[quote=I'm a dabbler]Photographing nature for enjoyment is my retirement "occupation."....

I have been in your shoes, Canon Rebel, et al. The first suggestion I have is upgrade your glass. Made all the difference in the world going from a kit quality lens to a Canon "L" lens and have no complaints about the camera body at all. I found a fantastic lens, used online for less than half of your allotted budget. The first lens I got was a 24-105 L, helps me with a wide range of subjects and needs.

A discussion on another page brought back a memory. My wife and I had the grandchildren over and we were enjoying our pizza feast when our grandson, to rename nameless, piped up and asked, "Grammy, what did pizza taste like when it only came in black and white?"

When I was laid up, I used to sit on the deck and talk (whistle) back and forth with the males in the yard(10 acres) at sunrise and sunset. I was easily amused.

It's in the script!

That is a great idea but when your "buy local tax" amounts to 35-70 percent more than going outside of local, I for one cannot afford it.

That little fellar needs to be allowed to grow up.

Fantastic, love them.

To both GAS496 and billnikon, I should have specified more that my statement was as well tongue in cheek and a bit sarcastic, my dry sense of humor gets me in trouble from time to time. But I remember the sell of of film equipment and darkrooms when digital really started making its presence known and an attitude of 'film is dead, we have digital now' that spread through the photographic world. Now after a time, there is a dedicated film following because of the differences that exist between film photography and digital. I have recently been able to jump into FF digital, still have all my film gear and will get into MF when finances and time allow. There is a time and place for all of these aspects of photography for all different personalities of photographers and picture takers. I am a bigger proponent of doing what your finances allow you to do instead of going into debt just because you want,want,want than I am of any single medium of photography. Learn what you can with what you can afford and when you can move up, then you can you move up. Moving up meaning purchasing more expensive equipment. And agree with both of your statements. I got to use my uncle's medium and large format cameras when he was still alive and got hooked, then kids and life have gotten in the way of purchasing my own but soon, I will be back to it.

A general reply to many comments in this thread "there is no need for film cameras anymore, we have digital". It is all about the experience you desire and the depth of your bank account. If you want to try it, try it. If you want to plunge into it, save until you can do it but don't go into debt for it as it will probably not pay itself off.

Congratulations. That is quite impressive and they are beautiful images.

Several years ago I crushed my leg. Wheelchair bound for over 6 months. My buddy's boss bought season tickets to the basketball team and passed them around to different employees each game. The game we went to they put us up in a box with another guy stuck in a chair. He was obviously worse off than I was. A couple minutes into the 2nd quarter you could smell somebody had an accident. The other guy and his escort waited a couple of minutes trying to be cool about things and then left and didn't return. My buddy smacked me and said, "Don't ever feel sorry for yourself, it can always get worse." Although I feel for your misfortunes as of late, "It can always get worse." Hang in there.

Take it from someone who has done the cropped frame step and then into full frame, save up and go with the full frame to begin with. Then stick with the best glass you can get. Anything else will leave you wishing and thinking "What if?"

I have fought with my T3i and the lack of what I considered to be quality images. I have recently bit the bullet and bought a Canon L series lens and what a difference. I don't know that you have to give up on your camera body but rather upgrade on your lens. As far as focus for a dark image goes, if you are doing a landscape/cityscape such as this, turn off the manual focus, pinch the aperture down to the smallest your lens offers, manual focus to infinity, set ISO to a moderate choice; clarity can suffer at extremes. The only thing left is shutter speed and you can experiment with that until you get the image you are looking for. I bet a 30 to 40 second exposure on a clear night will include some starlight in the sky line.