Yeah, I could have gone either way, too. It's a plus that my Nikon D40 can switch lenses with my boyfriend's D80. Canons are great; my point and shoot is a SD750 and it's great to keep in the purse. It's a rechargeable battery, too; very diffeent scenario than the digital cams that take AA batteries.

As a geek, I really feel the need to understand this stuff before I go out and buy a camera. I'm having trouble picking it up, and I'm getting frustrated.

Tom, I heartily recommend Ken Rockwell's website on camera stuff. He breaks it down.

As a geek, I really feel the need to understand this stuff before I go out and buy a camera. I'm having trouble picking it up, and I'm getting frustrated.

Maybe it's no longer possible for the typical geek to understand all things geeky, or even all things geeky that the typical geek might buy. Maybe there are no more renaissance geeks....

Tom, I've got some good information on photography floating around I just need to dig it all up. What level are you starting from? Do you already understand things like the relationship between aperture settings and depth of field and just need more technical things like how do figure out image sensor size relates to actual focal length on DSLRs.

Another link for Scola.

Maybe it's no longer possible for the typical geek to understand all things geeky, or even all things geeky that the typical geek might buy. Maybe there are no more renaissance geeks....

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you already understand things like the relationship between aperture settings and depth of field

just need more technical things like how do figure out image sensor size relates to actual focal length on DSLRs.

The thing is, I think I understand the former, and then I try to go and figure out the latter, and discover that I really didn't understand the former in the first place.

Rockwell''s site was one of the top ten hits when I googled "digital sensor size" (without the quotes).

It was the best keyword search for a LOT of technical data that I need to research as well, as I'm deciding on my first purchase of a digital camera for Ws and me.

The camera I had this weekend at the F2F was borrowed, as I had to replace my entire exhaust system and didn't want to squeeze in a new camera, too.

The thing is, I think I understand the former, and then I try to go and figure out the latter, and discover that I really didn't understand the former in the first place.

Aperture is the amount of light reaching (in my case) the film. More light = less depth of field. Or, increasing the f-stop (e.g., from f/4 to f/16) gives you greater depth of field.

For most people's needs, you want to close down aperture as much as possible to increase depth of field. Because usually you want as much of your frame in focus as possible.

Film speed plays a big factor here too, because a lower film speed lets you close down aperture much more, which is what I don't get about how digital cameras work.

Digital cameras can adjust the sensor's sensitivity to light so it is a pretty good analogue to film speed. You generally have an ISO setting you can set the camera to. There is a trade off between sensitivity and noise.