Aabha in US My advise is to stay with either Canon or Nikon. As I quickly learned, when you buy an SLR, you are buying into the system (lenses and accesories) and Canon/Nikon have the most selections. Personally I am a Canon fan since I love thier design and they have more variety in their DSLR offerings. For $900 you will get a brand new Rebel XT with a kit lens, but compared to 10D/20D/30D the rebel feels like a toy. So if you think you will get serious, don't go for the XT or Nikon d50. But a new 20D or 30D is beyond your budget so look for a USED 20D or 10D. When a new model comes out, you see a lot of the old ones turning up in the used market. The 30D just came out, so you will see a LOT of used 10Ds and 20Ds in ebay, craigslist, etc etc. I am sure you wil be able to find a used Canon 20D or Nikon D70 for under $900. However, you don't want to use up all your DSLR budget on the body (and kit lens). you will VERY VERY quickly out grow your kit lens ( the crappy 18-55mm) and crave a better lens, longer telephoto, wider wideangle etc etc. I bought a used 10D body at craigslist for $500 (which i think is better than rebel XT) so I was able to afford a mid range zoom lens, long telephoto lens, 50 mm f1.8 prime lens, camera bag, tripod, 1GB memory card, spare battery. And believe me, you WILL need all of these once you start getting into photography. In summary: if on a budget, don't buy the latest model and don't buy new. Do some research and buy online (much cheaper and no tax) and save some of your budget for a couple more lenses/accesories.