G'day Chap,

Your biggest issue will be the one-shot lens.

The Canon Rebel XT 350D is a very adequate camera and needs only to be mated with a good fisheye lens like the Sigma 8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye or Sigma 10mm f/2.8 Full Frame Fisheye.

Mount this on top of a Nodal Ninja 3 MKII or Agnos MrotatorUM and set the correct camera/lens position to rotate around the NPP (Non Parallax Point) and your in business.

There are of course many options for camera bodies and lenses but in the main they are do similar jobs.

Tell us what you really want to achieve and how much money you wish to part with and I'm sure we can come up with a good selection for your to choose from.

Regards, Smooth

FYI, please refer to the compatible equipment list at http://www.easypano.com/pw5-equipment.html.

Chap,

For the money your talking I would be looking seriously at a Canon 5D with Canon 15mm Fisheye lens. OR the Nikon D300 with Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye Lens. The Canon has a full size sensor and is what I use personally. The Nikon D300 has a wider bracketing feature but is still a APS-C small sensor with a 1.5x crop factor.

I would then be looking at the Agnos MrotatorTCPS or the Nodal Ninja 5L Panohead quickly followed by a new quality tripod like the Velbon Sherpa 650 series or maybe the Manfrotto 055XPROB.

If I was to have any money left I would be buying a Sigma 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye lens for the times when moving objects were a factor.

Learning and using bracketing is the answer to the window blow out issues. Not to mention learning how to use the camera in full manual mode.

Regards, Smooth

Smooth,

Don't mean to butt into this thread, but I noticed you kept mentioning the NN5(L) and the Agnos TCPShort.  From what I can see, the NN5L kit will set me back right at $400 + tax and the TCPShort will set me back about $500 + tax.  Is it worth paying the diff. or are equal results possible, and build quality eqitable?  Thought I'd ask you as you seem to have the voice of experience and wisdom here on the forums! 

Donald,

Either would be perfectly acquaint for the job. I own and use both and can fully recommend the products and customer service. The Agnos has the advantage "if" you add the RingT to it.

Regards, Smooth