Hi everyone. This is my first post in this forum. I love to take pictures and I love to play with Photoshop. I am in IT for a living so the computer part of photography is lots of fun for me.

Currently I only own a Canon SD700 IS P&S. Actually I love it quite a lot. It fits into my pocket and takes great pictures, especially after I've played with them a little in PS.

However, I would like to learn more about photography and the SD700 IS is not going to provide me that opportunity as it doesn't support much manual operation.

OK, I said there was a twist. Here it is: The corporation I work for has an awards program. I have been with the company for many years and over time have accumulated a lot of these award points. Now I want to use them to get my first DSLR. The two important things to consider are:

1. I can only choose from among those offered in the program
2. For me it will be COMPLETELY FREE! Price is eliminated from the consideration (how's that for a twist).

Here are the cameras that I could get:

Canon Rebel XTi with standard 18-55mm kit lens
Nikon D50 with standard 18-55mm kit lens
Sony A100 with standard kit lens
Olympus E-500 with standard kit lens

Unless someone could argue it strongly, I am not really interested in the Olympus. Their future seems uncertain to me and Canon and Nikon are really industry leaders. The Sony is interesting but I welcome opinions on the value of that unit.

Agreed, I am only a beginning amateur in photography. But I like to have quality technology and I would like to be able to grow with the camera for a while instead of having to buy another one.

With these parameters in mind, I would like to hear some opinions of which camera you think I should get (remember, it's for free so price differences are not interesting).

Thanks everyone in advance for helping me figure out what to do here.

Rob