Greetings All,

I have been monitoring this and a few other forums for about half a year now and concluded that the quality respondents frequent this forum.

I am about to purchase a DSLR and it will be either a Canon or a Nikon and the initial cash outlay will be in the neighborhood of $2500. (That’s what my permission slip allows.)

To my question(s). I would like comments on the following impressions that I have developed over the last ½ year to help me decide in which camp (Canon or Nikon) to pitch my tent. And please comment on the following based on offerings in my stated price range. I will not buy a top of the line professional DSLR… overkill.

1) Canon has a slight edge at higher ISO settings 800+ (Less Noise… etc)
2) Nikon has the best ‘constructed’ body in the D200
3) Nikon generally has better mid-range priced lenses
4) Canon has been the camera of choice for sports photography
5) Some Canon lenses are actually built by Sigma
6) Tamron lenses are generally a step up in quality from Sigma

What I would love to do for my initial purchase is to get a quality body and on versatile ‘good’ quality lens. Two options that I’m looking at are:

Nikon D200 with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-2.6G DX ED VR
Or
Canon 30D with Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR DI

Regards,

Ed