Little-known fun fact: Sony bought Minolta's digital camera division a couple of years ago. Thus, all Sony DSLR's are Minoltas. Why does this matter? Because ALL Minolta AF lenses, flashes, and other equipment work on Sony DSLR's. Pawnshops are full of nice old Minolta lenses for next-to-nothing. My only beef is that Sony insists on using their stupid proprietary Memory Stick format for everything; they should have switched to SD or one of its variants years ago.
By the by: my other degree is in Photography. Been takin' pictures for as long as I can remember.
Also: I usually only carry a tiny digital with me into the field. I've had Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon models, liked them all, and have not had any of them last more than six months. Nowadays I won't spend more than US$100 on a pocket camera, since I expect to buy another six months later. Right now I'm using a Nikon S220 (US$95). I like it quite a bit but I find that it's way more picky about white balance than any other pocket digital I've ever used. I don't like the presets, so I'm always resetting it with a sheet of paper for whatever lighting I'm in. If any of my pics seem too yellow or too blue, that's why.
By the by: my other degree is in Photography. Been takin' pictures for as long as I can remember.
Also: I usually only carry a tiny digital with me into the field. I've had Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon models, liked them all, and have not had any of them last more than six months. Nowadays I won't spend more than US$100 on a pocket camera, since I expect to buy another six months later. Right now I'm using a Nikon S220 (US$95). I like it quite a bit but I find that it's way more picky about white balance than any other pocket digital I've ever used. I don't like the presets, so I'm always resetting it with a sheet of paper for whatever lighting I'm in. If any of my pics seem too yellow or too blue, that's why.