the 20D is a good starter DSLR , but digital photography is evolving so quickly that you might want to think about something more like a 30D or 40D, those are good prosumer cameras that are a little more expencive but are more recently devloped and they will retain value and capability much like the 20D has since it was released
almost 4 years ago. you can get a used 30D in great shape for like 520 or so, and a 40D for like 700... but try and budget yourself with the camera body, your money is much better spent on glass... think L series...
you might want to think about a rebel they are terrific for the money but they shoot very slowly 3.5fps on the most expencive model and if you using the camera for skiing you are going to want 5fps or more (the 40D will shoot 6.5 which is perfect). but anyways you can get yourself a rebel XT which is essentially the 20D just shoots 2 less frames per second with the 18-55mm lense (which is a great starter close angle lense) for like 500 bones, then get a 70-200mm f4.0 USM L for another 550ish and you have yourself a slammin set up for probably like 1100 bones.
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www.bhphotovideo.com they have everything you could ever want for photography
