Hi there everyone,

Well I've been really interested in photography for quite some time now, since picking up the usual Boots and supermarket branded 35mm cameras right up til now, after completing a full A-Level in Photography and working for a website company on a year's placement before heading off onto my University course.

Anyway, now my background has been covered, I've been looking into treating myself to a decent Digital SLR camera for some time now, especially since half way through my Photography course at Sixth Form that I became interested in the school's Fugifilm Finepix 10-12 MP (not sure how much!) which of course was and still is out of my price range a little. I think they averaged around £900 or so! And since that time I invested in a Pentax SLR camera which gave up the ghost after using it for around 5-6 film rolls which I found most disappointing, and even though it was still under warranty all I got down the phone was a "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to buy a new one, but we will of course offer you a discount on a new, similar camera to your current one. All you'll have to pay is £180." which of course has now put doubts on buying from Pentax again, especially for anything more technical than the Pentax IST i had at the time, with a lens upto 200mm!

Ok, sorry if I'm blabbering, but down to business! I currently own a Sony Cybershot DSC-P100, a relatively basic camera to the kind of equipment the visitors to this website are possibly used to! Well, the thing is getting a bit old in the tooth now and doesn't really deliver the crisp digital images I have seen so many examples of, especially after working within a related industry. I'm currently looking into the 7MP+ market, with a budget of £400-600, body and some sort of lens included, just to get me started and back into the whole photography thing.

The type of photography will range however, from taking outdoor shots for work, to family events and general outdoor and indoor photography, including mugshots and that sortof thing. It also may be worth bearing in mind that I will be taking a BSc course in Multimedia, Production and Technology, which may require some photography at some point.

Hope this all helps and if there's any other info needed just let me know. By the way, below are some links to examples I have been looking into. No real preference on makes, although I am unsure of Pentax as said earlier.

Canon EOS 400D - with 18-55mm Lens Kit

Fugi Finepix S9600