Dear CNET members,

Happy Friday! I missed you all! A few of my family members have been out sick these past couple of weeks, and I've been in and out of work attending to their needs, so I was unable to deliver the newsletters to you folks. With that in mind, I hope this newsletter finds everyone in good health! Now let's tackle Cecilia's question on whether she should move on to a digital SLR camera or stick with a compact digital camera.

This week, many members, ranging from beginners to seasoned shutterbugs, came through for Cecilia and shared their expertise, recommendations, and true passion on this topic--we are very fortunate to have you all here to participate. Many of the answers provided by members included a lot of pros and cons for both camera types, from the limitations of the compact camera to the size and cost of dSLRs. Member hjfok even provided us with some links to his photos to show what a camera can and cannot do well, which is awesome. Thanks hjfok!

All in all, as most people mentioned, Cecilia, what you want to achieve with your photos, how far you want to take your photography hobby, and your budget, will determine your tools of the trade. But I will vouch that getting a dSLR can get very expensive, very fast. One thing that I can recommend is to see if you have a local camera shop that will allow you to rent dSLRs and lenses to try out. This way you can really get a good feel for the different types of cameras and see the actual picture quality that can be achieved under different conditions versus a compact digital camera. You'll be able to give it a try and see if it's something you want to get into. This helped me tremendously in my decision making, but I will warn you, though: once you see the unlimited possibilities you can achieve with a dSLR camera, you may never turn back.

So for starters, I picked out a few featured answers in the Q&A area, but I urge you folks to read through all the submissions, as the knowledge and suggestions that our members have passed down to us is invaluable. I know this information will prove helpful to all in need. And as always, if you have any additional information to share, I invite you to join in and tell all. Thank you, everyone!


Cheers!
- Lee

Got suggestions? Send me an e-mail: messageboards@cnet.com

Featured member solutions
for last week's question:

 "If you're serious then go for it "
-- Submitted by: kalel33

 "Differences between point-and-shoot and dSLR... "
-- Submitted by: kLevkoff

 "The camera is just a function of what you want to achieve "
-- Submitted by: fschoonbaert

 "Compact vs. dSLR "
-- Submitted by: hjfok

 "Digital SLR vs 'something else'"
-- Submitted by: Watzman

 Read all member contributions

 Thanks to all who contributed!