I shoot on the D300 and love it. My biggest suggestion to you though would be to not blow your wad on the body... your body is not going to make your pictures look better or not, as it does not matter how many mega-pixels you have if you are shooting through a pint glass. Make sure you get a good lens, the nikor 18-200 VR is a great lens (it was my first lens), but you are slightly limited by the fstop, as you can only go to 5.4 at a focal length of 200. The easiest way to pick your camera in my opinion is to decide what camp you want to belong to, Nikon, Canon, or other. If you seriously get into the photography you will more than likely be dropping lots of money over the years on accessories and lenses, and you'll want to keep everything interchangeable. Also you can find lenses that will be just a tad bit more expensive, but will work with both a 1/8 inch chip and a full frame camera. Henreys downtown store in Toronto has a very large selection of used bodies and lenses, so that might be a great place to look as well. At the end of the day what makes your photo's great is your eye as an artist... if you can see as a photographer your stuff will look great no matter what you shoot on... just might not be as "crisp". If you have any other questions send me a pm in regards to the d90 and the other still camera's offering video recording options, keep in mind that there are many issues in regards to filming with a dslr, I won't get into that whole arguement, but just view the video mode as an added bonus, not a reason to buy a specific camera. Great review of the D90 for you http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/nikon_d90