Took another step into the world of digital photography today. A step up from the Olympus Stylus 850SW I've been using regularly since last May. That camera was a good introduction to digital, which, for those who haven't tried it, is a totally different experience than film photography.

Picked up a Canon Rebel XSi which came with an 18-55mm lens with image stabilization ( IS ) from Circuit City. 20% off as Circuit City winds down locally.

Also picked up a Canon 55-250mm telephoto lens with IS from our local camera shop, which is affliated with Ritz.

The Olympus will be my mainstay for fishing pics and cold weather outdoor stuff with its waterproof / shockproof / freezeproof features.

The Canon will be my primary camera for everything else, from indoors and macro to outdoors landscape / scenery and wildlife telephoto photography.

The Rebel XSi is a relatively simple but quite versatile digital SLR. The focus is on image quality, and that is where it should be for what I have in mind for this camera. The image quality / optics on the test shots I took at maximum telephoto before buying the camera were quite impressive. Will probably be a few days before I get a chance to test it in the field, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what it will do.

Wish me luck.

John