Forget Nikon and Cannon. This is a stunning camera!
Pentax K7 Digital SLR Camera 18-55 mm Lens.

I helped a bud sort one out, it makes the competition look and feel like cheap junk.
The cam + zoom lens was £700 and it's way nicer than any Nikon or Cannon for that price.

I think I'm going to get one, but maybe this one as I like an on board flash.
Pentax K-x Digital SLR it's only £400

I bought the Kx. It is a great camera. It is not in the ame class as the K7, but very nice. The best thing I like about it, other than being able to use the 10 lenses from my Pentax film camera, is the flash will sync in high speed mode to 1/5000 sec. It allows me to totally wipe out a background and get sharp photos. I believe a photographer should be able to take good photos before they try Photoshop. This was taken at about 5:30 in the evening, as I recall. I am not a really good photographer, just an amateur hack.

quote:

I am not a really good photographer

In spite of REALLY liking the Pentax and the inspiration of Larry's lovely closeup shot....
When I went to get one, I ended up with a Nikon D300s and a 16 to 85mm zoom. I was made an offer I couldn't refuse, used but mint condition with only a couple of hundred shots on it.
The number of shutter actuations are recorded in the photo data on new Nikons, quite handy when buying a used one.

Good timing, the Boss has been after me to upgrade from the Nikon CoolPix 5400.

Thanks for the tips.

Rich

You will certainly not be unhappy! That is a great camera. I would have gone that way if I didn't have some lenses from my film days that I really liked and could reuse on the Pentax.

I got the D300s from a pro fashion photographer.
He'd done a couple of jobs with it and some of the photos have been published.
After a day fiddling with it I realized the sensor was defective, black spots that weren't dust but they could be removed with the anti dust software.
When I called and told him, he was well embarrassed.
He wasn't trying it on, he honestly had no idea it was faulty.
But it is a bit of a big lump for walking about with, I have ordered a D5000 then when they become more available at reasonable cost I'll upgrade to a D7000.

I took delivery on my Nikon D7000 yesterday, so no pics yet to "show and tell". But there are several things I like about it that make it superior to my D90, without even taking a photo. Little things like being able to have my copyright in the metadata, the camera strap hook-ups, the programmable custom image options in memory, the fact that my D90 GPS and remote shutter release work on this camera as well, the two memory cards, the relative lightness and size compared to a D300s, the 100 ISO factor, and a few other things. I hear it takes great quality photos as well.

I think I may not swap my D5000 for the D7000, I really like it.
The flip down screen is really handy, 4 more meg is good, but just a body here is £1000. Maybe when they go down a bit, but I like the 5000 a lot.

Here are 3 shots with a 16 to 85 mm zoom.


Inside looking up at Alexandra Palace Dome.




My local Park.