Cannon S2 IS or Cannon EOS digital Rebel XT?

[slthree]

I know there are two completely different cameras. That is why I need help from people with more knowledge than me.

we have never had a great camera but want one now. Picture taking would be for vacations, speacial events, school functions, parties, etc.

Saw both cameras at best buy and loved them both. The XT could not zoom in close enough on the girls for a good close up. I know if we go that route we will have to but a different lens. What I loved about the camera was that we could rapidly take 10 pictures (or so) in a row. All but 2 came out beautiful.

We did not test to see if the S2 could do that. The reviews for both are great and the users seem to love them as well. Should we spend more for the XT and grow with it or is the S2 enough for our needs?

[IamIcan]

Kinda hard comparing a $450 professional camera with a DSLR that costs about twice that..
anyway, best on professional reviews, the Digital Rebel XT got slightly higher grades.
I suggest you go over and read these (or at least a few of these) reviews and then go to a store to see which camera feels better in your hands.

Canon PowerShot S2 IS (8 Reviews) (http://www.viewscore.com/vsPP/3/1767)

Canon Digital Rebel XT (15 Reviews) (http://www.viewscore.com/vsPP/3/1739)

I hope you find this helpful

[SpiceTomato]

If you are not that into all the technical stuff about photography, you might be better off with a Point & Shoot type camera. S2 certainly has less controls, less picture quality but it would be enough for me (I have a FZ5) and probably enough for you. On the other hand, S2 gives you really long zoom with image stabilization. With XT, to get the same lens configuaration, you need about $2000 total buget (EF-S 17-85 + EF 70-300 IS USM). S2 also lets you record video. Even if you upgrade to XT in the future, I'm sure there are occasions you'd rather just bring along a smaller S2 and leave the XT at home. Be aware that the overall image quality of S2 is not really better than more compact cameras (especially those from Canon). The main selling point of S2 is the zoom. If you do not care about zoom that much, you should be choosing between a more compact camera and dSLR.