Pentax K-1000
West Chester, PA
May 31, 2006
Ralph was *gasp* the only Nikon user at the table. Needless to say, the poor guy was lynched teased mercilessly by unnamed parties.
If you’re not familiar with the endless Canon versus Nikon debate, I refer you to photojunkie.ca‘s recent post on this very subject:
Photojunkie Mailbag: Canon vs. Nikon (see also the comments)
Before you begin shelling out the relatively large sums of money required to get into the DSLR arena, it would behoove you to read the various caveats regarding choice of brand. It may not matter now, but when it comes to buying lenses that are compatible with the camera body, what make and model you decide will determine what accessories (the really big ticket items) will be available for it down the line.
Personally, not having the money for either a Nikon OR Canon DSLR makes life a little simpler in this regard. 
However, I’ve become rather fond of shooting with David’s old Pentax K-1000, which is fully manual and weighs a ton (or tonne!); my DSLR time will come eventually.
