First, you guys need to understand why the D70 takes BETTER images than your P&S.

The D70, and all DSLRS for that matter, take a much less aggressive approach to image manipulation than the P&S cams. The colors are less saturated, the sharpness, even if on, is much lower, and the contrast is lower. The reason for this is simple, control. Someone that spends $1000 on a camera plus lenses more than likely is particular about their images, and no P&S on the market will give them as much control as a clean file.

First, let's talk about sharpness. Sharpening has to be applied FOR THE OUTPUT METHOD. An 8x10 will need much different sharpening than a 16x24. And both of those will have different sharpening needs than an image posted on the web. Taking the control away from you and putting in rudimentary sharpening greatly limits the potential for quality from that file. Any sharpening should be done AFTER the image is taken, and only with the target use in mind.

Second comes contrast. DSLR file smight look more washed out. Why? Because they record more detail. The wider the amount of detail in an image, the more washed out it appears because the tone curve is designed to record maximum detail in shadows and in highlights. This means that when you are editing the file, YOU get to choose where the detail will fall much more so than in a P&S. RAW formats give you even more flexibility in that regard because they store the RAW, unedited sensor data before it is turned into a lower-bit depth JPG.

Saturation is a personal matter, but DSLRs give you more control over that as well, be it a choice of color spaces or a direct saturation adjustment.

That being said, even with great lenses the images will look less sharp than a P&S file would. But this is a GOOD thing and is one of the major reasons for purchasing a DSLR to begin with.

Your lenses are not the best. My suggestion for an excellent, fat, SHARP lens would be the 50mm f/1.8. About a hundred bucks, razor sharp, small and fast. Try it, you'll like it.