Here we go again. Another Rich one.
Persistence laddie persistence I'll give you that.

Bill

Rich, I followed the link you provided and watched the videos. I even
visited the Camera Labs website and read the full review. Funny thing,
I could not find a single reference to "BAD build", "shutter like a
sledgehammer" or "echo of thin, weak plastic shell."

It appears to me as if you are attributing those comments to Gordon
Laing. And unless I missed something, he never made them. If thist is
the case, your article is inaccurate and misleading.

TR

You won't get much echo from a "thin weak plastic shell", it will absorb
sound by flexing with it; you will get an echo from ridged things like:
mountains, concrete, solid metal.

I watched the video and the XTi had the quietest shutter of the three tested
units.

Rich,
Quit reading about this and that.
Do as we all seem to do: ENJOY!
You know, Canon, Nikon, Sony and others have all pluses and minuses, but the
real deal is to own any one of them and take pictures! At that, they're all
pretty good. They'll let you take back souvenirs of trips, events, and
whatever, regardless of their "plasticity", sledgehammer shutter sound...
;-)
Take care.
Marcel

I strongly recommend reading this for all of us who think that equipment
specifications are the end all and be all of photography (or just about
anything else for that matter).

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/parable.shtml