depends. If you want to spend money on lenses than the canon t1i is a stellar choice. If you want a cheaper lighter alternitive than buy the olympus. Or mabey an slr isn't right for you. What I would do is go to a local camera store, talk to the camera dude, ask him questions.

I would recommend Nikon D90, great semi-pro level camera.- Fast - focus, frames per second, and card access - Great sensor, amazing colors out of the camera- Auto D-lighting to restore shadowed regions- Feels great in hand, very comfortable to hold- The optical viewfinder is bright and big, with great coverage- AF tracking points are easy to spot and switch to- Great 320K dots LCD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ENO…

You are very worried about your budget - I hope you're aware of all the other costs that come with such a camera.Even if/when you DO find a DSLR plus lens in your price range, there will always be way more expenses ahead.You'll want and/or need a few other things such as tripod, filters, a bag, sensor cleaning gear, a second battery, memory cards, perhaps a remote shutter release etc.That's just the small stuff - I can guarantee you that you'll also want more lenses. You'll probably buy cheap ones at first, then regret that, then start saving for the good quality ones, instead. You'll also want a decent flash some day.See how that list just goes on and on? Owning a DSLR isn't cheap - at least not until you have built up a nice stash of gear.Just some food for thought........ I'm not trying to talk you out of this, just trying to be helpful in case you haven't thought about all this yet.

If you have that large a budge I'd certainly recommend something high up the food chain in the Canon line.I own a Rebel XS, an excellent camera, at $550. You don't have to spend that much money to have an excellent Canon camera. I've added some lenses but my favorite is my Canon 28-200. So, my Rebel plus it's excellent lens, about $1,000 total. In my opinion, camera + lens, that's where you really should be aiming... not just at the camera.For any of these cameras to live up to its potential you need good optics (lens).

XS XTI 520 420 510 430 3000 5000 K-somethingerether A-230 A330 don't fit your budget?

I recommend the Nikon D40 personally ($250-$300ish) but the 2 you listed are great cameras. The canon leaves you room to upgrade to a more featured body and has a wider variety of lenses to choose from. It also has many commands and controls not found on the Olympus and is more comfortable to hold.The olympus is more durable and less likely to break, and just looks plain classier. It is also more compact and user friendly offering many fun and creative tools and editing modes, but doesn't handle as well with the olympus slr system lenses and is limited in that sense. The e420 slr is also good to try as it is more similar to the t1i.Neither can claim to be the better company. Canon is much more popular but their product is more likely to have factory defects and break and has a higher percentage of breaks compared to all their production releases than Olympus. Still Canon has one of the largest systems on the market and has reliable pro gear offerings such as the 5D mII.Olympus isn't anywhere near as popular but almost never has problems or repairs and has many happy customers as a result of it. Sadly their cameras don't preform as well in low light as many of their competitors, and their lens system is much smaller than Canons.Nikon and Pentax are worthy of mention and should be tried too as they offer great cameras in your "price range"

for help ; open the second & fourth link on: www.cameras-for-sale.co.cc

Hey,Canon EOS T2iCanon EOS 7D - I really recommend!Nikon D90Nikon D300sHere's a post called 'Buying A DSLR, what's important, megapixels, features, brand, price, quality and which one to get. There are also Amazon links, here is the post - http://the-digital-photographer.blogspot…That site has a review of the 7D and will get a T2i review today or tomorrow. They have less noise than both Nikons but more megapixels which are great for cropping and printing big.

If you are willing to look past digital cameras, you should seriously consider a Canon A-Series Camera. They offer some of the best quality lenses and they're all very durable, especially the AE-1.

I always look for the most features for the money. So I suggest taking a serious look at the Pentax K-x.Here are its main features:1) Live View2) Video3) Double/multiple exposure capability - from 2 to 9 with auto EV compensation. This opens up a whole new world of creative options for you.4) An in camera focusing motor.5) In camera Image Stabilization (IS). Any lens used, even one 35 years old, becomes, in effect, an IS lens.The Canon T1i has Features 1 & 2 but not 3, 4 & 5.The Olympus E-PL1 has Features 1, 2, 3 (but only a maximum of two images per frame), & 5 but no optical viewfinder. The Nikon D3000 has NONE of the Features listed for the K-x. With no in camera focusing motor you have to buy Nikon AF-I or AF-S lenses if you want auto focus.The Nikon D5000 has Features 1 & 2 but not 3, 4 & 5. Like the D3000 you'll need AF-I or AF-S lenses if you want auto focus.Advantage Pentax K-x.Cost, of course, is always a concern. The following prices are from B&H: http://www.bhphotovideo.comPentax K-x w/18-55mm lens $513.99Canon T1i w/18-55mm lens $699.99 after a $100.00 Instant Savings from B&H. Ends 6-27-2010.Olympus E-PL1 w/14-42mm lens $529.99 after a $70.00 Instant savings from B&H. Ends 6-19-2010.Nikon D3000 w/18-55mm lens $499.95 after a $50.00 Instant Savings from B&H. Ends 6-26-2010.Nikon D5000 w/18-55mm lens $699.95 after a $50.00 Instant Savings from B&H. Ends 6-26-2010.Advantage Pentax K-x unless you think paying $14.04 more than the cost of the D3000 to gain the Features listed is too much. Of course, you could pay $185.96 MORE for the D5000 and get fewer features.After almost 39 years of looking at the world through an optical viewfinder and seeing what the lens sees I doubt I could be happy with an Electronic Viewfinder like the E-PL1 has. For someone used to a point & shoot digicam and usings its viewscreen this probably isn't a big deal. Another consideration is sensor size. The E-PL1 uses a 4/3 sensor which is smaller than the sensor in the Pentax, Canon or Nikon.The lens availability for the Pentax, Canon and Nikon is much greater than what Olympus offers. With the Pentax you can use every K-mount lens ever made, dating back to the 1975 introduction of the "K" lens mount. With the Canon you can use any EF or EF-S mount lens ever made going back to when Canon abandoned the FD lens mount for the EF mount around 1989 or so. (NOTE: The Canon EF-S mount lenses CANNOT be used on the older EOS 35mm film cameras and they CANNOT be used on the Canon 5D & 1D full-frame DSLR cameras). Nikon rivals Pentax in backwards lens compatibility since they never changed their lens mount. The Pentax K-x still has an advantage since its in camera IS makes every lens used an IS lens. Nikon and Canon can't make that claim.For what its worth, the K-x comes in colors: Bright Blue, Green, Purple, Orange, Navy Blue, Red, White and, of course, Basic Black. B&H adds $41.00 for colors other than Basic Black.So for the most features for your money in my opinion the Pentax K-x is the logical choice.