[campbellcj]

Nice... The D70 is on my "list" but a few months off. I have had good success with the more point-and-shoot variety Nikons and Canons for several years, but they are not easily coerced towards quality/artistic shots in difficult lighting conditions. For example, perhaps I could have done better with manual settings (if I had a clue which tiny buttons to press) but a few of the pics I shot in the blazing desert sun yesterday with a Canon S500 really sucked. It does an excellent job in most conditions, but the zoom is of course pretty crippled and strong sun/shadows really overwhelm it. Lens flare also is an issue and I don't even think (?) you can get filters for some of these compacts as they have retractable and non-threaded lenses.