Get the same system as your friend, you can try out his lens and share around.
Unless you are super sure that your friend is a good friend who trusts you very very much, then this should not be a reason why you choose a camera brand. Sharing equipment sounds very good in theory, and it is- provided your friend is willing to lend you equipment all the time.
More often than not, things will turn out like:
You: "Hey bro can lend me your (whatever focal length) lens please, one day only..."
Your friend: "Eh no la... sorry sorry paiseh I think... aiya cannot lah".
Plus, in the long run, it is quite inconvenient to share equipment, unless you see your friend very often.
:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:
Almost zero knowledge of Olympus DSLR, so better not anyhow "hamtam"
They are meant to be examples for the TS anyway.
Do feel free to chip in the info on the Olympus cams.
Yup my comment as just said jokingly, I know you're just giving examples
To TS, there are a couple of pretty good Olympus DSLRs that you might want to consider- Olympus E620, E450, etc. Although Olympus appears to be a "dying system" with many bad points, (and, as an Oly user I disagree), the up-side of this is that even the later cameras are going pretty cheap 2nd hand.
Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself which dslr you should get. I think I posted this in another thread, before buying a camera you ought to read up on basic photographic theory, such as the exposure triangle etc. etc. (you probably don't know much since you asked about ISO- not criticizing you here, but making a completely factual statement). Only then can you decide which camera meets your needs as opposed to choosing a camera brand largely based on the opinions of people in a forum whom you do not know personally.
After all, the person who knows what you want best ought to be yourself.