i know i know... i just wondered since a lot of cameras have around 10 or 12 and ive already made a mistake on getting that fuji, just want to make sure i get the right camera this time

that sounds good, do you think Mpixels make much of a difference?

Megapixels don't make much difference - in fact some say those with less pixels give you better quality as the pixels are not so small.

Most of the photos in my album were taken with the D40

If you want to spend a bit more, take a look at the nikon D3000 as well - also, the D3100 is due out soon too.

Not really, I have a Canon 300D with 6Mpixels and it's a fabulous thing to use, albeit a bit slow by todays standards (which is why I said the 1000D). I shoot mainly with a 5DMk2, mainly because I wanted a full frame sensor, but to be honest, 21Mpixels just eats up memory cards/Hard disks.

10 Mpixels (or thereabouts) is well enough, the most important piece of photography equipment will be the lens anyway.

I wouldn't get the D40 because it doesn't go down to 100 ISO, just a personal thing but when I first wanted to buy a dSLR the lack of 100 ISO annoyed me

I think the 1000D supports RAW image capture as well, not being stuck with JPEG is nice.

I guess this info is all a bit late for you now as you have already got the Fuji, but it is something to think about in the future.

Alan.

If you are preopared to pay for a new DSLR then go to the shop and handle the various cameras. You should look at ergonomics and build quality. The cameras will feel different. The entry-level Nikons (3000 and 5000) have a good quality entry level lens. I mentioned the Nikon d40 simply because there are a few knocking around the secondhand market inc. Ebay at sub-£200.

There isn't one camera or brand that wipes the floor with others. You will get varying opinions hence it's worth a trip to the shop to see what they feel like.

If you are considering a DSLR and thinking of taking portraits then you might want to also consider getting the 50mm 1.8 lens. It is a relatively cheap lens but you can open the aperture nice and wide to throw the background out of focus.
I started out with a 300D and once I got the 50mm lens I was really able to improve my blurry backgrounds. I took (in my opinion) some good portraits with that combination.
A good lens probablly makes more difference at this stage than mpixels.

Some great advice there, and the answer is in my opinion to get a cheap dSLR. I have printed a 40"x50" canvas from my 6mp D40 and the quality is fantastic. pixels are on the whole irrelevant, sensor size is more of an issue as said, for example the quality of fx compared to dx is better in my experience.

Little me is spot on with the lens recommendation for the dSLR route, if you stick with the compact then the look you want can be achieved in photoshop, gimp or other software but a lot more work than getting it straight out of camera.

If you have only 1 lens for a dSLR a 50mm is the way to go, or if nikon the 35mm dx is the one to get on a crop sensor.