[Matt Green]

OK, so the situation is I only posses (actually my mothers!) a meague kodak compact and occasionally have use of a Panasonic Lumix bridge camera and lately I've been hankering after a proper camera ....been doing a bit of research and the above Nikon looks a pretty safe bet, I can afford it but just wondering how much use I'd be able to get from it considering I've never used a DSLR before. I know about the basics of exposure etc but not having used a DSLR I'm thinking perhaps I should stick with a cheap bridge camera while I bone up on the more technical stuff?

I assume I could always use the full auto mode or auto/scene modes while getting to grips with manual/custom settings...would pictures taken on auto modes be greatly inferior to those taken in custom settings?

Matt