Shopping for a Digital Camera with Flickr and Amazon

Both photo sharing site Flickr and shopping giant Amazon.com are good barometers for researching digital cameras, according to tech site Digital Inspiration. Flickr has an interesting feature called the Flickr Camera Finder, which analyzes the activity of Flickr users and graphs the popularity of the digital cameras being used. According to DI, the Canon Powershot SD600 currently occupies the seat of most-popular-camera-on-Flickr. If you check the Amazon ratings and reviews, you’ll find very similar results and feedback on digital cameras.

“The Flickr data matches more-or-less with the best selling digital cameras list on Amazon website. Canon Powershot series occupies 4 of the top 5 slots in the list of most popular items on Amazon.com [Point and Shoot Digital Cameras]“

Even though the quality of a photograph depends more on the artist than the equipment, I like to browse the photos taken with each particular camera in the Flickr Camera Finder. It’s true that a good photographer can take great shots with a camera phone, but it’s still helpful to see the difference between digital photos taken with a point-and-shoot camera, and ones taken with a DSLR.

Digital Inspiration talks about this, and other points concerning the research of a digital camera purchase in “How to Buy the Right Digital Camera Using Flickr“.

I’ve been researching the purchase of a DSLR lately, and these Flickr/Amazon ratings fall in line with what I’ve read on various photography blogs and sites. The overall impression I’ve gotten is that Canon is the top name in cameras, which corresponds to Digital Inspiration’s findings across Flickr and Amazon. The camera I have my eye on is the Canon EOS 30D, but I’m also considering the EOS Digital Rebel XT. I’m not ready for an expensive, top-of-the-line pro model, but definitely something above the entry level. Do any OZaC readers have experience with these cameras? Or would you recommend something else I haven’t read about yet?