After much work, saving, and research, I settled on purchasing the Nikon D80.  It was tough to pick a digital SLR.  Canon puts together a great camera and I love the PowerShot we have (A630 flavor – most of the recent digital pics have been made with this camera).  I already have a Nikon N80 film SLR camera with lenses and other gear.  So I scoped out the local camera shop and checked out the Nikon’s D-series and found my existing gear would definitely work with the D80, although not so with the D40x.

The D80 is awesome.  Being able to swap lenses around, getting close to the action or going for a wide-angle shot is very handy.  The speed of the camera has also been beneficial.  There’s no shutter lag.  There’s a lot more control over the flash, and if the onboard flash doesn’t cut it, I can attach the flash unit I have for my Nikon film camera to the D80 and use that.  As far as I can see, the D80 has all the features my N80 has, plus a bit more (in terms of photo control).

Its a bit too cold to be romping around outside with the camera just yet.  When it warms up, I look forward to getting some shots of the Cleveland skyline and the night sky itself.   In the meantime, I have been shooting indoors, with the cats, Olessia, and the plants as my subjects.