Thanks for all your comments. Lots to think about and the good news is DH came home last night to say that he is getting a substantial bonus - so I can go camera shopping if I want.

Never thought of Canon and Nikons as Holdens or Fords - more BMWs or Mercedes for me. I always thought of my Pentax SLR as more of a Holden (apologies if I have offended anyone! My Canon was a step up for me!)

Found a great site where you can compare all specks of current and superseded models (check out - dpreview) and looking at that - Nikons seems to have the edge in pixel density - Canon have the edge in value and are much more popular. Was looking at the Canon D40, D50 or Nikon D300.

Will do some more research!

TA,
TICKLISH