Need a camera, but what one.

At one time a had a Canon 20D that I had to sell few last year. I only used it in full automatic mode. Its all I knew how to do. But I loved it and all the pics looked good to me. The best part about it for me was I could point it at my daughter and get off a few pics of her smile before it was gone.

I have a very slow and cheap camera now but the time it takes the pic she is in the next room. I want to get a new camera the is fast enough to get that smile again.

I dont think I can spend much more then $500. Was looking at the G11 or a Rebel maybe even a T2I if I do well on ebay in the next few weeks.

If I am not taking pics of kids and girlfriend I like to get some landscape pics as well. I would love to find a way to take cool night time pics of the moon over the lake. And thing like that.


Knowing a little bit about what I want to do with camera can you please point me in to a setup that would work well for me. Thanks for your time, Jared.

The obvious advantages of a DSLR over a point and shoot is flexibility. If you don't plan on learning any more about photography, then get a point and shoot. If you want to learn, grow, and might enjoy the potential flexibility of an slr, there are good deals to be had on used equipment as well as new entry level equipment. Used 20 and 30D are going for as little as $400, and the "nifty fifty" (50mm f/1.8 ) goes for around $100.