More on Cameras

I got a lot of feedback (thank you) on my previous post about DSLRs, so I wanted to give you an update and see if the Peanut Gallery has ongoing thoughts.

I took my "old SLR" (Quantaray 75-300) lens to Best Buy yesterday in order to see if it would work on a Canon DSLR body.  There was some sort of error indicating that the body and lens weren't communicating, which squelched the possibility of using my old lens on a new body.  Up until now I have had only Canon cameras, but now (especially since I can't use my old lens) I'm more open-minded.

Funny story about my transition to digital photography from film.  The last time I used my 35mm camera was on a Caribbean cruise in 2004.  Right after that I bought my first digital camera and never went back.  I didn't even develop the last roll of film (but I did just take it in a darkened room as the camera's batteries are dead).  Anyway, a year after the cruise my family was planning a trip to Bermuda for Dad's 70th birthday.  A couple days beforehand we were putting together our travel documents and couldn't find the sole official copy of Steve's birth certificate. (Back then you didn't need a passport.) We tore the house apart and I was absolutely distraught before realizing the last time we needed it was on the cruise, and on that cruise I had put the birth certificate in a *very safe place* (i.e. the SLR camera bag) and never unpacked it.  When I finally found the certificate I sat in the middle of the floor and bawled my eyes out in relief.  Oh, and this picture from the cruise?  Scanned from a negative, pretty awful.  Like my short hair with the humid windblown look?  Oh, and one more thing about film.  I am jealous of excited for the brides who get to have digital photos of their weddings.  We didn't even get to keep the *negatives* from our wedding, just expensive prints, and I'm not even confident that our photographer is still in business here. 

I digress...

Another reason to visit BestBuy was to hold the Canon XSi and Nikon D60 (my top two contenders) and compare shape, button layout, see if the Live View mode on the Canon is all it's cracked up to be, decide which one felt more natural in my hands...  To my surprise they didn't have a D40 or D60 floor model.  I have come to realize that the life span of a camera in today's competitive market is way short.  I have mulled for too long and my research has become antiquated, so now I am looking at this year's Nikon D5000 (which has Live View mode and a nifty fold-down screen).  Thoughts? 

Also, there is such a thing as Nikon School (thank you, Stuart).  I have learned about photography but back when film was king, so I'm hoping to take their Intro to Digital class in November.  It seems like the responsible thing to do when plunking down hundreds of dollars for something.