Jet

Here's where I'm coming from:
I've always enjoyed taking pictures, so 8 months ago I finally got my own camera for really--a higher end point and shoot with manual ap, ISO, and shutter speed (Panasonic FZ5). However, over the summer and the past few months, I'm outgrowing it, and it's time to move on.

So, here are my thoughts. I'd rather not spend a whole lot of money, but I do want value--while pretty much anything will be better than what I have, I do want something that is decent and will last a bit.

Price range: I'd like to keep it under $500, but if there's something, say, up to $800 (both prices with lens) that is a whole lot better then I might consider. I have plenty of time, so I am going to be looking for deals. I'm looking at used, not new!

Pretty much, my two friends (one of which is Ben) have convinced me to go with a Nikon, but I'm still open to Canon. I've been looking at the Nikon lineup, and am pretty familiar--Canon not so much.

So far, these are my thoughts:
-I like having the extra autofocus lens compatibility of, for instance, the D50 versus the D40.
-While 6MP is on the lower range, I'm fine with it. If need be, I'll just upgrade later!
-As far as lenses go, I really want a decent lens. From my looking around, my thoughts right now: less than 25 to more than 100. I've been looking at 18-105, or 18-200.

One last question: Can I get film lenses that are Nikon compatible and use them on my Nikon DSLR? I know the sensor size differs, so throws off the mm ranges, but I was thinking if I could get a lot of older film lenses for really cheap, it would provide some secondary lenses to play around with and get more experience with lenses in general.

Thanks so much in advance for any input!

Joshua

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