Like the title says, I need a new digital camera. The old one just isn't cutting it anymore. I currently have a 5MP Casio Exilim. It's time to upgrade.
It seems I'm in the market for a digital SLR (or at least that's what I've been told). I'm not out shooting portraits or weddings or stuff on the weekends, but I do need something that:
takes nice, crisp pictures
action shots (I take a lot of photos for the sports teams at the middle school where I work/coach)
something with a decent zoom
and something with manual focus? (so I can take pictures where things in the foreground are in focus and the background are not, and vice versa)

I'm also looking to spend less than $500. I know that's not much in the digital SLR range, so are there any other good cameras that will do all the things I need and not cost an arm and a leg? I'm open to suggestions. Really, I'm looking to spend the least amount I can to get the features I want.
Thanks!

 

Nikon D40 hands down.

 

Canon and Olympus have decent entry-level DSLR's too that compete with the D40. The advantage to a DSLR is you can get additional lenses, the kit lens doesn't have that great a zoom range.

 

Agreed but I'm partial to Nikon.

PS: That computer is a Dell so I guess I'm in luck.

 

x2!

Not too long ago I bought my pops a D300 w/ 18-200mmVR lens and Speedlight flash, that thing is a beast!

 

Anybody else care to chime in?

 

See if you can hit up Photog95 or something like that. He's got a lot of info on Digital cameras.

 

Still searching...
And I think that the cost and complexity of a DSLR may not be exactly what I need. I think I've turned the search more toward the higher-end point and shoot cameras, such as this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1205537513525
Does anybody have any experience with these types of cameras? Any opinions/thoughts?

 

i just grabbed a used canon 10d... amazing camera... better then most out on the market now

 

is there a big difference between the D40's, and the D60/80's. I've seen some amazing pics taken with the 60 and 80's.

 

i got my wife the sony cyber shot DSC-H9. its pretty nice and comes out under five hunder bucks i think at best buy.

for everything (camera,2 gig mem stick, plus warranties), it came out to actually being a tad under 600 bucks. it says on the box its full hd 1080, 8.1 megapixels with 15x optical zoom, and has the carl zeiss lens, face detection, and iso 3200 high sensitivity (what ever the hell that is.
it takes really nice pics, too.

 

I bought a point and shoot camera a few months back. A Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS. It's easy to operate, has a nice zoom (12x) and takes decent pictures. I haven't got any action shots but here are a couple I took with it:







Oh, I guess I do have an action shot...big ol snow flakes coming down about a month ago:

 

Nice pictures.
I guess I need to go into the store and start asking the professionals about these things (If I can find any )
The features that I really would like to gain over my current camera are the ability to take pictures where things in the foreground are in focus and the background are not, and vice versa, and for sports/action.

 

I own a D40 and have used a D80 on numerous occasions as well (neighbor's camera -- we're always swapping cameras on kid shots when we're in the backyard). The overall picture quality isn't much different from what I can tell... I have a novice eye.

The D40 will have a motor built in to the lenses that you use (AF-S) to autofocus the pictures in auto mode. The D80 will still do that for you (I believe) but, the motor is in the camera body rather than in the lense. To me, that makes very little difference in performance (but, it's a difference in price when you go to buy lenses AF-S are pricier).

The D80 is a tad bulkier and you can obviously research the megapixel differences and such... being a VERY novice photographer (read: I just bought the DSLR a few months ago), I cannot *EVER* see going back to a point and shoot style camera.

I was incredibly hesitant to bite the bullet and go after the DSLR simply because it intimidated me just a tad. I knew nothing about photography and really don't know a boatload about it today. All I can tell you is that my Canon P&S that I had (can't remember the model but, it was $400'ish) can't even begin to touch what this DSLR D40 will do in auto mode... not even close.

You loose the video mode that so many P&S cameras have but, I don't care... I have a video camera if I want to shoot video of the kid or whatever. That's not a draw back to me.

Obviously, the DSLR is bulkier than a point and shoot and requires a bit more of a commitment. Lenses are **NOT** cheap and you can easily get caught up in that (trust me, I'm pricing them now).

Some that know cameras more than me can get down to the nitty-gritty stuff with shutter speeds and all that jazz -- not me. I don't know it yet. All I can say is, without any question, the DSLR D40 that I own kicks the snot out of everything that I have previously used up until this point. I have NO buyers remorse... none.

 

This is pretty much the type of camera I'm looking at too. I want something that is a little better than a standard point and shoot but still easier to carry around and use compared to an SLR. Any additional info would be great on this type of camera.