whats next?

having had my fujifim s602 stolen just a few days before I left on a holiday out to South Africa, I ran out the day before and grabbed the new Fuji 5500 (boy was I disappointed

I am back now and want to buy a 300d - the price has dropped a lot and there is a discount cash back scheme going on here in the UK.

I can't help but feel if I wait a few months things are going to change with regards to the digital market, My Father in law just returned from Hong Kong and he mentioned that there was rumblings of a move forward with regards to digital camera technology.

should I wait, or take the plunge

Gosh...with your recent run of bad luck, it might be a good idea to wait? Seriously though, I bet your Father-in-Law is right...and if he is, think about what a DEAL you could get on a 300d if something new comes out! Best of luck to you...either way, you can't go wrong.

The 300D is quite long-in-the-tooth and is due for an upgrade. Expect something similar to the 20D but "dumbed-down" with fewer features and a plastic body similar to the 300D. Price will likely go back up to the 300D's original price of $999 with lens. So if you like the 300D as-is, buy it now because the price won't likely get lower. (but the fact that it does not have instant-on has me not recommending this camera)

Nikon is expected to release an upgrade for the D100 soon, a $1500 model to compete with the 20D. It will likely have more features than the 20D, probably will look like a higher-megapixel version of the D70 with a metal body and some surprises. This will probably be a superb camera, better than the 20D. But keep in mind Nikon doesn't deliver product until about 5 or 6 months after the announcement. That means even if they announced tomorrow you wouldn't get your hands on one until July at earliest.

Possibly also look for a new addition to the Nikon DSLR line.

PMA is February 20 - 23, 2005, which is a likely time to see product announcements. My advice? Watch DPReview closely, and make your decision after PMA.

P.S. I'm getting the feeling that this year will see the last round of really significant product upgrades. I could be wrong, but the low-end DSLR market can't really get significantly much better than this in terms of features and resolution. Once the technology has "matured" the main arena of competiton will be price, with only incremental improvements in features, noise reduction, etc.

No Canon reps have told me anything (though god knows I've tried), but I'm going to take an educated guess based on trends I've seen from them via my own site:

1) I think the new D-Rebel will come out by Spring. Whether or not it gets officially announced at PMA or not is uncertain but if it's ready, it will.

2) I think it will be a black body, not silver.

3) I think it will be 7 megapixels, not 8. As kickstand said, they will "dumb down" some features, but they are aware of how consumers view pixels, so they don't want it to compete with their 20D or Mark II, both of which are 8MP models.

4) I also agree with kickstand that the price will probably be $999.00 U.S. If Canon is SMART, they'll continue selling the orginal D-Rebel for a while and drop the price to around $599-$699 (before rebates). They'll freak out all the other makers, and really kick start consumer DSLR sales.

Greg

I've watched the Canon market off and on for a couple of years. A new model is on its way, even though not announced, when all of the sudden the current model is regularly out of stock. Seems they dry up the pipeline and then make the anouncement. In my book, watch the pipeline availability with Canon to predict the next move. Recently this has been in late winter and early spring as I recall.