I've been used to point and shoot camera's and to be honest I'm just sick of the quality of the photo's. I must admit I haven't spent more then $300 or something around there. I had a casio that wasn't bad but I had some battery issues and didn't want to deal with it anymore. The camera's I have no i don't even want to name lol. I always burrow camera's, they are that bad!

I will mainly be using this camera for family and business photo's. By business I mean taking pictures of reptiles. I love close ups and detail. I've seen tons of photo's where you see this beautiful animal with amazing detail in which you can see each scale and the rest of the animal is blurry. I don't know how to use a slr (I could learn) and have only ever really used point and shoots. I know that there are some higher quality point and shoots on the market now but I don't know if I would be happy with them.

I have a budget of up to around $600 or less. After speaking with one photographer he told me to get a D40 and spend my money on a good lense (Ed II ?). I was told I really won't see the difference in a higher end slr then that because I probably won't use most of the options.

I found this deal: http://www.need4digital.com/product....mid=nkd40x1855

I can get the batteries and such on e-bay for cheap to fit my budget. I don't need all the crazy things you can get for these cameras. Battery, charger, case, usb, and memory card outta do it, maybe a neck strap.

Who offers the best deal and what do you think I should get for the money I'm looking to spend? Some people say I'm wasting money because I'll never use the options the D40 is capable of. HELP!!! lol, there are so many different options I never thought you could get stressed from buying a new camera!

Forgot to mention that I also plan to use this camera for Nature photo's. I often go out in the glades and shoot pictures of snakes and gators. Camera size is of no concern at this point.

John :mad2: