I am suprised to see so many people say go with Sony over Nikon. I personally would go for the D50. I own a D70 myself. When I was deciding between Nikon and Canon I was told repeatedly that the Nikon comes with a better lens than the Canon. They said the first thing to do with the Canon would be to get a new lens, which I didn't have money for at all. I haven't actually shot with the Canon, but I love my Nikon, and will move up probably to a D200 in the future.

If you want to be a photographer I would definitely stick with either Canon or Nikon. Especially in the DSLR department.

The only thing about the Canon that I could say might be better would be 10mp, but unless you plan to blow up your pics really huge, then 6mp is fine. My D70 has 6.1mp and I have had no problem with it. Very easy to use.