I broke down and bought the Nikon D80 a few months ago and absolutely love it. We are actually going to get a second one because having 2 photographers, 13 lens and only one decent DSLR is not working real well. Keep in mind, he's a pro and we have a slew of Nikon film SLRs around here, hence all the lenses. We have also had a Nikon digital Coolpix 960 for a good 7 years. It's on it's last legs, but is a great macro camera (no real point here, just another Nikon plug). My first "real" camera was a Olympus SLR I bought in college about 25 years ago. The first time someone put a Nikon 8008 film camera in my hands, I went Nikon and never looked back. We've also had Sony and Kodak digital cameras, as well as Hasselblad, Leica and a bunch of other pro film cameras. The household pro has been overwhelmed with what he gets out of the D80. The Nikon D80 is the little brother to the Nikon pro D200 but the D80 really seemed to be the better camera. The few additional features the D200 had, didn't justify the additional cost. A good photographer can manipulate the D80 to behave the same. For macro I use a Nikkor 60mm, we also have a 105mm macro. No matter how you look at it, macro is frustrating to learn. A little point and shot with a good macro setting is far easier. For wildlife pictures or when we are birding, he uses a 300mm and I use a general purpose 70-210mm (easier for me to hand hold and it's been my fave lens since long before digital). If you saw my space shuttle shots, they were taken with the D80 and the 300mm (from 10 miles away). I can also upload some day light shuttle shots, not taken during the launch, using a 500mm with an extension making it the digital equivalent of a 1000mm but the 300mm is so much sharper the added focal length of the 500mm with the extension isn't worth it. When he gets done running the pics we took yesterday at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, through photoshop (500 of them), I'll upload them to my flickr pages. The detail using the D80 with the 300mm will blow you away. I've also got some macro shots (60mm) of a scaph around here I need to run through photoshop, but the preliminary review I did of them is mind boggling, as far as the detail is concerned (now that I'm figuring out how to use it and get the depth of field right). There are a few recent macro shots I've taken with the D80 up on flickr already, they would be tagged D80, most of the rest of my orchid pics were taken using the Coolpix. If you want an idea of what I get out of it, keep in mind, I'm having to relearn how to use all these lenses on the digital SLR. I've got a ways to go yet. Another thing, don't feel it's necessary to buy new lenses. The pros, collectors and serious hobbyists buy, sell and trade lenses all the time. You can get perfectly good lenses that are 20 years old for a fraction of what new digital lenses cost. The new digital lenses aren't any better (okay, they are lighter) and work the same. All Nikon lenses made since the 50's (I believe) work on both film and digital cameras. That's my 5 cents. Laura

Thanks, Eloise! All of the pics I take are when my camera is on the Auto setting, because I have no clue how to use it, otherwise. LOL With my A95 (and probably all of these similar Canons), I love how I can get rid of most of the "shakes" by holding the button all the way down. The camera (usually) auto-focuses for me, which is nice, since I hardly ever use our tripod. About the only thing I don't like about this camera is the long wait necessary in between flash photos. I really appreciate the flip-out LCD screen, as well as the size of it, too! My folks have another model with a smaller screen that isn't moveable, and it's definitely more difficult to view previews on it. You're right about the quarter, Bearstate. The preview looked clear, but when I viewed it on my computer, it appeared more blurry. I haven't had that issue with the usual pics I take (flowers, nature stuff...), so I imagine a coin collector wanting to take pics of his stash might have issues. :D From about 2 ft. away, with above lighting and flash - I usually do some editing in Paint Shop Pro (size, sharpness, contrast) before sharing my pics, as well. Some day, we'll get an upgrade on this camera, but until then, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. :) Brenda

Jenny - What a cool shot! They are amazingly brave and active at evening, aren't they? I guess that red bag is doing the trick! Enjoy the increased sightings. Ruth

Nice shots Phildeez. I concur with willard3, technically macro is >1:1 magnification and requires either a dedicated "macro" lens or a lens with macro capabilities. Regardless of whether you're doing macro or close up, here's a few suggestions based on my experience... - When possible, use a tripod; - Turn off auto focus, manual will give you greater control; - It may sound counter intuitive and won't work in all situations but when you can, you'll find fine focusing easier by first doing a rough focus manually and then fine focusing by moving the subject or camera (try it); - Fill light (using reflectors or flash) is your friend; - Consciously pick a point of focus and control how much foreground and background is sharp (depth of field) by adjusting your aperture (f-stop); - pay attention to your background, especially if using deeper depth of field; - Finally, play around with settings and shoot, shoot, shoot. FWIW, Bill