People buy DSRL camera when they feel they are outgrowing their point-and-shoot camera either creatively or technically. Here are some tips for buying a new DSLR camera:

1. Why DSLR? DSLRs are fast machines, especially when it comes to startup, focusing and shutter lag. DSLRs also have large ISO range, which are settings that gives flexibility for shooting in different conditions. DSLR can give you depth of field that puts everything from foreground to background in focus through a nice blurr. Other advantages of DSLRs are features like “Continuous shooting Mode", “Face Detection", “Auto Focus", “Different File Formats", “HD Video" and “Huge Storage" options.

2. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus or Sigma? Dont worry too much about what you hear about the brands. There are no really bad digital SLR Cameras. However, Flash guns, lenses of one brand of camera does not necessarily work on the others.

If you're likely to buy high-end lenses then two brand choices are Nikon and Canon. On the other hand, if you are a semi-serious hobbyist, don’t discard other camera brands out of hand: Sony, Olympus and Panasonic offer very capable, compact and money saving options.

3. If you have to choose between an body and lens. Go for posh lenses and cheap body. Lenses last longer than cameras and help better photo quality. Putting bargain lenses on a top-level body is a waste of money. Nice lens will amaze you at what your camera can do. You may decide lens on basis of type of photography you want to do - Macro or gigs/wildlife or in-door or landscape or product photography.

4. In DSLR camera’s “Image sensor” is the heart; it is also the most expensive and most important part of the camera. Image sensor processes the image. Large size of image sensors allow larger pixel sizes , faster ISO, faster shutter speeds and less grains.

5. Dont worry too much about Megapixels. Even cell phones come with high Megapixel Cameras. It is not the most important criteria for deciding DSLR. Most DSLRs come with 10+ Megapixels which is more than enough.

Some good DSLR cameras to consider are: Sony Alpha A390, Canon EOS 1100D, Nikon D3100. Which camera do I use? Nikon D7000 which is 16.2 megapixels, 39 AF points, Continuous 6 frames per second and Lens 18-105mm.