I am looking for a good starter camera. I am completely new ...

I am looking for a good starter camera. I am completely new to photography, except point and click cameras, but find myself noticing things that really should be photographed all day long, so I decided that I should get myself a real camera and get going. So, what is a good camera to start with?

I can't really tell you which one to start with, but I can say that Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sony all make good entry level D-SLRs. Canon is probably the most popular and has the most lenses and accessories followed closely by Nikon. All are good and well worth looking into. All have some different features and all feel different in your hands. Best bet may be to go to a large camera store and ask questions and hold each one, if you can.
Good luck with your decision.

Here is the problem with your thought. If you are not using your P&S to its fullest, a DSLR won't change a whole lot except for the cash outlay. WAY too many people buy DSLRs thinking they will work some kind of magic but use them as VERY expensive P&S cameras. Since you are a "guest", there is no way I can see your photography to determine where you are at the moment. But think about that before you buy the DSLR.

H2O junkie - thats an interesting approach - So how do you suggest I make the transition or get into "deeper" photography? How would you start with a p&s? And what would be the point that you would lay out the money?

Does your P&S have a manual mode? If so, are you using it? Are you pushing it to its limits and it just no longer does what you want it to do? Does the fact that it doesn't support an external flash bothering you? Does it limit your composition or creativity?

My thoughts are that if one hasn't reached the limits of what they are shooting, they will have a hard time with the move to a more complicated piece of equipment. Prior to going to the Canon I used to shoot a Fuji S100fs. I heard so many people gripe that it couldn't do this or couldn't do that. Yet I was able to win photo contests with it. I would recommend making strides with the current camera unless it just no longer works for you. Then the learning curve that will come from a DSLR will be shorter and you will get a whole lot more from the change.

Just so you know, I started with a Kodak DX 6490. I was winning contests with it and doing great, but I found I was limited by the inability to use filters.

I then switched to the Fuji S100fs. Once again won contests and loved the camera. It could use filters, shoot sports more effectively and used both external flash and PC sync. But its limitation was speed. I was able overcome it somewhat, but not to the level I wanted.

That is when I switched to the DSLR. The switch was seamless and I never missed a beat. Now I am using it for profit in ways the P&S cameras couldn't even dream of.

I agree with the other poster's sentiment that before one has truly mastered taking pictures with a point and click why necessarily move up to a DSLR? The secret to good photos is good technique, not necessarily just a good camera.

The Nikon Coolpix (http://www.cameta.com/Nikon-Coolpix-S640-Digital- Camera-Pearl-White-43247.cfm) and the Canon Powershot (http://www.cameta.com/Canon-PowerShot-SD960-IS- Digital-Elph-Camera-Gold-40646.cfm) are both decent and cheap starting cameras. Good luck searching!

Mine doesn't have a fully manual mode.It is a Sony dsct-p10 which I bought in Amsterdam quite a few years ago.I can do some adjusting but not a whole lot... so I don't use manual, and this is where I feel it is tying my feet a bit, so to speak. I will look at some of the cameras that you have suggested, and compare them to dslr in price and see which of them would be more worth my while.
Thanks for your advice