Well, I bought a D40 and am very pleased with it. as people say, its not all about the pixels, but the optics. And sorry Jontie, but the Panasonic Lumix is a very competent compact,
not a SLR it's a whole different ball game.
There is a review of the D40 here:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm
a little biased I think (him not me!) but he does make some excellent points.
there is a
lot of camera snobbery, sorry to say it but it is there, But as already said, get a good look around somewhere like jessops were you can try out different cameras, and then thank them nicely, and buy the one you like somewhere cheaper
