I know we have several people here who are into photography not to mention at least one who does it for a living so I was hoping to get some recommendations about an entry level dSLR camera. I want a camera that is fairly versatile; I will be using it to take picture of my four year old daughter and the peewee tee ball team I coach so it needs to be capable of taking decent action shots. I would also like to be able to do some limited artsy style shots of plants and wildlife, close ups of flowers and birds type of stuff. Being able to shot halfway decent video with it would be nice but I not critical.

I am looking to spend somewhere in the 500-800$ range for the camera and the lenses. I know I can’t get any decent telescopic lenses at that price but I would like t o have at least a 200-300mm lens. I want something that can grow if I decide to get more into photography but I really can’t see me ever dropping several thousands of dollars for a lens so I am not worried about being able to grow that much.

I have been looking at several cameras and the front runners are the Olympus E-620 or a Nikon D3000 or D5000. My question is are there any glaring draw backs to these cameras and is worth it to get a kit a 18-55mm lens or am I better off just buying a body and trying to find the lenses separately. How bad of an idea is to try and buy camera stuff off of e-bay or Craig’s list? I have bought tolls that way in the past and have usually regretted it.

Thanks