Question for the Photo Buffs
 

So...

I need a digital SLR. I was an art/ photography major in college but I've always been opposed to going digital for artistic purposes. I have a Canon SD600 for partying with my friends and social functions, but all of my serious equipment is analogue. I’ve toyed with getting a DSLR for a while, but every time I do I just go shoot an roll of infrared and develop it in my kitchen sink – stinky toxic chemicals apparently absolve me of the desire to own a DSLR.

But… my BIL has asked me to do the photos at his wedding, so I need one. It’s the perfect excuse to get one too, because I can convince myself I’m not spending the money on myself – its for someone else (crock of sh*t – but helpful in my mentally challenged ways of dealing with things.) I’ve been reading a number of reviews – and as I do with everything – I’ve read too many and now I don’t trust anything.

(Here comes the boring part…)

I shoot Canon. Strictly Canon (sorry Nikon people :) ). What I really want is the 5D, but that $2500+ for just the body so that’s not going to happen. I can get the 50D with a 28-135 f3.5-f5.6 kit lens (I have 18-55 and 75-300 EF mount lens already). Or I could go with the Xi series, spend $500 less on the camera and get a 50mm f1.4 to accompany the 28-135. The picture is only as good as the lens you take it through so the 50mm lens seems like a good idea. However – I’ve read a lot of reviews that state the 50mm stops auto focusing after 3-14 months. Plus, the 50 D fits in my hands. The Xi series, like the Nikon D80 series, is made for very petite hands and it doesn’t fit into my hand like a camera should.

I don’t know what to do! Blah! Any ladies with very long size 7 fingers want to tell me what they shoot with? (The size 7 doesn’t really matter – it’s the long fingers – they don’t like gripping tiny cameras…)