Hey photographers.

the e-500 has high recommendation by dpreview..

Olympus just has less of a lens market, which is where most of your versatility comes from. Once you have a good base unit, it's all about the lens from there on out, and olympus just doesn't have as many good lenses on the market as Nikon and Cannon do. Better optics. Better prices. Better selection (they also have good 3rd party options). Go with those two. It's worth the money.

ok, i think ive made my decision: the canon 300d

[EDIT]

i just found someone who's willing to sell me his 10d body for less then the price of a 300d, so ill stick with that.

ok, last thing:

i just made my first photo with my canon 10d with a 38-76mm cheapo lens

Ugh, the 10D with its horribly plasticy clicky scroll-wheel on the back of it.

You got yourself a CANON 10D

10D is a pretty decent camera. I borrowed my uncle's 10D for a few months. In comparison to the 20D I found its controls to be very unintuitive, but it takes nice pictures. I hope you enjoy it.

The sooner you can get better glass the better. If you're going to be doing music gigs you should look into getting a 50 1.8 II. They are SUPER cheap and very sharp, not to mention very fast at 1.8. Of course you'll be limited to 50mm, but it's like 70USD so you can hardly say it's out of your price range. the only problem is that it's made entirely of plastic, so don't drop it. it'll fall apart.

If you're going to think about a different always-on lens, and you probably should, I suggest looking into a Tamron 17-50 2.8. That's the lens I use all the time on my 20D, and I used it on the 10D too. It's a fantastic lens. Sharp, light, and moderately cheap.

Now the only advice I think we can give you is to Have fun! I'm looking forward to seeing what you contribute to the photography forum.