southeast camera is good, as is peace street camera. wolf is fine, too- that's where i bought my rebel 4 yrs ago because they had the best price, etc. with warrantee and package of extras. if you know what you want, i'd ck with the bigger places and just price shop. if you still want advice or choosing, i wouldn't hesitate to visit a few and strike up conversations. you will not miss your film camera at all- i love my digital! the 40D is supposed to be a great camera.

Thanks Tammy, we went to Wolf last night and got the Pentax K10D -- our old camera is a Pentax, and seemed like the best deal for the quality and price (including lens). Now I just need to wade through the manual, lol.

congrats & have fun!! if pentax had had a DSLR camera out when i got mine i would have seriously considered it since i'd used a film K-1000 since art school. but they didn't at the time and i went with canon instead. i know when i first switched to the digital i had so much fun with all the auto settings since i'd been using a manual camera forever (which only shot jpeg quality- more about that later). so it took abut a year for me to realize that i was bored and really start digging into the manual part again. i still have to refer to my manual sometimes, but have enjoyed having control over what i'm doing.

if you don't mind too much, here's a few words of wisdom that i've gleaned and wish someone else had told me when i first started. my biggest advice is don't shoot with jpegs- use the RAW setting. even if you don't have editing software (i use photoshop, but photoshop elements is a great program for most users), the camera probably came with something rudimentary. RAW images take up a good bit more room that jpegs, which is why it'll be important to get a decent sized card. so, get the biggest card you can afford now and watch for more on sale. you save so much on processing, etc. with digitals that you can afford to get more or bigger cards once in a while. RAWs are essentially your digital negative- if you shoot jpegs only you are tossing that freedom to edit away (many cameras will let you shoot both simultaneously if you don't want to edit now, but want the freedom to do so later). for instance, if you overexpose something, you can take it down by as much as 2 stops, normally salvaging it if you shot RAW, but you can't regain that lost information with a jpeg, which is more like a print that is fixed. another important point is that when you get your card full or download your pix, back them up!! one good way is to burn a cd each time you download pix and file it like you did negs before. then, reformat your card in the camera each time you go to shoot again rather than trashing the pix on the camera or comp - it's a much better way (and faster) to ensure you'll have no issues with the card. they do occasionally go corrupt, but that seems to keep it from happening. all the pros i know do that, and highly recommend it. shooting digital will probably improve your skills a lot, since you get instant feedback and can reshoot if need be (assuming of course it's a flower). i know it took my photography to the next level.

Tammy I can use all of the advise I can get, lol. I have a 2 MG pixel card, is that a decent size?

you must mean a 2GB card, and yes, that's a nice size. depending on what size your camera shoots, that will hold a lot of pix. if you shoot much action type stuff, you may want to consider a higher speed one for your next purchase. they help you get more pix quickly before you have to stop and wait for the camera to catch up.

Yes, I meant 2 gigabyte, lol. That's good advice about the RAW files. So with the memory card, is it better to fill it up and then delete and re-format the card, rather than deleting as you go?

you can download & reformat whenever you want- you don't have to fill it up. about the only time i ever fill mine the whole way before offloading is when we're on vacation and i need a bunch of cards, or when i'm trying to shoot a specific thing (like an amaryllis flower) over & over til i get it right. it's only after you transfer your pix to the comp and back them up, that you can go ahead and reformat in the camera rather than deleting the pix. don't delete or reformat til you make sure the pix are good and backed up. from what i've been told, it really messes with the camera's 'brain' if you delete them off your card through your pc instead of through the camera, but even better is to reformat. and, at least with mine, it's actually much faster. certainly, if you shot something you know is unusable, delete it as you go, but i wouldn't recommend keeping a store of pix on your card to refer to or show off for long periods of time. you don't have to reformat each time, but the more often you do it when it's full, the better.

also, don't forget to eject your card the way you're instructed, ie: dragging it to the trash first, because doing it the wrong way (just yanking the card reader or camera cord out) can majorly mess up your machine. i know the painful way- i had a corrupt card that forced me to do that and i had to reload my OS, it was so screwed up.

Oh, the headaches of dealing with new technology. I have these ginormous files that I can't upload to Picturetrail. I still need to try saving them at the highest compression JPEG setting, but the software I'm using isn't cooperating either.

