I found your blog, and specifically this post, as a result of a Google search on Nikon D80. Thank you SO much for writing the above post, you really helped clarify what all the technical stuff about cameras boils down to in practice. My husband and I have a basic digital camera (can’t even tell you how many pixels right now and it’s worn out so we are looking for a replacement, probably a digital SLR. I read one lady’s blog who had said Nikon and she was taking amazing shots, from a distance too, of animals, people, scenery. We also have an older 35mm Pentax which functions great, it’s just expensive buying the film, developing it and finding some less-than-stellar shots. I guess what I would really like your thoughts/ recs on would be, what type of digital SLR camera should we buy? We are not photographers, but we would like to get beautiful, clear shots of our children, still and in motion , and also something that would allow us to shoot scenery and close-up nature shots and perhaps some distant shots but not that many. We don’t a weatherproof/ waterproof body so much, just something we can grab quick, find the right settings and get a great picture. Right now we have no camera and we are missing a lot of valuable ‘milestones’ as far as our kids go, so what is your best advice, if you have the time and inclination to share? What should/ can we do with our Pentax? We paid close to $900 for it about 8 years ago; is it saleable, or could we trade it in at all? Thank you so much in advance for writing this, I would have e-mailed you but could not find a way to do so. Plus I also wanted to thank you for your post; I know what it’s like to blog and not see a comment, and you certainly deserve one. Really, really nice website as well, you are very gifted at photography – thanks for sharing it with the world. I’ll check back to see if you were able to comment; thanks again!