.... the cheapest of the cheap SLR's can do the things you mention so don't shy away from the "start out SLR's" for those reasons.

 

Aperture has everything to do with the lens and nothing to do with the body (the f stop number in a lens model such as "50mm f/1.4" indicates the maximum aperture opening of the lens). Unless you're looking for stupid ridiculous fast shutter speeds, the beginner to middle range DSLRs will cover everything from 30 seconds/bulb to 1/4000 of a second with plenty of stops in between.

 

"Like I said before... I would like an SLR that can capture the moment. I would like to be able to change shutter speed and aperture which I believe is called "units of stops" please correct me if I am wrong. A good lense can't fix that. I'm not sure how much you can change the speeds in the lower end SLR's"

Any SLR will be able to do this. Exposure Value or units of stops can be easily controlled on most modern digital cameras, point and shoot or SLR. SLR's are faster at changing. It's a combination of shutter speed and aperature to get the effect you want. There are a few people here who could run that down with you in an hour or so. How to acutally get what you are looking for will take practice.

"I would like A digital.... don't really want to learn how to develope ( maybe someday)my own film. Film stops are pretty sparce since the digital camera came around. Maybe once I am handed down the old Nikon I'll take that up. "

Good plan. There is no better camera than that old Nikon, it's yours if you want it but it's film.

 

Doesn't matter, it's seat time. Knowing what you want the outcome to be and how to get that result from your equipment, as well as knowing the limitations. That only comes with practice.

I prefer digital because the cycle time is faster. When I had a lab at my disposal film was great.

 

As will most point and shoots.

 

F-Stop is the relationship of focal length to aperture. Different dimensionally from camera to camera and is totally meaningless without a relavent shutter speed. If your film plane isn't properly exposed, you loose regardless of the badassness of the camera/body setup. For a given scene there is one proper EV, exposure value depending on what look you want. It's the combination of shutter speed and f-stop and their application that gets the result you are looking for.

Old school manual medium format cameras have both aperture and shutter speed in the lens. You can set the EV combo and lock them together. This allows you to rotate the rings together from small aperture/low shutter speed to large aperture/high shutter speed and always be correctly exposed. It's way faster than any modern digital bu!!sh!t. Just a lot heavier. Wish I could afford one.

 

From all the reading/info I've seen on the Canon side of things, L glass will always trump the lesser glass in sharpness/color/etc, even on crop bodies No idea why there's the price difference between the brands, supply/demand would be my first guess

 

When you say "go buy a used "good/pro" body and you'll be set for life," it does matter. A lot. As stated by El Jefe, a 5 year old state-of-the-art digital body is almost wholly obsolete compared to today's mid-range body. On the other hand, a 20 year old film body would be more than adequate for someone that knows what they're doing and can focus manually in reasonable time.



...unless 5 years is a lifetime, then you're set

 

I beg to differ you can do this much more simply on a DSLR these days

I'll show you next time

 

FWIW, here's my experience....

I bought a Canon 10D when it seemed to be the "best" prosumer DSLR out there (early 2004). I also bought three fantastic lenses to go with it (Canon has a line of lenses they call "L" lenses, which, while pricey, are as good as anything else out there). I was aware that the 10D inevitably would be supplanted by a new model, with more features and a lower price tag, but felt that the 10D was plenty of camera for any use I would put it to.

That has been the case. I still love the camera, and use it quite a bit.

That said, as someone else pointed out, these are very heavy. With a nice 17-40mm Canon L lens on it (the best "carrying around lens," for my uses), it's not something you would want to have around your neck all day. And it takes a backpack (literally) to carry around the other lenses and related equipment (filters, etc.) you may want with you. Not what you want for a hike, or going somewhere on an airplane, in my experience.

So I also bought a small, all-in-one digital zoom camera, with the same kind of features most consumer/prosumer DSLRs have; mine's a Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ18, with a 18X optical zoom (the equivalent of 28mm-504mm in old 35mm parlance), for a simple carrying around camera. It has its shortcomings, compared to the Canon (principally, a relatively poor chip), but it's been perfect for touristy sorts of things.

The small camera takes fine pictures for touristy things, while the DSLR is worlds better for fine photography (well, it would be if I had any idea how to do fine photography).

If you want to buy a DSLR, consider buying used, as you can easily get a gently used body for a fraction of the cost of a new one, especially if you get an older model. But do your homework, so that you're aware of the heft of a real DSLR and lens (as well as the cost of good lenses; if you don't buy good lenses, you may as well buy a point-and-shoot camera, IMO). And you may want to consider the utility of a smaller camera; the best camera is one you actually will use.