If money was no object I'd get something which had at least 12 or more Megapixels, preferably 16 Megapixels, either a Nikon or a Canon. Having said that the Eos 350D seems to produce nice sharp images and Fuji have just released a 9 Megapixel 'bridge' type camera with a very good zoom and macro facility. It sells for less than the Eos 350D, but only slightly... Personally I hate carrying gear and would shy away from anything of a 'medium' format size, so I like the new generation of 35mm sized digital cameras, or smaller.