Well I made a similar thread a while ago but held off until I knew more and shot with the p&s some more. I think I know a little more now but I think that just confuses me sometimes. I think I have saved up enough and think Im getting a little help for my birthday. Anyways...

What I want to shoot: Action is number one priority. After that landscapes and general outdoors photography. Then people. Specifically skiing and mountain biking.

Where: Well all the ski shots will be in the cloudy northwest so low light comes into play some. A chunk of mtn biking ends up being low light just because you are in the woods. Since I will be shooting skiing and biking it would be nice if the camera could handle a little water/dirt and maybe a hit or two.

Camera body: Of course Ive been going through the classic canon vs nikon debate and tossed olympus in there for a while. Im leaning heavily towards canon now for a couple of reasons. I started to rule out olympus because it seems that there is less room to grow with the available bodies/lenses? Of course there is some but I will be buying into a system I would like to stick with for many years. Then Canon or Nikon. I lean towards Canon in part because....well Im not really sure how Ive ended up leaning towards Canon. Ive narrowed it down to the Canon 30d, 400d or the Nikon d80 or d40x. I think Im leaning towards Canon because the 30d seems to be the best fit for action and what Im looking to do? If I were to buy tonight I would most likely get a 30d body with an 18-50 F2.8 Sigma EX DC. I know that glass will make a larger difference than the body and have heard multiple times to get good lenses the first time around. If you have any recommendations in that area that would be great. Im sure I left something out but any advice is much appreciated and youre actually still reading this I probably owe you a beer.