"I thought the Sigma was technically okay, but it just wasn't particularly interesting. It's soft wide open, of course, like any fast lens, and I don't mind softness. The problem with the Sigma is that it's an ugly kind of soft, like the light sort of gave up halfway to forming a point and fell asleep in a heap."

- "...something like the Nikon D40, which has 6.1 MP - that seems like a bit a low pixel count seeing as camera phones nowadays have similar megapixels. Would it still look good?"

- "I am going to kill every single digital camera marketing company in the world"

Kit:

-Rebel XT silver

-Tamron 28-80 3.5:5.6

-Sigma 70-300 4.0:5.6

-Canon 50 1.8 II

-0.5x wide angle/macro attachment

-Pentax Promaster FTD5500 flash (Mysteriously compatible with Canon mounts; but used mostly for strobe effects)

-Sunpak Nikon 433ev flash (same as above, also it has much better manual controls)

-Canon 380ex ETTL flash

-$20 Quantaray tripod

-remote release (cost more than the tripod)

-cheap UV, fluorescent, and PL filters

-a huge fanny pack to carry it all

-the tip of a crow's feather for dusting the mirrors (Air is for suckers)

-Photoshop CS with Focus Magic and Neat Image to make up for lens softness and noise.

And just for fun:

-Canon T70 (1984 model)

-Canon FD 35-70 3.5-4.5

-Sigma FD 70-200mm 2.8-3.5 (Push-pull zoom and breech-lock, this lens is METAL)

Plus a Nikon Coolpix 5600 for my mission

Older stuff that's probably broken/lost now:

Nikon Coolpix 4600

LG VX8300 camera phone

Canon Powershot A40

Creative "Webcam Go!" - hahahahahahaha yes I actually took pictures with this thing

You may have noticed, I probably hold some kind of record for the most dirt-cheap gear possible. Doesn't matter, I'd still take 1 pixel of chromatic aberration in order to save $500 any day.

...Of course, the lens that I'm really saving that money for is the Canon 10-800 f/0.95 DO IS tilt-shift.

Ha, ha. That was a joke.