Pentax K10D (with 18mm-55mm lens)

Pros: In camera image stabilization, multitude of inexpensive very good lenses, fast focusing, fast shooting, built like a tank, weatherproofing, very good metering, well laid out controls

Cons: Settings in viewfinder is not as bright as I would like but OK

Summary: I owned the Canon EOS 300d for about 2 years then tried to go with smaller P&S. The Canon felt cheap and the P&S cameras just had too much noise at higher ISO settings. I finally opted for the Pentax 1st DL because of pricing. I was pleasantly impressed then the K10D came out and when I checked it out, WOW!!. It had just about everything I wanted and at a price hundreds of dollars less than the competition and that was before evaluating the image stabilization and weatherproofing.

I have now shot about 350 images and am very impressed. Indoor shots without flash are great. WB needs some tweaking once in a while but that is true with just about any dSLR in mixed indoor lighting. The ability to set the shutter and aperture to what you want and let the ISO make it happen is a major plus. Yes, there is noise at ISO settings over 400 but that is easily (well that may be a slight overstatement) compensated. But even at ISO 800 the shots are very acceptable.

Shooting times between startup and 1st shot are OK as is the time between shots. And not having to worry about exhausting the buffer when shooting in JPEG at full resolution is much appreciated.

The RAW button on the front of the camera makes switching to RAW fast and easy.

So far this is the best dSLR I have ever handled and I have handled most of amatuer and prosumer models. I try not to look at cameras above $1200. I teach a intro to digital photography at a local college so students are frequently bringing in cameras of all types to show me and get opinions.

Pentax has moved back into the major leagues and it will be interesting to see what Canon and Nikon do about image stabilization and weatherproofing the cameras.