Possible Canon lenses

Canon 35mm 2.0 weight 8 ounces cost: $230*
Canon 28mm 1.8 weight 10.9 ounce cost $400 at some point
Canon 50 mm 1.4 weight .64 pounds $310
Canon 50 mm 1.8 weight .29 pounds $70*
speed but not weight can be saved.
Tamron 24 2.5 $270

Nikon viewfinder
Shutter speed, aperture, exposure mode, metering method*, focus indicators, exposure compensation, flash ready, and frame counter
canon af/fe lock*, flash ready, shutter, flash exp comp, highs speed sync, focus confirm, exposure, wb shift

I've been doing more reading and testing
Nikon's defenders Thom Hogan and Ken Rockwell both get into the mechanics of shooting (how you use the buttons, how well the exposure is done. I have yet to find this type of defense on the Canon side).
Nikon d70s' advantages - more relevant info in viewfinder area, better access to image size and white balance, weight, price, better metering, better flash, more consistent menus between models, lens don't twist in in different ways, iso auto?, horizontal dials seem nicer, larger LCD, better visibility of LCD in daylight, bigger sensor, iso contrast setting, better use of dials in manual mode, spot metering, quieter shutter release.
Canon 20d- more and better located focus areas, mirror-lock up for slow shots, 3200 iso, better gripping material, more pros seem to be switching to canon, tilt-lenses, nicer viewfinder, scroll wheel better for menus, dedicated autofocus zone selector, usb 2.0, better customer service.

Canon iso not displayed in viewfinder during change,

Rebel XT II

Ergonomics
I found that to use the camera I supported the weight of the camera with my left hand under the lens (update: oops forgot this was way you are supposed to hold it). This meant that the buttons on the left side required a grip change to use although for most part these buttons aren't the most important for shooting. The image size and shooting parameters are accessed through these left hand buttons. More importantly it meant that using the zoom required a grip change because my hand was normally on the zoom ring.
Shooting vertically was even worse. This moves the camera a bit higher which makes it difficult to brace with the left arm. The buttons also became more difficult to use. The best example of this was when I jabbed my finger into my nose while trying to reach one. Unconsciously I stopped using portrait mode.

Software
Canon software.
For browsing there are the ImageBrowser, Digital Photo Professional and File Viewer Utility. There is no distinction made in the manual for when to use each and since they each have some functions that the others don't there are reasons to bounce between these programs that aren't integrated, have different interfaces, and no online help. ImageBrowser was best for viewing images because it allowed side-by-side viewing and seeing the exposure info. The problem with Side-by-side is that the info is done in a separate window which often gets hidden. It has options for cropping and color adjustment.
DPP has a few image adjustments- cropping, rotation, brightness, white balance, and something called ckick. The manual refers to this as click and it shades an image with a single color (like sepia toning but adjustable).
Image browser also has editing and trimming options as well as a method for rating the photos which DPP doesn't have. The shooting info it provides gets cut 0ff (as in: Camera Model Name: Canon Po...)
Finally file viewer utility has no editing options but does have a useful button which shows you where the camera auto-focused.
There is the EOS capture program which allows the camera to directly send images to the computer via USB. This program will not launch if you click on it. It must be started from within DPP. It will also not start if the camera is in playback mode. Once beyond this it allows a nice degree of control of the camera - ISO, exposure, white balance, and image size. The other options can be adjusted on the camera.
This is not the program my Powershot uses. It uses Remote Capture and it only has a size option and no adjustments can be made on the camera.
There are also the Photo Stitch and Camera Window programs, Arcsoft Photostudio. This is 8 programs for 2 cameras.

Speed
In general, all of the software is very slow and I ended up doing quite a bit of waiting moving between images. The software doesn't seem to share thumbnails between apps.

Help
DPP and File Viewer Utility have no online help. There are two PDFs- one for DPP and one cryptically named EDS_M_E which contains help for the EOS capture, camera window, ImageBrowser, RAW and Photostich programs. The inclusion of EOS Capture in the EDS documents is strange seeing as it can only be launched by DPP. It took me a while to figure this out, I would launch the Capture program and then it would disappear.

Rebel XT

I was a little upset with myself for purchasing the XT before realizing the ergonomics were so poor. This was despite reading reviews on dpreview and Steve's Digicams and trying the it in a store and using a friend's. I'd seen a few posts saying it was inadequate for people with large hands. I have small hands and still find that it requires an uncomfortable pinched grip which strains the wrist instead of using the arm muscles. It is much more unwieldy than my old Nikon 8008 which is heavier. I've tried a few different ways of holding it.
The exposure compensation is difficult to set and read. The compensation button must be depressed while using the dial. This button doesn't give good feedback for when it is engaged so many of my changes don't work. These changes can either be seen in the LCD (which means taking your eye off the shot) or the viewfinder but the display in the viewfinder isn't linked to anything besides shutter press. So you must either take your eye away from the shot or bounce your index finger between the shutter button and the exposure dial.

Lens Tamron 28-75/2.8
The lens focus ring cover a small distance- maybe a fourth of a rotation. This seems to be working well for me because I don't get lost like I did with my old zoom. This may be an inappropriate comparison as this one covers a smaller multiple.
The depth-of-field preview isn't compatible with the lens. I returned this lens but I believe that this statement is wrong.