Seeking advice re: camera AND lens (tendinitis issues)

[Inkygirl]

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.

-- Camera: < CA$1000

-- Lens: < CA$1000

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?

-- small/light. I've tried a friend's Rebel XTI with a 17-40mm lens, and the weight is fine. Much heavier, and I'm worried about my tendinitis acting up.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?

-- not important (anything will be an improvement over my point-and-shoot)

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x, Other - Specify)

-- Don't know enough to specify, sorry. I would like taking candid people photos and also need to take food close-ups for restaurant reviews. I know the lens weight will be an issue.

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)

-- 8 (but keep in mind I'm used to a Canon point-and-shoot). I need the image quality to be good enough for print publications (magazines, books).

Do you care for manual controls?

-- I would like the option of manually setting controls.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

-- Portrait photography, candid people photos, close-ups of food, some landscape photography

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

-- Yes, sometimes.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

-- Yes.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

-- Yes.

Miscellaneous

-- I was considering the Canon EF-S 17-85mm lens but have been told that there is distortion at the wide end.

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

-- I've loved my Canon point and shoots.

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

-- Canon Rebel XTI
-- Nikon D40X

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

-- Image stabilization preferred

Thank you VERY much for any advice/suggestions! I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed right now...it seems as if every time I decide on a piece of equipment, someone tells me it's terrible and I shouldn't get it. For a freelancer, this is a hefty chunk of money and I want to make the right choice...but what's the right choice?

Confused Debbie (see attached image)

[coldrain]

I had to look up tendinitis... where is it? Elbows, or wrists/hands?

There are a number of cameras in the size class of the XTi.
The Nikon D40, D40X, Pentax K100D, Olympus E-510.

A bit bigger and heavier are the Sony A100 and Nikon D80.

Again a step up is the Canon 30D, I am quite sure this will be getting too heavy. Then come the Nikon D200 and Pentax K10D.

Of the compact group, the D40 and K100D are 6mp cameras.
The other 3 (D40X, E-510 and XTi) 10mp cameras.

What I do not like about the D40 and D40X is that Nikon removed a lot of features, to differentiate it from the D80.
Among these features: only 3 AF points, no exposure bracketing, no mirror lock up, no depth of field check, cumbersome WB/ISO changing, missing motor internal Nikon AF motor, which may be an issue depending on future lens wishes.

The E-510 has a few drawbacks too, it has only 3 AF points I think still, it has the smallest, most noisy sensor, it has 4:3 image format, where all others have a 3:2 format, smallest viewfinder. Also withj manual focus, it has a "fly by wire" manual focus, you do not really control it like you do with the other cameras... which makes MF a bit of a bother, especially with macro stuff.
If does have plus points too. It probably is the nicest feeling DSLR in this group, it just feels right. And its control buttons and dials feel better than teh Canon/Nikon/Pentax cameras... at least, the E-500 did, I have not yet held the E-510 (but it is the same body).
And it offers live preview, nice for macro stuff at times, or when you want to take a frog or bird perspective photo (with my 350D(XT) at times you will see me lay on the ground... at those moments I would love to have an E-510!). And it has IS in the body.

The Pentax K100D is also feature rich... enough AF points for tracking and selecting all across the view finder, IS in-body. It basically does not miss any feature. Its downside is a bit less speedy AF, so not the best choice for sports shooting, for instance.
And it only has 6mp.

The Canon XTi is also feature rich. It does not have in-body IS, Nikon and Canon go for in-lens IS for who need/want it. Of the group it has the fastest, possibily also most accurate AF. Its downsides are the plastic having a less "soft" feel to the touch, the grip a bit more thin in design.

If you want a breakdown of the D80/A100 to make the picture more complete, let me know. The D80 is a bit more expensive, the A100 may be too heavy.

In the compact group, my personal preference goes to the Canon XTi, for its image quality, feature set and lens line-up, and the Olympus E-510, for the feel and the live preview feature.
The D40(x) misses too many features for my taste, and the K100D, the heaviest of the group, it is just the lens line-up and AF speed that make me not prefer it, and the tad less dynamic range from that Sony 6mp sensor (also used in D40).

The Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS indeed has a lot of barrel distortion. The Nikon kitlenses 18-70mm, 18-135mm and 18-200VR have that too, a reason for me never to advice that Canon 17-85mm. It also is not as contrasty as I would like, making photos a bit lacklustre for my taste.

If you feel you do want IS in that standard zoom range within your budget, I suggest looking at an E-510 or Pentax k100D.
The very good Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS USM is a bit over your budget.
For the Pentax (and the Canon XTi if you do NOT insist on IS) I would get a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX DC macro.
For the Olympus, I would just get an Olympus lens with an equivalent range (something like a 14-40mm lens, the Olympus has a different crop factor).

Of course you could crank up contrast and saturation, and correct distortion when at wide angle, on your computer, for the Canon 17-85, but I am never a fan of advising lenses that have such flaws, when there are alternatives.

Oh, one other thing worth to mention... if you in future see yourself to often need to flash in different conditions and with different flash equipment, Canon and Nikon have the best flash technology (the way the flash parameters can be controlled and measured, the timing of the flash), both for people stuff and for macro stuff.

[Inkygirl]

Wow, Coldrain: THANK YOU so much for all this detailed info. It's very much appreciated! My tendinitis is in my arms, near the elbows.

[Inkygirl]

Thanks again for your advice! FYI, here's my blog post about buying the camera:

http://www.electricpenguin.com/blatherings/archives/004371.html