Pardon My Preference

It's finally time I talk about cameras!
Well, at least realistically what's in my price range.
I want to get the most bang for my buck without going broke.
...(Yay for alliteration!)
ANYWAY

Looking through Ebay, Craig's List, and Nikon, the best choices for my personal situation and preferences are between the Nikon D3000:

 

...and the Nikon D5000:

There both pretty decent cameras for their prices. I debated getting the D80 but it's double what each of these are so that's not happening. I'd rather spend my money on lenses than the body anyhow.

Now the D5000 is older than the D3000 by only a few months, but all in all it is the better camera.
Here is how the D5000 is superior to the D3000:

• It's heavier and larger. (This may just be a personal preference but it's a plus for me. I like the heft)
• It has more megapixels and better image quality.
• It has video (which would come in useful for blogging)
• I like that it has an LCD view finder
• Lots of white balance options (that's more just to play with though. I set it custom 9xs out of 10)
  
• Greater ISO

I'm still iffy on a few things with it though. The sensor is different and I'm not sure of the metering.
I should also point out that, even though it is more advanced than the D3000, it's not by much.
The megapixels are greater by 2 and the image quality is close to the same as well.
If you want the exact numbers side-be-side you can go over to Image Resource, select them, and see for yourself how they match up. And of course if you want to see them separately you can click the links above for the individual cameras.
If I can get the D5000 I probably will.
It's a bit less than $100 more for it compared to the D3000 and I think I'd get more use out of it as far as school is concerned.
Plus there are a few kits out there under $1000 that aren't too shabby. Click here for an example of one.
Unforntunatley that one in particular won't be up by the time I get the funds to afford it, but hopefully something of the like will.
With the holidays coming up a lot of good sales are coming up.
Not to mention Nikon Rumours is all in a tizzy about a possible (probable?) new SLRs coming out.

I'm not sure what that will do to the price of what I'm looking at, if it does anything, but there's hope.
And by the time I get my loans in there may be even more releases out there to hopefully lower costs, or maybe something will come out that I can afford that's even better than the D5000.
A girl has to hope.

Quotable Quotes:

"We're deathly afraid of that stabbing word "pretentious," the word that students use to curse each other's ambition. It's a young person's word, a shortcut-to-thinking word. I'm a big fan of pretension. It means "an aspiration or intention that may or may not reach fulfillment." It doesn't mean failing upward. It means trying to exceed your grasp. Which is how things grow." 

~Warren Ellis [06/01/2009]