D3000. avoid sony slrs untl the 900. I have a sony a100, x3 a200's, and some higher.

This post was edited by onepagememory on Sep 8 2010 11:03pm

is the sony a100 good compared to d3000?

D3000 is trash. And I am even a Nikon person.

what do you suggest for a budget DSLR?

I agree with this for the most part... it has huge limitations and doesn't do well in low light conditions. I don't know anything about sonys but if onepage says you should get a d3000 instead of a sony before the 900 then they are much worse. Now if you're going to get serious about this I would suggest waiting for a little while to get a better camera and in the meantime practice with any camera you have at your disposal. I didn't and I regret it a little

what is your budget?

This post was edited by succulentdesire on Sep 8 2010 11:33pm

$500

Buy a used body that is a year or two old. I bought a new D80 a year and half ago. If I could go back, I wouldn't get anything lower than a D90. And I would have considered getting a used full frame body with just one prime to start with but I sadly didn't know better... If only...

This post was edited by CitizenScuba on Sep 8 2010 11:40pm

ditto :/ the difference is i haven't actually tried a d90 but I've personally seen the difference