Canon EOS 350D

The good: Image quality leads its class; competitive price; ultrafast start-up time; very responsive.
The bad: Lightweight plastic body isn't ergonomically satisfying; no spot meter; limited continuous-shooting mode, unimpressive kit lens; 1.6x lens-conversion factor.
The bottom line: The Canon EOS 350D is an exceptionally small and lightweight camera designed for amateur dSLR owners, but it delivers the responsiveness and image quality you'd expect from a semipro model.
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Nikon D70s

First take
With the D70s, Nikon makes some incremental improvements to its popular consumer digital SLR, the D70. Although it retains the 6-megapixel resolution of its predecessor, the Nikon D70s is better equipped to compete with the new consumer dSLR heavyweight on the block, Canon's 8-megapixel EOS 350D. It also takes on Olympus' E-300 and Pentax's *ist DS. ...
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Olympus E-500

The good: Lightweight body; easy-to-understand button layout; full-frame transfer CCD; Supersonic Wave Filter; 15 scene modes; excellent performance in its class; battery lasts over 300 shots; usable pictures up to ISO 800.
The bad: Small optical viewfinder; boring menus layout; no status LCD; over-exposed pictures may exhibit hard clip properties; USB 1.1 connection.
The bottom line: The Olympus E-500 dSLR is an excellent all-rounder for photography enthusiasts who wish to step up to the digital SLR arena and budding professionals. While it may not be the best in its class, it's definitely scoring lots of value points.
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