Thanks for all your comments everyone. I am pretty much in learning mode - I'd like to learn (or in some cases relearn) manual settings with an eye towards taking some interesting if somewhat artistic shots of nature, early evening, and possibly some monochrome studies of familiar subjects. I have several books from a few years ago with learning modules and picture subjects to explore, so I'll just be working through those as I gain skills. The XSi should be more than sufficient for that. I think the one lens I'll try to pick up is a "nifty-fifty" an play around with that. I got my start by the way with an old Argus C-4 back in high school. My Dad worked for Argus and designed the range finder on that particular camera, so I used his.