Foo - Camera advice?

I know some of you are photographers, so was hoping for some advice. I'm looking to get an entry-level DSLR camera, primarily for cycling race photography and nature photography. I'm down to 3 cameras, the Nikon D40, Olympus E-410, and Canon EOS Rebel XT. Anyone have any experience with these cameras? Advice?

Also, if someone could suggest a small pocket size camera that I can throw in my jersey pocket on rides that takes great pictures would be help to me. Have a FujiFilm FinePix A345 right now and to put it nicely, it sucks! Thanks!

Do a search....Pheard asked almost this exact question a few days ago so the thread shouldn't be too far back.

I love Olympus in general, but from my discussion with people at camera store, I think I'd stay away. They have a proprietary lens mount and you have less selection in lenses. It seems Nikon/Canon are the best bets.

Here's the link to that thread: Canon or Nikon? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=362196)

I'm curious about suggestions for the pocket-sized camera, though.

k, thx guys

dp review is a good site for camera info (do a search because the d40/xt topic is much like the campy/shimano threads in the road bike forum). As someone posted the phread thread it's a lot like trek vs specialized. Both get the job done well, but the more comfortable to use will get more use.

If you buy online please be carful. If the price is much lower than b&h http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ or adorama http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=brands&brand=Adorama&Sterm=adorama_camara it might be too good to be true. Beach camera is also good. Check resellerratings.com before using an unknown vendor.

The Canon digital Elph series of cameras is generally considered to be very good and they are pretty compact. A few months ago, I bought Ms. MillCreek a Canon SD850IS at Costco, and she is pretty happy with it. For my bike rides, I use an older Olympus Stylus point and shoot, since they are water-resistant, and it seems to rain a lot while I am riding up here in the Seattle area.

If you plan to do action/sports/bird photography, it's Canon all the way. They're the only ones with an autofocus system good enough and they offer by far the best selection of long, fast lenses.

Olympus stylus epic [film] for a pocket camera. Great lens.

For pocket size cameras I`m a big fan of the Canon Elph line. I`ve had 1 Olympus and 2 Canons. The 2 Canons 5 years old and 2 years old are still alive and well despite being handled roughly and carelessly. My next camera will be the Canon SD950 IS or SD870 IS

The wife and I bought a Digital Rebel a few years back and after a while we simply had to concede that we were not "camera people" and go back to a point and shoot. We just bought a Canon a570is for $150 shipped and couldn't be happier. 7.1 MP with image stabilization is a sweet setup. Batteries last forever, picture quality is excellent, and it is very small indeed. Worth looking at and because its last year's model, the prices on it are getting lower by the minute.

Now we just have to sell off our other camera and lenses.

For a pocket camera, I am more than happy with my Nikon Coolpix L3.

For an example of the photos it takes, here you go: http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/catatonic_cyclist/tampa%2011-06/

And here was a shot I took to deliberately make the camera's autofocus screw up...it did pretty well despite the photo being mostly reflective surfaces (mirror, chrome or stainless steel).
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/catatonic_cyclist/DSCN0125.jpg

This is a photo I took of one of my electric guitars, this was done using the onboard flash:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/catatonic_cyclist/Axes/DSCN0138.jpg

For pocket size cameras I`m a big fan of the Canon Elph line. I`ve had 1 Olympus and 2 Canons. The 2 Canons 5 years old and 2 years old are still alive and well despite being handled roughly and carelessly. My next camera will be the Canon SD950 IS or SD870 IS

+1. My Elph has held up very well, even after the time I forgot I had it hanging from my handlebars, loaded up my bike on my trunk rack, and drove home including going over a very windy bridge. :rolleyes:

I'm a Canon boy.

I've had a couple of their Elph's and have been more than pleased with them.

I shoot with a Rebel XTi. I think it's a great camera, especially considering the price. Also, Canon's CMOS sensors tend to deal better with low light situations than competitors' CCD sensors (I think I got the acronyms right!).

B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com) have some great prices.

You can see a bit (wee bit!) of my work at my photography site (http://photography.ariessun.com). It might be a bit buggy still, but it's a start.

My wife has a Nikon D50........WONDERFUL camera. It takes some of the clearest pics Ive ever seen. We also have a 300mm zoom lens. We mainly use it for my daughters softball tournaments. Captures the fast moving things very well.

The XT doesn't have as good of a screen or interface as the Nikon D40/D40x, but the XTi is pretty well matched with the latter. I also like the ergonomics of the Nikon better. The one nitpick about the D40 is that it doesn't have an internal autofocus motor, so you only get autofocus with lenses that have their own motor, the AF-S lenses. Fortunately there is a decent and growing collection of these lenses available, and all other features work on non AF-S lenses. It's a really minor inconvenience, unless you're planning on doing lots of action shots with prime lenses.

I can't speak for Olympus cameras.

For compacts, I'm a huge fan of Canon. They've simply got things figured out well in that market and have offerings at nearly every price point and feature set. I use an SD800 IS as my pocket camera. I like the wider angle lens, despite some added distortion compared to the SD850's longer lens, and the flash is surprisingly bright and even for such a small package. Another good option are the Fuji's.