Hi Everyone,

I am looking at buying my first DSLR camera and am looking for some advice because alot is foreign to me...especially about lenses.

Here are what i am looking at so far:
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NIKON D3000 W/ 18-55 DX II LENS.......
>>out of these two is it just a higher quality lens or totally different?
NIKON D3000 W/18-55VR LENS .......
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NIKON D3000 W/18-55 DXII & 55-200 NON VR

NIKON D5000 W/18-55 VR LENS

NIKON D5000 W/18-55 DX II LENS
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Any thoughts or advice or explanations would be great

if i wasnt walking out the door right now for work, id post a more detailed reply. I see another Nikonian -soon to be-
I see you have a D3000 with 2 lenses included. that would be my kit of choice, allthough the VR lenses are nice. Both the 5000 and the 3000 are excellent bodies, my suggestion to you would be to head down to the camera store and play with a few cameras, ie) mess with settings, get to know the feel of it in your hands and see if its uncomfortable, etc. another site i would suggest is Matt's favourite, www.dpreview.com. reviews on EVERYTHING. another site i found really handy for nikon shooters is in youtube, search for a member called lilkiwiguy. this will lead you to the nikon help hotline. another excellent place to learn alot. hope this helps!

on second thought, you should pick yourself up a D3 with the nikon 200-400f4. total cost should be roughly around $14,000.

by looking at a few reviews, the 5000 has 12.9 mpx, where the 3000 has 10.75. but really, the only reason you want MEGA megepixels is if you want to print BIG. a 6 mpx camera can produce clear 12x24 as well as up to 24x36. the 5000 has a bit bigger LCD monitor as well as much greater ISO capabilites (which really helps out in low light) the 5000 has 4 fps (frames per second) where the 3000 has 3. *just a fancy name for how fast your camera can sound while rapidly shooting* the d5000 has a swivel screen, as well as incamera retouching, the 3000 lacks in the bracketing feature. each have their own +'s and -'s but overall, im sure which ever body you decide on will be fun.

Thanks for the advice. I have narrowed it Down to either the D3000 with the two lenses or the D5000 with one lens. I really like the idea of the swivel screen on the 5000 I have that on my current camera and it comes in handy but I'm not sure if the extra lens will come in handy for now moreso than a better body. Once I get whichever one I'm getting it will be Awhile before I will be getting anything else ha ha.

when are you thinking of buying your camera? where are you going to buy it?

Weell sometime in the near future...it's a birthday present. Right now the D5000 is cheapest at London drugs and the D3000 with two lenses is cheapest at henrys.

dont forget to check ebay... i know it sounds scary, but you may be able to find a good deal there also. I will see if i can find anything interesting on there

ok i quickly checked ebay, and it seems that this would be a good place for buying the body only ; d5000 body only under 500 bucks.

So I ordered my camera d-3000. And a few other things (filters, flash, case, shutter release, lenses) and on wed I got my order....everything except the body!! LOL so now I am waiting for that. Just had to post it. I'm getting impatient haha. Hopefully it's here today

let us know! i have a couple days off coming up so im hoping to get the gear out as soon as i get a chance, if i do, i will post somthing and see who may be available to shoot, but it may be short notice.