For me, the very best feature of the 'newer' cameras is the Auto-ISO setting. It took me a while to figure out that ISO on digital cameras is not really comparable to the film days. With film, you generally wanted the very lowest ISO film you could get by with to reduce grain. With digital, it sorta/kinda doesn't matter except at the extreme end (although most cameras have an ISO sweet spot). 90% of the time, I shoot full manual mode with Auto-ISO. It's a miracle for us old film shooters. All I have to worry about is how much blur/sharpness I want, how much depth of field I want and the Auto-ISO does the rest.
That said, I'm using 12+ year old technology and will likely never upgrade. I'm a diehard micro-four-thirds guy (Olympus OM-D and Panasonic Lumix GF1). I love the small size of the MFT cameras and lenses. Nowhere near the tech of the latest stuff, but everything and more that I need
