Nikon D90 (with 18-105mm lens)

Pros: Images are sharp and noise-free. Extremely fast performance. Auto and scene modes make it very easy to take great shots out of the box. Included lens kit has VR and is light and compact. Movie mode is fun to use. Great value at this price.

Cons: Movie mode has annoying limitations, such as 5 minute cap on HD and no auto focus. Lens kit has cheapish build quality. 18-105mm range is not great for telephoto zoom shots. JPEG output could be sharper (but RAW is excellent).

Summary: I bought this dSLR after reading the positive reviews on Cnet, http://dpreview.com, and seeing it was a best pick on http://bestcovery.com. Overall I'm extremely satisfied with the purchase. As others have mentioned, it's not perfect, but it's probably the best available right now in this price range.

This is my first dSLR and I was impressed with how quickly I was able to jump in and start using it. You can get excellent images right out of the box using the Auto or scene modes. I took it to the USC football game last weekend and was able to get great shots using in Action mode. The images were very sharp, noise free, and because of the 12.3MP resolution, I was able to crop them while still having plenty to work with.

The movie mode is very cool, but the limitations (no autofocus, 5 minute limit for HD) are a bit annoying. It's definitely not a replacement for an HD camcorder, but it's good enough for general purpose.

The lens is nice because it's light and compact, but the 18-200mm lens would be a lot more useful. I'll probably end up either buying that or the 70-300mm lens so I can get close-up shots.

I'd highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a dSLR in this price range. Even if it's your first dSLR, you'll be able to get great shots with it out of the box, and as many users have pointed out, image quality is nearly on par with the more expensive D300. I kept postponing my dSLR purchase because they kept getting better and cheaper, but this one was intriguing enough to make me bite the bullet