Last time I bought a camera, just in time for our
Honeymoon to Eastern Europe, I briefly considered a
Digital SLR camera. However at the time, what you could get for your money plus the added inconvenience of having to carry all sorts of gear around swung me to the high-end of the point and shoot market instead. The Panasonic I ended up with has been a great camera, and as a one camera to have it or it's more modern siblings are a great choice.
Time moves on though, and I now have 5MP auto-focus with flash in my pocket at all times thanks to my Nokia N95 phone, and increasingly I simply can't differentiate in my image editing software whether the pictures were taken with the Nokia or the Panasonic.
So, in the interest of higher quality pictures of Phoebe (and many other things, of course), I jumped at the possibility of a real proper DSLR for under $600, the Nikon D40. To be honest I wasn't completely convinced that I'd be able to tell the difference in the image quality, but the first batch off the memory card proved otherwise. I'm really happy I went with it, and now both Liz and I have to learn even more about how to make the most of the new toy.
I found
this site invaluable in learning all about these sorts of cameras, and showing me that even the entry-level DSLRs are now fantastic cameras - what really makes a difference is the lens.
So, now it's time to be very selective and work out what extra lenses are the most sensible to purchase.
Some examples of the pictures to appear soon, of course.