Should I get the EOS 1000D or Nikon D3100?

[yetanotherdave]

How about a third option, a D5000. It has just been discontinued and the D5100 is due out in the next week or two so if you look around there could be some nice discounts going. You get slightly less megapixels (12.9 instead of 14.2, but who is counting megapixels, it's all about the image sensor), but IMO a much better camera, with a very useful swivel screen.

 

[tinman0]

3rd option:

Buy into whichever brand your friends have.

Makes it much easier to share an interest, especially when a lens can cost so much. Between myself and my friends we regularly swap lens or lend a lens. Even got a mate's fisheye lens in my bag for a few weeks at the moment.

But if you have no friends with SLRs then buy Canon

 

[Alvi]

Thank you guys, your advice has been very useful.
I recently came across a LOT of DSLRs (which is a weird coincidence). Nikon D30, D70, D90, D3100 and the Canon 1000D and a lot of situations where I wished I had one.
These were my experiences:
I didn't like the 1000D's Body, it felt very cheap, however the lens my friend had on it was great, it felt better than the D3100's Stock one, it was a 55-200? (It went really long) when I Zoomed/Focused it felt way softer than the D3100's.

The other Nikon cameras felt very nice Body-wise and all pictures were great across the board (IMO), I think I'll stick to the D3100 because it's a new model and it's full of features I might need like the High ISO, HD Recording and so on. As I learned I will be taking the camera to many situations and a big pack of features is the best choice.

Now I need to save some money to get it

Since you post prices in USD I suppose that you live in USA.

I don't live in the USA, I'm making your life easier by converting .

 

[Steve-F]

I went for the Nikon D5100, but I'm now returning it.
In the video mode you can't manually adjust the exposure - doesn't tell you this in any of the pre-relaese marketing or even in the manual. A major problem for those people hoping this would compete with the Canons and their very successful range of DSLR's that shoot video.
Steve

 

[Alvi]

Thanks for the Advice, I ordered the D3100 a few days ago and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow.
I got a nice deal which got me a free USB Cable, a mini-HDMI Cable and a 4GB Class 4 SD Card for the same price.
I'm glad I found this offer because all stores in my town were out of stock and also many Web-shops didn't have it anymore, they actually had to send me the Body and the Lens separately with the Normal Kit Price because they ran out of kits...

Now I'm really thinking about accessories.

1. I need a small case, or rather some sort of sleeve. Walking with just a camera case is a perfect combination to get robbed in some places I might be traveling so I was thinking of just putting the camera in my backpack and just use something smaller to protect it from scratches and some possible bumps.
2. Geotagging? - Is the Nikon GP-1 Worth it?
3. SD Cards - How much does the Card Speed/Class matter?.. How high does it have to be for HD Recording?

 

[admwright]

Now I'm really thinking about accessories.

1. I need a small case, or rather some sort of sleeve. Walking with just a camera case is a perfect combination to get robbed in some places I might be traveling so I was thinking of just putting the camera in my backpack and just use something smaller to protect it from scratches and some possible bumps.
2. Geotagging? - Is the Nikon GP-1 Worth it?
3. SD Cards - How much does the Card Speed/Class matter?.. How high does it have to be for HD Recording?

1. If you do not have much gear then the drop in type cases are OK for protection and little bulk, something like a Lowepro Rezo.
2. I would say the GP-1 is not worth it - it is nearly half the price of your camera. I use a small GPS tracker, about the size of a matchbox and the only thing you loose is the automatic saving of the GPS data with the image. But, this is easily automated when you download the images and merge in the GPS data.
3. Nikon reccommend class 6 cards or faster for video recording.