Thanks for stopping by! Here's my current situation. I have a Fujifilm S5200, which I bought earlier this year, for comparatively little money. After bridging over to digital from film, I have in my closet a lot of mostly unused Maxxum equipment, including several decent lenses and two 7000i bodies. The main reason for two bodies is that I detest changing lenses, so I'll use a 28-85 on one and 70-210 or 100-300 on the other.
After learning a LOT about digital photography the past several months, I'm ready to move up to something more capable, and am considering several models:
Fuji S6000fd @ $500 (or maybe a bit less) when it is available. Advantages are price, convenience (no lens changing), and ability to use the xD cards I already have.
Sony A100 @ $1000 (I have a bunch of Maxxum glass) Advantages include, obviously, is the existing lens collection I have, meaning all I'd need is the camera and kit lens to cover 28-450mm equivalent focal range, plus body-integral A/S and 10MP sensor. Disadvantage is cost.
K/M 7D @ $725 (see above re Maxxum glass) Advantage same as the A100, plus a more robust "pro" build. HUGE disadvantage is that K/M is no longer around and support via Sony seems tenuous at best. Risky.
Pentax DL with 18-55mm *and* 50-200mm @ $600 after MIR. Advantages include low entry cost and upgrade path in the future to new body-integral A/S cam's.
I've purposely not addressed *every* advantage/disadvantage on each option, in the interest of time and space. The ones listed are those that come immediately to mind.
Any comments on the merits of any of these or others you may suggest would be appreciated. I'm not faced with any kind of deadline on this so I have the luxury of time, but would like to do something by year-end unless a compelling reason to wait longer (like pending release of a new model) presents itself.
Thanks for you time.
FastEddie