one more thing, it cant be a point and shoot. It needs to be able to adjust the aperture settings, the shutter speed, add and remove lenses, manual focus..ect.
For that budget and the type of shooting that your friend will do, I highly recommend the Nikon D70. If he has any older Nikons he will have lenses and these lenses will fit the Nikon D70.
It is capable of fully manual operation and has a frame rate of 3 to 12 frames per second, if you are shooting burst.
It is a Digital SLR and don't worry about the megapixel...it is not a very good basis for purchase.
I have a 4 megapixel Nikon that can outperform any 8 megapixel point and shoot. But the D70 is my favorite.
What type of camera does your friend currently have?
what are your thoughts about the digital rebel? and also what about the nikon coolpix series? are these quality cameras for the price? thanks in advance.
the Canon Digital Rebel is nice, but it is on its way to clearance rack. If you friend knows his cameras, he will appreciate the Digital Rebel but he knows that it is on its way out. The Canon 20D has renedered it almost obsolete but still a nice camera for the beginning digital slr photographer.
The nikon coolpix series are also nice, but they are just point and shoot cameras...great for the weekend photographer but good enough quality for the budding enthusiast.