The offical launch should be today or tomorrow and it's supposed to be abailable by late Sept. MSRP with the 17-85 kit lens is $1599 and it's expected to sell between $1300-1400. Here's a site which shows most of it's specs. There will be 2 new ef-s lens introduced as well. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.sdcard.be/Nederlands/store/viewitem.asp?idproduct=8979348" target="_blank">http://www.sdcard.be/Nederlands/store/viewitem.asp?idproduct=8979348</a> <BR> <BR>Note Canon has raised the burst rate to 5 fps with a 25 frame buffer and increased the number of focus points to 9 but I still wouldn't expect this body to be anywhere near as fast as the 1 series.

The kit with the 17-85 is going to be around $1999 from what I've seen. The $1599 has the 18-55mm (3x zoom) f/3.5-5.6 autofocus lens. <BR> <BR>Let me start by saying this will be my first step into photography and I know very little. I am going to purchase the Canon 20D with the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens and spend all winter learning as much as I can. Do you think this lens would be a good one to start out with? I've seen a lot of pictures from BillJ and others so if any of you would mind weighing in please do. TIA <BR> <BR>(Message edited by jjared on September 07, 2004)

That looks like it'll be a decent lens, and the camera should be really sweet. Whether that's a good lens or not depends on what you're shooting. You'll probably want to pick up a zoom for shooting wakeboarding - 70-300 is only about $170.

BillJ, is that 70-300 a canon lens? Do you have a specific model number?

Canon makes a 75-300 IS, I didn't think it was that cheap though.

Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6 for $189 at B&amp;H <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&amp;A=details&amp;Q=&amp;sku=16 9269&amp;is=USA" target="_blank">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&amp;A=details&amp;Q=&amp;sku=16 9269&amp;is=USA</a> <BR>