Thank-you all. I have posts of the same nature all over the boards as I wasn't sure where the best place was. The camera is bought! My dear husband found a great price at Blacks of all places... went with the Rebel XTi, the 50mm, 2G memory card and some cheap filters for protection of the lenses? Will have to save up some more for an extra battery and I am sure all sorts of other things that will soon seem a completel need...lol. And yes rylan I will have to get some snow shoes... that or a sled and dogs so I can load up the 4 kids and get to the store to get the photo gear. :-)