Well when one says he's 100% decided I still reserve the right to change my mind....and I have.
Yesterday I went out and bought myself a new camera, taking into consideration my use, photography needs, price, and quality of chossen camera I gave up on the 350D SLR and settled on the CANON POWERSHOT S2IS.
I felt it gives me the flexabilty of a SLR with full manual functions but without the price. It also has a super marco that works awesome. Hopefully I'll have some photos up to show you all in a few days to give an idea of the quality that can be achieved.

I thought we were going to be camera buddies? You've changed mate.

Who knows acutally, once I get out there in the flesh I may end up going in a different direction - you guys already know how easily influenced I am (Mars Leather/Gold)

Look forward to seeing some pics Mike.

We can still be Camera Buddies Rick...Really...You can be the Master I shall be the Apprentice.

I Haven't had much time to play to much with it yet Rick, but I just ducked outside to try a get some better light, and took a shot of my BOB KEYCHAIN with the super Marco. They say you can shoot at 0cm, well I don't know about that but my lens was really really close to the Keychain.
The blue affect has come from the blue table I put my white card on. I didn't try for this effect it just happended.
I really want to set a little studio sorta thins with some decent lighting to try and achieve so really cool shots i hope.
Man has my Photography Bug got me again!
Here's the test shot-



I was just playing around with Photoshop Elements:

Can't discount the Powershots. If you don't need an SLR, then why pay for one. I love my camera and it does pretty much whatever I need.

Been playing around a little more.

Looking nice. I'm going to try and take some more stylized pictures of my pairs soon. Yeah with all my free time. :P

Dann's right, if you don't need and SLR you can get a Powershot Pro and still get spectacular shots. The prices just keep dropping as time goes on. It's what I'm going for next year.

Or even the Canon Powershot G6, which is just a little lower than the Powershot Pro but still packs an excellent punch. Smaller casing, still comes in at 7.1mp with a 4x optical and all the Canon features we love for under $500.

This sit eis actually real good to get to know a camera before you buy.

Powershot G6
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/g6.html

Powershot Pro 1
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/pro1.html

Main
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

Thought about the Powershot Pro, but since it was so close in price to the DSLR 350D (rebel XT) The SLR was still the better choice, But price point became a big thing for me a with what I needed to do, so the S2IS suited me well, at half the price of the Powershot Pro.

Speaking of SLRs, look what showed up in my office today to replace our Sony.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/20d.html

The account people must've found a few dollars to dpens before 05 ends.

Yeah, it's real nice.

Now ya TalKin Phil.....but at $2600AU it was well outta my reach.
Do you get to play with it Phil?

Oh yeah. For whatever reason I never had problems using the 5mp Sony that we had, but the one AD could never get good photos from it so I got wranged into most photo shoots. They've been planning a camera buy for a bit now and there it is. Maybe I should reshoot my entire collection again using it? Hmm?

Well, I'm pleased to say I picked up a Canon Rebel XT today and this thing rocks. You may want to put off calling my place for a month or so because I have a lot of photo-cataloguing to do! I'm glad it comes with a user-friendly guide because there is a lot this thing can do. Here's a quick photo I took on my desk. Not too shabby considering I don't really know what I'm doing at this point. Looking forward to getting back to Tokyo to my little photo studio.

Sweet as Rick!!! That Canon EOS is the thing ain't it. I'm so looking forward to what you put together. I'll be doing mine when i get home and have more time to play.

Yeah Mike, lovin' it. Took some sweet pics of the Alberta sky this afternoon. This thing rocks!

Congrats! Also, i second what Oak said up there. It isn`t all about the camera.

As a long time Nikon guy I got myself a digital SLR for Xmas: the Nikon D70s, to replace my two old boddies.
For me as well, a lot of photo cataloguing coming up.

This poor college boy wants a Powershot S80. Should you slap him and tell him he should stick with an Ixus 750/Powershot SD550 or cheaper?