Can I hop in too? I used to be "into" photography in the 80s and 90s before kids, and still have my Nikon FE with a fixed focal lenght 28mm lens and a 70-150 zoom. I still like to pull it out once a year or so and shoot a roll of family pictures in black and white. I just use the Tri-x equivalent as that was what I was used to way back when. We used to "roll our own" from the bulk supply in my photography class in school.

I have looked at the Nikon DSLR's in Costcto, and have wondered about finding a decent "body" of a camera to use with my lenses. But it seems like the lenses that come with the Nikon would replace the ones I have. I don't know about the quality of the optics on the newer lenses vs. the old Vivitar lenses I have. The 3100/5100 seemed fine, but the Canon Rebel they had almost felt a little better in my hands. But then I could not use my old lenses. They all seem to have more bells and whistles than I know how to use. I like AE oriented auto. It is what I am used to. I passed up the Canon AE-1 back in the day as it had too many bells and whistles being both AE oriented and SE oriented, and seemed like it had more stuff on it to break. Also, I liked the feel of the Nikon FE in my hands.

So, I am not sure which way to go. Feels funny considering a nice DSLR from Costco! A year or so ago, someone was selling a couple Nikon DSLR bodies for about $275. Maybe I should have just grabbed one of those. But anyway, I would be interested in the opinions of the photographers here. The nice thing about a DSLR is that finally I could shoot all the frames I want to get the shot I want, and not worry about having to process all that Kodachrome or Fuji color film, (or Tri-x if I was shooting black and white).