Having a budget is annoying right? I know how you feel buddy. Went through that when I got my D40. Could and maybe should have gone for the D80, but too late now right?

Yeah, I used to use a Kingston 256mb card in my very old point and shoot Nikon. For some odd reason, it lost photos that I had taken while I was in Japan and Hong Kong. Boy was I annoyed. You don't expect things like that to happen. I went Sandisk and never went back. You do not want to lose photos or videos, ever. That's the worst feeling, because I didn't delete anything or format anything. It gave me a really odd error message and those photos were gone. I have since recovered about 75% of them, but still. It's odd.

emmiranda - every class 6 card should work the same, but like in cars - the same specification doesn't really equal the same performance. You can use transcedent and You even might be happy with it, but it's one of the cheapest manufacturer and when the price difference is not that huge between their cards and other major brands I would go for the major brand one, like Sandisk (my favorite) or Lexar or even Pretec. As for the cheap ones You can go for PQI - great price/reliability factor.

@tai
Hey thanks for answering all those questions! All of them are appreciated! Then 18-200 is not the best route... I guess is a good lens but just too expensive, and some say is not the best quality =)

@NSXType-R
I plan to grow later, but as I said my budget right now is below $1000 for everything, and considering D90 is $900 well... I want to start now and then maybe upgrade later, by then I hope D90 has had a price cut, that would be great =).

@heartyfisher
Thanks for worrying!, I'm all right and this will pass eventually, personally I guess is just more madness than the real problem, of course is good to take care and prevent, but well... that's another topic =). I was worrying that I wouldn't use 18-55mmVR if I have 35mm 1.8 on my camera, but I guess I'll get it anyway so when I upgrade to a bigger body that can come back to D60 and be used by my family. And 55-200mm is cheaper than 18-200mm too ha.

@adamz
Should I worry for the SD if it's not Sandisk?, tough I know Sandisk is more reliable... I guess you're right...

@JMCS
Thinking about it I think I won't be using 55-200mm for indors that much, so I guess having a flash later would be better.

Thanks everyone for your answers! BTW, why didn't they have 35mm 1.8 with VR?, was it possible?

The d60+ 18-55+ 55-200mm is something great to start with. Get a UV filter, a ND, a Circular Polariser, and a Sandisk Extreme III SDHC card, and you're set. I Like the 55-200mm VR, and it has it's uses... but one of them isn't indoor sports, more or less the same story with the 18-55mm.

as for UV filters go for Hoya - they have the best price/quality factor on the market (actually there's only one more brand that produces better filters and it's B+W, but they cost mostly twice the price of Hoya).

as for the rest I agree with heartyfisher, go for D60 VR kit with 18-55 and 55-200, both great lenses withing this price range

as for memory card I would suggest Sandisk (extreme III) or Lexar over Transcedent.

@emmiranda : Hi hope you are keeping well in Mexico. must be pretty scary there at the moment. (Then again you are a young fellow and at that age you do feel invincible ! LOL)

The 35mm DX is a great way to learn photography. For many years all I had was the 50mm. However, I did find that it was a little bit too long. For you I would suggest that you get the D60 with Kit lens . My niece just bought one(18-55vr + 55-200vr) and she loves it(she is 23 and also in IT). The 18-55VR + 55-200VR has better image Quality than the 18-200VR(which i have). She does not seem to use the 55-200 much at all. so for you just get that kit lens. or maybe the 18-105vr instead. Most guys like a bit of tele.

Get a Nikon flash soon they are well worth it.

Basically, I agree almost entirely with tai's post. I personally however always carry an extra battery. You never know when you're out shooting and meant to charge your battery but it slipped your mind and now your shoot is over.

The 35mm DX is considered a good lens for learning photography, because what you see with your eyes will be exactly what you see through the camera (we see the world around us at about 50mm).

If you want a filter to make skies more blue, get a polarizing filter. It is also helpful for getting rid of reflections.

Do you plan to grow as you take photos? Because buying a D40 or D60 will probably limit your expansion into photography in the future. I'd go with a D90 or a D80.

And probably not, the battery in the D40 is pretty good. I should know, I have one.

Then again, if you just want to take good photos on a budget, the D40 is really all you need. Really depends on what you want.

lot of questions, here's my opinion, a lot of this is very contingent on how I shoot and if your needs are different it may end up being useless.

- Should I get D40 instead?.
I personally believe the D60 is worth the extra price over the D40. The flash sync is indeed faster on the D40, which isn't a big deal to me. The higher resolution sensor and sensor cleaning is worth it in my opinion.

