Well I love my Oly! It is my very first DSLR, and I would highly recommend it

Thanks Bazza - that's really useful advice. Will go and price some up now!

Thanks MS, will have a look at some of those too! This is soo hard!

Before you buy go to a camera store and have a look at different cameras, you can't beat a hands on approach and a good shop would let try out the camera in the shop.

Don't rush into buying a camera before you actually get one in your hands to see if you like it or not. For example Dawn prefers Canon because she likes the layout of the controls, whereas I prefer Nikon for exactly the same reason.

Like anything do your homework first, then do some more. There is nothing worse than buying a camera and spending loads of cash, to discover there is something more to your liking afterwards. Research research and yet again research is the answer and hands on as I have previously mentioned
Bazza

A good idea. Think a trip to town might be in order then, even if i end up buying the thing online! It would also give me the opportunity to ask whether all stock is UK, as I'm finding it hard on some sites to find a relevant contact phone/email.

Charlotte def go into town and see the cameras in the flesh so to speak, you wouldn't be wasting your time.

Bazza

I eventually got it narrowed down to two the Oly or a Sony A200 . I did go into several shops and try them in my hands. Take your time , and read as much as you can from different sources.
this place was invaluable for me when I was looking...http://www.dpreview.com/ select all the cameras you are interested in, and you can view and compare them all together. Really good reviews and in depth. Go to the buying guide and select the cameras you are interested in.

I lost count how many reviews, shops and sites I looked at

Thanks for that, I'll take a look! It's just with all the cashbacks and things I'm confusing myself. With the D60, some sites say you get £40 back and some £60, and then some seem to have it already included, but the price doesn't seem to be much different to the ones that do - phew! I'll ge there in the end!

Ah my mistake sorry! It is 'body only' so ditch play.com!

Email dixons and ask them if their stock is UK, and whether it qualifies for the UK Cashkack scheme from Nikon. Try to get it in writing rather than over the phone - as that way you have proof if you need to send it back

I did see the D60 at Focus on Imaging at the NEC back in March. I was quite impressed with it and its features, it was smaller than I expected and my only concern would be the balance ratio between camera and some of the longer lenses. So if you do go and look in shops don't forget to see how well balanced the camera is with a short and then a long lens. Something you may not have considered
So ask to try out both even though at the moment you may just want an all round lens, its worth knowing in advance only an unbalanced rig can cause more camera shake than you would like.

Bazza