I own the XTi and i'd agree with most people here. The 18-55 lens is useless.Better off getting a more all purpose one. Also get an external flash. One thing i'd like to put out there is that you dont HAVE to buy Canon brand lenses, or flashes. They aren't bad or anything, but you do pay for the "name recognition" In many cases, you can buy a better lens or flash for close to what the Canon branded one will cost. Some good brands to look into are Tamron and Sigma.I'd also recommend that you invest in a UV filter or polarizer for your lens.Not only will it give you an edge in your pics (especially the polarizer for outdoor stuff) but it will also giv your lens a little bit of a shield of you should happen to drop it. Before i was in the line of work im in now i used to run a professional camera store/lab. I can't tell you how many times i saw a person who had dropped the camera and the lens was ok but the filter had busted.

On the Canon vs Nikon point.Nikons are good cameras, but not always idea for someone just getting into serious photography.They are artificially heavy for one (Nikon actually weights them because back in the day, pros often judged the quality of a camera by its heft) and not as forgiving with metering. For a pro thats no big deal, since they are more likely to know what they want in a shot.For a beginner it could lead to frustration when a shot doesnt come out they way they had hoped.

I own a Nikon as well as a Canon, AND a Minota DSLR. Even though its not the popular one i always loved my Minolta.I don't even want to get into how many film SLR's and POS i own. LOL You can take the woman out of the camera store but you cant take the cameras out of the woman!