If low light work is very important to you, the SLRs are the way to go. I
never thought the 300D (Rebel) was crippled. It does what I need it to do
and makes some great images. With discounts it is the lowest priced dSLR
with a large sensor to accommodate low light work. Considering one minor
short coming of the D70 image quality (moiré issue that is actually rare in
normal shooting), I'd give the image quality advantage to the 300D.

The D70 has more features and is faster, but as you see, it will be a few
more $$

As for the hack for the 300D, I'm not rushing out to get it, but I might
have a look since it offers mirror lockup. It may give you what you need
though.
bg

"NewsBirdie" wrote in message
om...
I'm in the market for a new digital camera. In the past I had an
Olympus that I really liked until I dropped it and it broke. Then I
got a Canon S200, mostly for its size not for it's super quality. I
love the Canon, it's a nice "take anywhere" camera which has served me
well especially on vacations. But for indoors it sucks. So now I'm
thinking I'd like to have a really good quality camera that I can use
at home or when I don't mind lugging something heavy around. Taking
pictures of friends and family, weekend trips, and also of my artwork.
One thing I really liked about my Olympus was it's F1.8 lens, which
enabled me to take pictures in low-light conditions without using the
flash. This was especially nice for indoors. My Canon S200 is
practically useless indoors. So this is why I like the Canon G6, it
has a F2.0 lens. Prices are around $514 mail order.

Now I'm thinking for $200 more I can get the Canon EOS 300D Digital
Rebel. It seems to be a better camera. One of the things I noticed
in the reviews and sample photos is how much better the dSLR cameras
are in low light. They can increase their ISO without the noise that
cheaper point & shoot cameras have. That is one aspect I really like.
However it seems Canon crippled the Digital Rebel which kind of
bothers me, although I'm not sure I'd need the features like flash
exposure compensation that are not present.

For $200 more I can get the Nikon D70. From everything I've read this
one seems to be a real winner. Some claim that one can take just as
good photos with a cheaper point & shoot, while others claim that the
D70 is so much better. One thing I notice is that a lot of the test
photos on the review sites are done with ample lighting, but in
reality a lot of the photos I take are in low light. The D70 seems to
do really well in low light, but how much better than the Canon??
Also, the D70 is a whopping $430 more than the G6, which is almost
twice the price! Now that's hard to justify!!

Finally we're hoping for a new family member and that would give me a
perfect subject for thousands of photos, which is why I want to make
sure I get a really good camera.

Thanks for any input!