I am a very serious amateur photographer. My hobby is nature, wildlife and landscape photography. Except for my first SLR, I have always used Nikon equipment. (I also did my own developing and printing in my own darkroon in the days of film.) Several years ago, I made the leap to digital SLR. Because of my rather significant investment in Nikon ear ($10,000+), I went with a Nikon D80.
The Nikon D60 is a nice camera. If it is your first SLR, it is not a bad choice. It is not too expensive. it shoots 10.2 megapixels which means you can make clearer prints. In fact, you should be able to make a 13x19 inch print with the same sharpness as one made from a film negatice. It can use the entire line of awesome Nikkor lenses (the only ones to buy!) in addition, it is not as expensive as other models, leaving more in your budget for a good flash, some additonal lenses or other accessories.
The Nikon D60 is a good first D-SLR camera. But a better one is (the much more expensive) D90. It shoots at 12 megapixels so you get better and sharper prints. It has a faster frames-per-second rate when shooting in continuous mode. It has moreauto-focus points and better focus tracing for moving objects. In addition, the D90 is the only digital SLR on th emarket that can shoot MPEG movies! It is also compatible with GPS devices which can tag the physical location of every photograph. Software is available that can then associate your photos with a map. the D90 also has a much larger screen, 3" compared to the D60’s 2.5" screen.
An SLR give you some very serious capabilites. Spend your time learning how it works. D60 or D90 (My D80 is scheduled to be discontinued shortly.) Do not buy a camera you can barely afford. Buy one and leave enough money in your bdget for accessories such as filter (get a polarizer if you take photos outside), get extra batteries, get extra memory cards and get FAST ones. You will also want some decent software on your computer and may even want to get a better printer when you want to make prints.
Finally, do not be tempted by lenses with large zoom ranges (e.g. 18-200 mm) The larger the zoom range the more optical problems (read: various types of distortion) the lens has. Sadly, there is no such thing as an all around lens. You can get close. the 18-55 mm and the really cool 24-120mm lens are good choices for an all around lens. Avoid the Nikkor (Nikon) 18-200mm lens, to much barrel distortion, too heavy and there are sharpness problems at certain zoom positions.
Finally, I cannot disagree with anything RomanCatholic says. I would love to get a D300, but cannot afford it at this time. He also did have some good insight on lenses.
For some very good independant reviews on many different cameras, look at this site.
dpreview.com/
Let me know what you decide.
