RE: Older DSLRs

 Andrew
Watch eBay for a Canon 10D or 20D.  The 20D (that I still use) will be
cheaper than the 30D that followed it but was a very minor upgrade.  The 40D
is now on the market so the prices have dropped a bunch on the 20D and the
30D.  Same goes for the just slightly lower end Canon Digital Rebels though
I'm not as familiar with them as the 10D 20D series.  I'd sell you my 20D
but haven't made the jump to the new 40D yet.  All my picture taking for the
last four years has been with the 10D or 20D, while traveling in my Westy
(mandatory Vanagon content), stopped or even through the windshield going
down the road.  Now to try to stop the eternal Canon vs Nikon replies, what
I just said about the Canon models goes also for the Nikon DSLRs.  Nikon has
gone through as many models as Canon AFAIK and are of equal quaility if not
superior in some respects.
And I can also 'feel your pain' about the disappointment with the  so called
'high end pro-sumer point and shoot' cameras  like the A2 (and the A2 is
supposed to be the best of them).  I tried out the Knika-Minolta A2, A200,
the Canon equivalant (can't remember the model number) and even bought the
Nikon 8800 and used it for a while.  Although you would expect the cameras
makers to have produced the ultimate digital camera by now the last I
checked they haven't done it.  Slow start up, slow write speed, lousy view
finder and awkward controls are the norm.  And in some cases picture quality
way below what it should be.
One further warning (based on my personal experience).  If you want top
results from a DSLR be VERY careful what lenses you select for it.  The
cheaper consumer grade (with a few exceptions) lenes form any of the camera
makers will NOT give you high end results even on the best camera.  Check
the online reviews at places like http://www.photozone.de/ , dpreview.com ,
and http://www.steves-digicams.com/ .