DSLR - Round N

Okay I admit seeing my colleague getting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 and a friend of mine getting a D90 made me look a bit into the current DSLR round-ups. The result is a mental state of troubling and mesmerizing indecision.

A big factor is price. Most of them are getting more and more into the $1000 range and I couldn't really find one with reviews justifying the price enough to make me even tempted. Had price not been an issue [where have we heard this before ;-)], it's certainly easy to pick a better one of the bunch.

I admit that HD Video on DSLR is a novelty to me, but as vain as it may sound, I tend to look away when I see one without that feature. It had been years since I've tried to find where to fit DSLR into my life, and somehow I envision myself expecting to use that feature if ever invested in a new one. It's an odd feeling as one year ago I'd not even consider that as a factor. Now this made me look away from ALL Sony DSLRs.

Another thing is IS. I may be spoiled by my SD850's built-in IS and maybe that's why I don't take my 350D out that often. I know some people might just scoff at the idea of relying on IS like I do, but my #1 philosophy is really that, I'd take anything (almost) over a blurry picture. And I know some people will argue with me big time when I say this, I'm totally drawn to in-body IS. It's sad that I have to take out all Sony DSLRs for the lack of HD (Rethinking about this very hard right now), since I have a bunch of Minolta AF lenses at home just ready to be mounted and to become ISed. I looked very hard into Panasonic GF1, but the lack of in-body IS is really scaring me away.

Yet another thing is portability and size. I suspect a big discouragement of my 350D is its relatively bulky size comparing to SD850. I also have a twisted (?) philosophy that, if I'm not motivated enough to take it out with me, even a free 1Ds is poor camera choice for me. <= Okay that said, I totally won't mind receiving a free 1Ds XD. E-P1 and GF1 are two nice little cameras that made me forget they aren't really compact P&S cameras, but they both have their flaws doing no justification to their price tags. All the other DSLRs in the market are just moot in this area.

So in the end, still researching and looking, and (sadly) still carrying my SD850 IS much more than my XT. I guess that's what really differentiating me from even amateur photographers.