But it took REAL GOOD photos of dinosaurs!

[Pixelated]

I walked into [Well-recommended Camera Store Chain] today and said to one of the staff: "What's the digital equivalent of this?"

And held out my current camera.

My Pentax K1000.

Staffer: "Um ... anything in the store ...?"

[Arcus]

I wouldn't agree with that. Most photographers will keep a K1000 in the bag as backup should their fancy digital fail on them. The K1000 is just that good and that reliable.

[csquared]

Kids these days just don't understand what makes a camera good.

[Pixelated]

I wouldn't agree with that. Most photographers will keep a K1000 in the bag as backup should their fancy digital fail on them. The K1000 is just that good and that reliable.

Oh, my K1000 isn't going anywhere. In fact, even though I did buy a new camera, I also bought a replacement battery for the K1000 light meter. Time was when I could do a damn good job of "guesstimating" the settings according to available light but that was LONG ago. I have some black and white film floating around and I'm pretty sure this same store can either develop said film or can direct me to a company that can do it.

[dalesys]

I have half a dozen old friends that if Old Scratch offered 5 years of good health with a Yashica-D, unlimited Tr-X Pan 120 and darkroom supplies... he'd be trampled! Two of them are dead but they'd resurrect right fast just to go to Hell!

[TheSHAD0W]

To answer your original question... The most expensive digicam you can find will more or less match the *best* resolution of your Pentax. But if you've never owned a DSLR before I wouldn't recommend buying one of those. I'd say go with the basic Canon or Nikon body. (Canon's Rebel appears to be the best available.)

What did you wind up getting?

[Pixelated]

I wouldn't agree with that. Most photographers will keep a K1000 in the bag as backup should their fancy digital fail on them. The K1000 is just that good and that reliable.

Back to this comment: the staffer warned me that digital cameras can go "blooey" with no warning or explanation. He made no attempt to make them sound like flawless works of technology. This is my first-ever digital camera, so I appreciated his honesty. I'm familiar with desktop computers (and now, iPads as well) but this camera is totally alien territory for me.

To answer your original question... The most expensive digicam you can find will more or less match the *best* resolution of your Pentax. But if you've never owned a DSLR before I wouldn't recommend buying one of those. I'd say go with the basic Canon or Nikon body. (Canon's Rebel appears to be the best available.)

What did you wind up getting?

Hmmm, interesting, because I got neither. I bought a Sony "alpha" (the Greek symbol) 6000. Staffer told me he has used it extensively and would highly recommend it.

He showed me two others, one of which looked physically VERY much like my K1000, but it's not even remotely important that I get a "clone" of the K1000. I'm happy to get something that's obviously different, to remind myself that I need to learn how to use it.

[TheSHAD0W]

Ah! Not a fan of "mirrorless SLRs", I hate digital viewfinders, so I wouldn't have recommended this.

[telecom_goddess]

Ah! Not a fan of "mirrorless SLRs", I hate digital viewfinders, so I wouldn't have recommended this.

I have a Nikon D50 so it's not mirrorless, I have no idea how those even work, I've never used one. Digital view finder? Meh I like optical better myself. But my camera, as a DSLR, is old now but it still works like a champ!

[TheSHAD0W]

With a digital viewfinder, there's no mirror (or shutter) in front of the sensor, it's constantly reading data, and feeds it to a display inside the viewfinder. Makes for a simpler camera design, but there are limits to what sort of resolution that teeny display can have.