DSLR recommendations?

[John Koch-Northrup]

My wife and I are dreaming of a new camera again... whether we'll actually buy one or not remains to be seen, but half the fun for me at least is digging in and researching and asking people's advice.

I've been using a Sony DSC-F717 since 2001 - it's a point and shoot, but it has one heck of a massive lens on it. You can see the camera in these reviews:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/f717.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf717/

I *love* this camera. It's easy to use and most importantly - the lens pivots from the body so I can take photos at waist level with the camera supported by the strap around my neck. It does really nice macro shots - especially for a pos.

So, we're thinking of diving into DSLR territory and one of the first lenses we'll get is a macro lens.

I am not a true photography geek - I really don't know much about f-stops and exposure and everything - I'm going to have to learn a lot more to go DSLR. I'm more of a take the photo, have fun, kind of person.

The camera has to have the ability to show me what I'm seeing through the lens on a screen that pivots. I'm slowly learning that this may be a problem... as usually you look through the lens - and the screen is only used for viewing the photo after you take it. (at least according to my coworker)

This may be a problem for me as I have bad hands/wrists and holding a camera up for any length of time will make it a chore instead of a fun hobby. Also - to get our macro shots - I really need to get right up on the insect or rock or whatever it is.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Tips? Hints? :-)

[John Koch-Northrup]

We ended up getting a Nikon D5000... it'll take us a while to get use to using it!

[Tamar Shoshana]

Ha! I am so jealous!! I have the Nikon D50, its amazing, but I heard the NikonD5000 is amazzzzzzing!!