I am now one of you. Order placed late Monday night. Processed and shipped Tuesday. Arrived Wednesday morning.


I noticed that ordering from Adorama, instead of a local Canadian store, would save me over $500, even after currency conversion and shipping. As a bonus,as far as I can tell, customs didn't notice I should be paying sales tax, saving me another $175. Savings of $300 on a T1i body alone, $110 on a SDHC card, $40 on a battery, and about $160 on lenses, but (oh no!) I'd have to pay $65 shipping.


Despite the savings, I couldn't afford a nice zoom like the 15-85mm or 17-55mm, and opted for the std. 18-55mm IS kit to save money for future lens purchases. I took a 50mm f/1.8 because they're nearly free, low-light capable, and sharp. I felt I needed atleast 1 awesome lens and picked up a 85mm f/1.8.


I know that instead of these lenses, I could have opted for the 15-85mm, for $200 more, but then I'd have no low light lens, so I'd probably end up at $300 more by adding a nifty-fifty... and I'm already spending more than I should... so a good zoom will have to wait.


A bit later on Wednesday, my dad arrived. He had an old XTI he was going to give me (if only he'd mentioned it before arriving!), and an original 75-300mm IS USM, giving me some much needed telephoto range.


We've got pretty dim lighting in our house, and it's pitch black out by the time I'm home from work, so we put the camera to it's ultimate low-light test.


T1i + 85mm f/1.8 @ 85mm, f/1.8, 1/160, ISO3200
- JPEG from camera, resized and wavelet sharpened in GIMP.


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