[inkista]

Originally Posted by ToPpS

...The first thing that i always advise when choosing a body is to clear your head of everything you've heard about the brands.... and then pick up the bodies and have a feel.

I only really recommend this if you know for absolutely certain-sure that the person asking a) has no legacy glass, and b) has nobody they can borrow lenses from. I hate to say it but mount-compatibility to me trumps "feel in your hands." If you like the feel of a Canon in your hands better than the feel of a Nikon, but great-uncle Ste has two dozen Nikkors you're welcome to use? I'm sorry, I still say get the Nikon.

Also, a lot of folks find the Canon entry-level bodies to have a grip that's too small. Simply adding a battery grip can substantially change the feel of a camera, so you might want to give that a try, too, at the store.

... The Nikon D40x/D60 don't have a built in focusing screws. This means that you will be confined to newer lenses that have a built in motor within them.

Actually, you're not confined to AF-S lenses, you just don't have autofocus without them. This is only an issue if you plan on shooting action photography like sports or wildlife that demands fast autofocus performance. With family snapshots, portrait, or landscape photography, this isn't much of an issue.

But if you can see sports, wildlife, or event photography in your future (e.g., weddings), then autofocus takes on slightly more importance, and a Nikon D80 or a Canon 1000D might be worth slightly more consideration.

Nikon and Canon are (again) arguably producing the best (glass) lenses around in terms of quality and specifications. 3rd party manufacturers produce excellent value lenses for almost all lens mounts.

It depends on the lens you're looking at. Nikon's kicking butt on wide angle. Canon tends to offer more high-quality lenses at better prices in the telephoto and supertelephoto arenas. And one third-party manufacturer, Zeiss, has offerings that easily beat both in terms of CA and micro-contrast and manual focus use.

If you're looking for a good single lens that will do everything, especially since you're still new to photography. It's advisable to wait until you have a better understanding before diving in and buying a whole bunch of lenses. Possibly a 18-200mm???

Ok, here's where I respectfully part ways. If you really want a good single lens that will do everything, stick with a P&S camera. That's what it's designed to be: a swiss army knife of cameras. The SLR is the big red tool box. You want specialized tools to do specialized jobs. An 18-200 specializes in being an all-in-one travel lens. But the image quality is where you compromise, much as with a P&S camera. Doesn't mean you can't take terrific photos with one, but you're more limited. The point of going with an interchangeable lens mount is being able to change lenses.

A kit lens is a good way to start. It's cheap, but it does what it does pretty well, and it gives you the experience you'll need to realize what you personally find important in a lens: focal length, max. aperture, cost, autofocus performance, build quality, etc., and then you can start to figure out what's the best fit for you.