- Is the new 35mm 1.8 DX good to be my first lens?.
I think this is a great first lens. Great IQ, fast, and a VERY useful focal length for DX (35mm is extremely useful on FX, too, but this lens won't cover the FX frame if you get an FX body)

- Are the 18-55mm VR kit lenses worth and usable?.
It's sharp, focuses quickly, but it's a slow lens and I find it rather boring. Don't get me wrong, you can take great pictures with this lens, I personally would rather get just the 35mm over this if I had to choose between the two.

- Should I get 18-200mmVR or stick with 55-200mmVR?
18-200 is extremely convenient, the IQ is slightly beneath the 18-55 + 55-200 IMO, but I don't think the IQ difference is very large. I have the 18-55 and the 18-200 and I never use the 18-55 because of it. I also rarely use the 18-200, only if I need to travel very light, and even then I often will choose a prime or 2.

- Is another battery necessary?
Probably not, at least not at first. A new battery will last you a few days unless you're using the internal flash heavily, or doing a lot of long exposures. At least I'd buy the camera and use it for a while before determining if you need to get yourself another battery.

Well I may be getting my first DSLR in a few months, or by the end of the year (depends of my financial situation). I started researching what could be the best option for me to "start" in this DSLR world. I have a Sony H9 but got tired of its shutter lag and small aperture mostly, and tough I took some fantastic shots with it, I want more, and for that reason I'm selling it.

A little background of me: I'm 21 and I'm a IT Consultant, so Photography is my hobby. I'd love to work in this, maybe shooting at weddings, parties, etc., which would be great for me as I've found a great passion about photography, and may decide later to change my job, but first I need to start somewhere, also I don't have lots of money to spend right now, so for now I want an entry level DSLR, and may be upgrading to more expensive gear in the future (AF bodies, bigger lenses, flash, etc) if I really love it (which I think I will). I like to shoot portraits, parties, family gatherings, some outdoor, even my dog, regular stuff (as I said this is my hobby), but I also understand the trade in-outs of shutter speed, iso, aperture, bracketing, dynamic range, DoF, etc. At least I'm not a total noob haha, although everything I know is because I love to read about it, sadly I don't have that much practice (thus another reason to start with the basics).

My budget will be up to $1,000 USD for now. First I thought to start with the D90 or the new D5000, but I would be getting the kit lens only, and after some research I realized that it's more important to get better (more expensive) lenses than a body itself, and for that reason then I thought get a combo like Nikon D40 + 18-200mm VR (for all purposes), but that lens is so expensive, and I was not counting the bag, memory, filter and shipping (I'm from Mexico), so I ended up with this setup for now (at Adorama):

$472 - Nikon D60 (Black Gold Edition, looks good haha)
$200 - Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX (after reading it was very good for the price)
$40 - Nikon 52mm Neutral Clear Filter
$35 - Nikon Gadget Bag (the black one with a yellow line)
$20 - Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 6
$10 - Kingston USB 2.0 Hi-Speed 9-in-1 Memory Card Reader (I use a MacBook)
-----
$777 + $65 (Shipping) = $842

Now, there are lots of questions I have regarding this and, as this will be my first DSLR, any tip, suggestion or comment IS GREATLY APPRECIATED =):

- Should I get D40 instead?.
I read at kenrockwell.com that D40 is better because of it's shutter speed, I don't know how trusted this guy is, since I've read everywhere he's not the best source haha, so I thought about asking you guys =). Is there really a big difference?, under which circumstances can I notice that?

- Is the new 35mm 1.8 DX good to be my first lens?.
I may use only this for over a year, after which I plan to get a Zoom lens (maybe 18-200mm VR). Also, some say that prime 50mm (equivalent in DX format) are the best lenses to "learn to be a photographer". Why is this?, this is one of the reasons I want this to be my only lenses until I know the pros and cons of it in order to get the next one.

- Are the 18-55mm VR kit lenses worth and usable?.
My guess is that I wouldn't use them if I have the 35mm lenses. Again, at Adorama they have the D60 + kit lenses for $547, only $75 more, and considering that those lenses alone are $185, I was thinking about getting it, and IF I don't use it, KEEP it and WHEN I upgrade to a bigger body that lens would do fine in D60 for my bros, parents, etc.

- Should I get 18-200mmVR or stick with 55-200mmVR?.
I know that 18-55mmVR and 55-200mmVR cover 18-200mmVR for less $, positive being cheaper, cons being "having to change" lenses. Again, for the price of the 2 and a little more you have full range.

- Does anyone recommend any good filter?
I'm getting the listed above just for protection, but I understand there are filters to take better pics (some to take really blue skies).

- Is another battery necessary?
Mostly a question for experienced D40/D60 users =).

I hope this is not too much. I'd be happy if you can help me answering at least only one of those questions, just threw some to avoid opening new threads, also I guess it would be better to answer an specific question with all the context I've provided. So, what do you think? =)