Hi! Im a professional photographer, so i have lots of cameras. The professional one i use is the Canon EOS 1D Mark III. But im sooo scared of using it incase i damage it! it cost alot!
The other SLR I have is the Canon EOS 450D, and I also had the 350D too. Its a GREAT range of SLRs! I love Canon! For SLRs Canon and Nikon do the best ones.
For compact, I have Sony and Canons. and they both make some good ones.
Firstly, Whats your budget? and where do you live? I go to a big store where they sell cameras to develop my photos. The manager is my friend and lets me try out all the new things. Plus she gives me great advise on the technical point of things.
Im going tomorrow to develop some pics, So if you tell me how much you want to spend, I'll post some recommended model numbers you can go look at. I'll give you my honest opinion.
With editing suites, i have Adobe photoshop, Corel paintshop pro, GIMP, portrait professional and lots of others i dont use. If your not a photographer or need to touch up professional pics, GIMP is more than enough. I also recommend portrait professional, its REALLY easy and quick to use!
Portrait Professional - Enhance your photos using the best airbrushing and photo editing software go try the demo
I just wanted to say, SLRs are like pizzas! There are lots of "extra toppings" you can buy to improve, and if photography becomes a hobby, it can be really fun (&expensive :-( ) to buy extras!
Also, if you buy an SLR make sure you get atleast one good lense; it can make all the difference in the photographs. You can buy filters that you attach to you lense and it can be really fun! you can buy all sorts, UV, polarings, skylight, sunsets the list is endless. they cost about £15 on average. but really fun.
Looking forward to hearing from you...
Also, if anyone else needs help regarding photos or cameras, send me a msg.