All indications are that 1.6x crop EF-S cameras will be around for a good long time; if anything's phased out, it'll be the 1.3x crop bodies since they need EF lenses anyways. Canon's made a big investment into developing and marketing EF-S and it's doubtful it's going anywhere anytime soon. I'd be rather unhappy as well if I couldn't use my EF-S 17-85 and 10-22 (especially the latter, costing more than the 350D body.)

I own a Nikon D70, D70s and a D200. If you want a good combination of features and price, you can't go wrong with the D70s. It's sturdy, has a fairly decent color meter, and is pretty easy to use. And it uses a CCD (I am biased towards CCD's over CMOS though). If you can afford and find one for purchase, I'd get the D200. It blows the D70s out of the water, and I thought the D70s was a good bargain. The only thing I don't like about the D200 is that it doesn't have a built-in infrafred remote shutter release sensor like the D70.

mrs alect is a professional photographer, and had been using film Nikon SLRs. She then bought the D100 and had it for 2-3 years and has recently moved to the D200 - which she absolutely loves. If your budget can stretch it the D200 is great. But if the budget is lower, she has good things to say about the D70 and D50. Given your Nikon lenses, a Nikon would be the economically sensible choice to make.

She too once dropped the D100 and a lens on concrete getting out of a car at LAX - she was in tears as it was her favourite lens. the lens was unscathed.

If you already are invested in the Nikon system, I'd recommend you stick with it. I moved from Canon film to Canon DSLR a couple of years ago and it was a natural progression. Of course the "I can use all of my old lenses" justification went out the window when L fever took over. :)

For all the "mine is better than yours" battles, what you do with it in your hands will outweigh almost all of the differences between brands.

If you were starting fresh, I'd recommend a Rebel XT or 30D at the lower price points (I think they're slightly better than the Nikon equivalents), then a D200 (clearly better if you want to cough up $400 more bucks), then the 5D, 1DsII. But at the D70/20D price point, it's neck and neck - if you've been with Nikon it's better to stay there.

There's always the "something new is coming" fear. I still have my "ancient" 10D. Guess what. I still takes great pictures, with perfectly clean 18x12 prints. The D70 is probably due for a refresh - dpreview.com's Nikon forum should have the latest rumor mill. But unless it's supposed to out in the next month just make the move and don't look back.

There are adapters to let almost any lens mount on any body, but you lose almost all automatic control and it's not a good thing to depend on, IMHO.

I too love my D50, but tested them out also for grip etc. The double set of lens made for the D50 coupled with existing NIKON lens should be a great config.

Several years ago, I purchased the Sony DSC F717 (one of the earlier 5 mp digital SLRs) and have been very pleased with it. However, there are very few lens options for it, as far as I am aware. I coordinated this purchase with a Sony CLIE PDA, in part to be able to share the memory sticks both use. Both of these have now been discontinued as Sony has changed its focus away from these types of products, but both continue to work very well for me.

I suggest that if you already have a device which is using a particular memory card, you consider a digital camera which uses the same type of media, so that you can share these. That approach has worked very well for me.

Don't hold your breath on Nikon. Aside from the usual un-informed prognosticating over at the DPReview forums, I doubt Nikon's going to be going full-frame for anything but a full-professional body (ie, a "D3" body), and even that's a way off. There's no good reason for Nikon to switch right now. No one's going to question the image quality of a D2X with pro-level glass on the front, whether DX or a full-frame lens.

As a serious photographer, if you want something better, you're going to shoot with one of those 30MP+ digital medium-format backs, as opposed to investing in a parallel Canon system.

I've got a D70s with the 18-200VR lens, and it's a great kit. It's a good jack-of-all-trades lens - it's not going to be a knockout tele like the $1500 70-200VR, but it's a great travel lens, can do acceptable macro work, etc. I've got a 50/1.8, but that gets far less use.