting for Minolta - I have a 9xi (yes one with the funny cards) - but built like a tank and an assortment of lenses and accessories. My brother-in-law who is an "actual" photographer (instead of a wannabe like me) talked me into playing with his 10D one day...now I'm two cameras (a rebel and a 20D), 6 lenses, two flashes and three camera bags richer. My wallet however, will never be the same.

[Belmondo]

I've was always a Canon user prior to going digital. I owned a variety of film bodies, AE-1, A1, F1, T70, T90, etc. In spite of my loyalty to Canon I bought into the Nikon mystique just a little when I bought my first good-quality digital---the 995. Somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes after I bought the Nikon, Canon brought out the G2. I always felt the 995 was a capable camera, but a little gimicky, so I bought the G2, and I've been back in the fold ever since. Another G2, a G5, two 10Ds, a 1D, 1D Mk II, and a 20D brings me up to my current point in the Odyssey.

[**EDIT**] I almost forgot the EOS 650 that I bought in hawaii after I dropped my good camera from the overhead compartment of the airplane when we landed. Not as traumatic as when I dropped the 100-400L, but it looked much worse. It ripped the camera mount out of the lens. Very ugly.

[Boudreaux]

When I decided to move up to a DSLR camera from a P&S, I investigated both Canon and n****. The D Rebel had just come out and was in my price range. I also was impressed with the integration among cameras / lenses in the Canon lineup. So Canon was an easy and good decision.

Since that decision I have not looked back but it is quickly becoming an expensive endeavor. I NEED(really want) more and more lenses, right?

I now have a 20D, many lenses, and a wife who is encouraging me to "earn" some money with all that camera stuff!!:lol:

[Claire]

My first Canon was the IXUS 300 that I got as a graduation present from my parents in 2001. I was very surprised to get a digital camera as it had never even crossed my mind. I was perfectly happy with my APS Nikon (love that camera!).

Then I began to take pics with the digital camera and it was mainly Uni parties and similar. When I got back to Sweden I began to bring the camera along during walks and took nature pics. That's how I got into photogaphy for real. I loved the instant feedback and the colours.

When I finally began to consider upgrading I first looked at the G5. I also looked at a Fujifilm 7000 (the macro was really cool). More research and I decided I'd invest in a DSLR instead because of being able to change lenses. Also because it had the TV/AV/M modes. I wanted to learn more about the technical and theoretical stuff. I wanted a camera I could grow into.

After tons of reading reviews etc it was either the 300D or D70. Finally I decided on Canon because my other Canon had been great to me, the 300D got good reviews and there were tons of lenses to choose from in the future. :) Now I just need to wait until I can actually afford them...