I have a sony dsc F717, and I use it quite a bit. I like the camera. I have
owned it since last April, and so I am going on a year with it.

When I bought it, I thought "good, now I wont have to buy anything else for
some time", but now I am starting to feel as though it is really not doing
the job for me I would like.
I have thought of this rationally, there are a few features that I can
simply love about the camera, such as its awesome macro capabilities, and
nice zeiss lens (whether it is just the coating or not, its a nice lens).

But there are a few things that I don't like, one of them being the lack of
a changeable lens, a fixed 5x zoom, and a relatively tame "wide" angle zoom
out.

Added to that, I still am paying this sucker off. I got it before the price
started to plummet, and I owe about 80% on it still.

I don't really know if I would benefit very much from moving to the digital
rebel right now. That isn't to say that I am not interested in DSLR, quite
the opposite, I very much AM interested in it, but for now I feel for some
reason like I would do well to explore SLR in general, and that puzzles me.
I mean, there are all the added costs of developing, scanning (I don't have
a good scanner, I would get photo cd's made), and buying film.
I don't want to give up on digital, just to carry both camera's when I go
out, and use both of them for different things.

I know that when I do go DSLR, I will go canon. It is a personal preference
that I have formed.
As such, I have been looking at getting myself a decent used canon which
takes EF mount lenses (so I can use the lenses on whatever DSLR I get in the
next few years).

WHAT ARE GOOD OPTIONS FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME?
I was looking at the EOS Kiss, until I found out it was just a variation on
the rebel, which as I understand it is a crippled camera for consumers.
What about the late 1980's type cameras? The EOS-850 for instance?

I don't want to spend much more than $200 Canadian for a used camera, but as
I understand it, a good camera from the late 1980s that takes current lens
technology will do me as well as a brand new ELAN 7 will, yes?

What do you think. Thanks for any suggestions.