Photobucket accepts bigger files than picturetrail. This is a shot at the highest compression setting with everything in the camera set on auto:

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Another with the setting at highest quality: {{gwi:546182}}

the difference was subtle, but i'd stick with your higher quality vs auto. the files may be a little bigger, but if it's a full body shot with faces, you'll see the difference in the detail of the faces. glad you figured out how to do it and that photobucket works for you. i've been using it for a few years and had no problems.

I didn't see all that much difference either, although the difference in file size is significant. I imagine the computer screen is a limiting factor.

probably. you'd see a bigger difference in really detailed shots and when you downloaded the files ad were able to open them bigger, like in a program. just for screen use, the smaller size is probably fine. but if someone wanted to make a print, i'd use the max res one.

I think I'm going to like this camera. I never got around to getting a flash for my 35mm Pentax so couldn't take good indoor shots.

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yeah, the built in flash is nice. i had one for my pentax, but it was a heavy unwieldy thing that often was too bright anyhow. i still like the look of non flash photos inside and often try that first. i just always know i'll have to lighten them up and adjust the color a bit.

I need to monkey around with the indoor flash a bit -- there's the green eye problem. I remember the salesman in the camera store said something about tipping the flash towards the ceiling.

I put this question on a Pentax forum, but I'll ask here too -- there's the mystery of not being able to see the pics on the camera anymore after downloading onto the computer. Yet the pics are still on the memory card, as it's now full. Those RAW files are huge. When the card's full do you just re-format it and use it again? How many times can you use it?

yes, once the card's full you can reformat. i wonder if what's happening is your software that downloads the pix is automatically trashing it on your comp, but not emptying the trash. check the settings (and look in the trash when the card's in the comp and see if the images are there). for example, i know i photo can be set up to do that. then when you take the card out and put it in the camera, the camera has no access to the pix, but they are still on the hard drive taking up room, in the inaccessible trash. that's one of the reasons i said don't delete them on your card on your computer. at any rate, reformatting in the camera will free up all the room. you can use the card indefinitely, til it corrupts and won't behave. or gets so small that it's a pain to use (that will change as you get used to a big one). i still have all of mine except one that corrupted and use most when i go on vacation & stuff. i do use the bigger ones first as it's less hassle.

my flash won't tilt different ways- the old add on one for the pentax did, but not this one. it's up or down. i've messed with covering it with my hand partially, but it is unpredictable at best, and makes things look awful sometimes (half dark.half light or very red). i'd love to have a milky or grey piece of plastic to hold up in front or tape to it to diffuse it a little for closer stuff. it's just not been important enough for me to do more than wish so far. :) the flash does have a shoe for an add on, but they are so cumbersome.

green eye? i get red eye sometimes, but not sure about green eye 'cept on some cats....

Tammy I haven't deleted any pics from the card on the computer; I hook up with a USB cable and according to the manual I should just be transferring the files. I'll look at the trash though. Everything I want is on the PC so I haven't lost anything.

Yes, the cats get green eye... I think I just need to get pics when they're not looking directly at the camera. I have been wanting to get pics of the black and white cat. She is a beautiful cat but it's not easy to take a picture of her -- she usually looks strange and persecuted when a camera is pointed at her, probably doesn't like the flash.

the thing to look for is when the card's in the comp, or connected, via the camera, look in the trash. they shouldn't show up there if the card's not attached. if you see your pix, that's the issue. if not, it must be something else. by the way, a card reader will make it easier. some cards come with them, or you can get a separate one for 15 or 20 bucks. then you pop out the card, put it in the reader and plug that in. it's faster than doing it from the camera. for some reason, i feel better about the camera not being hooked up to my comp, too.

I read about card readers on the Pentax forum, it seems no one hooks to their computer using a USB cable. I'll look in the trash with the camera hooked up.

I don't see a way to see what's in the trash on the camera -- it seems that with Pentax, once it's in the trash it's gone. I talked with the salesman who said that the format of the files is probably changed when the computer reads the files -- the files are still there, but the camera can't display them. A card reader will eliminate the problem.

when it's in the comp (or the camera's attached in your case), open the trash folder for your computer and look in there. if they aren't there, then it's probably what you said- which is really bizarre. it shouldn't change things without you telling it to. i do know when i wrote some things back to a card one time to take it to get prints made that even though they were jpegs it couldn't see them on my camera, so maybe that is what happening, you'll like a card reader, anyhow- the files transfer a lot faster.

The files aren't in the trash on the computer -- just in a file on the hard drive. So I've still got all of the pics. A card reader should be better all around.