Camera Advice/Photographer Tips

[OliverG]

1. I think getting a non video SLR is a waste. sure, you can get a 40d for cheap, but you're going to have trouble reselling it, because it doesn't have video. that said, I have a 40d and love it. I think it's the best value for a sports SLR by far. the 50d is great, but honestly doesn't have much improvement over the 40d. the T1i has a terrible frame rate for sports...the 40d is like a machine gun.
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But, you can also look at it another way too. Let a camera be a camera and let a video camera be a video camera. Yes, many non-latest and greatest bodies don't do video, but if your intent is to take pictures, don't worry about it. For me, shooting video from a SLR body would just feel weird as opposed to using a 'real' video camera. I have a Canon HF11 I bought in Japan and it is just trick all around considering it's size, price point and performance. It's specifically engineered to be a compact, high data rate HD cam. Yes, you can take stills with it also, but I very rarely use it as such. It's a video cam, and it works really well and the quality is amazing. I kind of doubt a SLR primarily meant for stills could approach the same performance, speed and quality as a still cam. Just as I don't expect a video cam to take the same level of stills as a video cam.

[adamrod]

the SLR video is a very different type of video than you'd get with a specialized HD video camera.

a specialized HD video camera has a relatively small aperture, large zoom levels and autofocus.

the SLR video, while also taking HD video, has a much larger aperture, generally less zoom range and NO autofocus (that's right, you have to focus by hand)

the thing is, with the larger aperture, you can take much more artistic style video, you can have great bokeh and can mess with the focus point a bit better. plus, the optics on an SLR camera are always going to be better than the optics on a video camera. The bigger aperture means your low light video is going to be much much better too.

For amateurs like us, we'll always take better video with a dedicated HD cam, but there are actually quite a few professional videos being taken with SLR video nowadays, as it gets you much much closer to what real pro videographers use.

Finally, at some point, I'm going to want a good HD video camera. why buy an SLR and an HD camera when I can buy one that does both and takes advantage of all the $1000s i've spent on lenses?

I think the decision to get an SLR is one someone makes when they want to take artistic and beautiful photos as opposed to just documenting a situation. I feel the same way about video in an SLR. it's difficult, it's complicated, but with practice the artistic potential is very high.

[goosh]

I would never buy a camera thinking of its resell value. Actually, I would never even consider buying a second hand digital SLR.
Lenses are no problem (though you don't get much of a discount), but DSLRs have a limited lifespan and you never know when the last frame it's going to be. You never know what the previous owner did to the camera. It's not worth the savings. Buy new.

DSLRs are like computers. After a few years, they become obsolete and you have to upgrade. Sad, but true. We live in a throw away society.

I was really excited about the 7D but after seeing shots from it and how it handles low ISO I'm very disappointed. I don't think it's worth an upgrade from any of the XXD (I currently have a 30D and my wife an XSi and they both handle noise better than the 7D)
The problem with the 7D is that they cram way too many pixels in an APS size sensor. If they had kept it at around 12MP it would have been a way better camera.

Having said that. If you don't have a camera and you are buying everything new, the 7D is great.

But like everybody said, it's all about lenses.
I used to have the 70-300 DO and I was disappointed on how soft they pictures came out.
70-200 2.8L IS is one of the best lenses out there and the 100-400 is awesome (though bit slow, but you'll have tons of range and in a sunny day it should be ok)
of course, you can always go wide angle and get right in the action. I love shooting kiting with my 10-22, but at that point, I'm in the water