For that kind of amount of budget, I would invest in Pentax K-x and use the remaining money for good glasses
Why stick to C,N and S only? Try check out the features of K-x

I think the general questions asked here were more leaning towards the DSLR trend - because DSLR has become cheaper and that the purchasing power of most people have increase.


Yes, agree with you that people are generally following the trend when it comes to choices - only a N or C in their mind. If they could have look beyond that options, they get far more value for their money.

3rd Party lens - have to depend if they have options of your camera mount available. A Tamron lens meant for Canon mount cannot be mounted into a Nikon camera - they're different.

Get Pentax K-x
Available in white color.

Try Pentax K-x, they running promotion now

I'm a Pentax shooter so I can share some insight together with you and perhaps aid you in your purchasing decision. Before I begin, always remember that good photos are result of photographer's years of experience, skills and exposure to problems that often leads to solutions.

I love Pentax, it's one the great thing I have ever had. It's solid, weather resistant (my batch K200D) and comes with built in SR (Image stabilizer inside the body), which automatically means that any lens I mount on the camera will automatically comes with image stabilizer function. This is where you save your money, without forking additional resources to purchase stabilized lens which can put onto something else.

Community support is awesome, we have dedicated forums (international) at pentaxforums.com and photomalaysia (local), so be assured that many experts are there for help.

If you plan to go for Pentax, please check out the K-R (newly released) or if you're tightly under budget, then the K-x is one hell of an awesome camera as it can take good photos under low light condition.