SLR Digital camera

Just lost my whole damn post. :doh:

Let me start over: Adorama (http://www.adorama.com) has good prices and I've always been happy with their service. Amazon is also a good resource, as is Buy.com. Never had a bad experience with either of them.

Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ (http://dpreview.com) has a really handy side-by-side comparison tool that let's you compare cameras feature-by-feature. Beware the forums though, as technophiles troll relentlessly, arguing all day that it's worth an extra $2,000 to have ISO 2000. I kid obviously, but some of those guys just tweak me the wrong way as they seem to have no concept of return on investment.

I really can't speak highly enough about the D40. Last check on Amazon had it going for $470 shipped with the surprisingly good 18-55 mm kit lens. A D80 will run you close to $800.

What's the extra $300+ get you over the D40? Mostly added weight and bulk. It also gets you 3 FPS vs 2.5, and ISO as low as 100 as opposed to the "paltry" ISO 200 of the D40. You can also adjust EV in 1/2 step increments as opposed to the 1/3 increments of the D40.

If you want to haul a bigger, heavier, bulkier camera around all so you can have ISO 100 and an extra .5 FPS, then be my guest.

Personally I took the $300 I saved and put it towards the excellent 70-300MM VR.
I've been reading your guys stuff on the D40, etc. He makes good points. I don't know how he finds time to take any pic's with all the info he has amassed.

Matty, jamf - don't feel bad. I got a Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS because I don't have the time or patience to relearn how to use a SLR camera (I took photography in high school, and learned on my Dad's Pentax K-1000), and the Z812 IS has enough manual modes to suit my needs once I want to start taking "serious" photos.

I've been reading your guys stuff on the D40, etc. He makes good points. I don't know how he finds time to take any pic's with all the info he has amassed.

I stumbled upon Ken Rockwell about two years ago and have been a faithful reader. I agree with him on pretty much everything except his stance on Macs (he thinks they're a gift from heaven.)

He's just down to earth. He won't try to convince you to buy a $4,000 piece of equipment that you don't need, but at the same time he doesn't hesitate to pay for quality where it's needed and useful.

He's not terribly loyal to any one brand either. If Canon is better he goes with that, if Nikon makes something better he'll do that, Pentax, etc. Always thought it was convincing from that standpoint that he typically gravitates toward Nikon, though he's recently been using more Canon stuff.

Just an awesome approach to anything in life if you ask me.

I used Pentax gear for many years in the film world-Top shelf stuff Good advice

On January 24, Pentax is expected to announce the release of their next generation dSLR's. K20d, K200d, etc. Rumored to be huge improvements coming to an already fantastic line of cameras.

On January 24, Pentax is expected to announce the release of their next generation dSLR's. K20d, K200d, etc. Rumored to be huge improvements coming to an already fantastic line of cameras.
Hmmm, that's interesting

I got the Panny DMC-TZ3. It takes great pictures, reasonably fast start-up and first picture times. It also has a 10x zoom and OIS. Of course, it's not a D-SLR.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/)

Now I wish I had gotten the Casio EX-V8. I was looking for a compact camera with >5x zoom, but couldn't find anything that took decent pix. I didn't see this one.