i am now the very very proud owner!!!

[shooters_desire]

We have a member here who is interested and buying a camera but is limited in funds. She can buy the Nikon d3100 which has a 18-55vr lens for 600.00 or buy a P7000 which is equivelent to the canon G12 but better. The p7000 has a built on lens and is a VERY GOOD camera. For a beginner i'm almost to the point of recommending this camera 1st until she gets better where she can invest her money in a prosumer camera like the Nikon D7000 or better. What say Ye...
ps. with the p7000 she will have image stabilizer & better range to take photos with. With the d3100 she will be limitewd until she has the funds to upgrade + the d3100 is more a consumer style camera

[jane_t]

The P7000 review looks quite good, enough control buttons, the biggest problem I have had with some compact camera, is they can be controlled only by the menu ,  but I see there is an issue with the viewfinder accuracy, so if the member is intending to use the viewfinder ready for getting a DSLR you might want to check out how bad the problem is.  I would also make sure how the manual and priority modes work, so you can ensure it is easy to adjust aperture etc with the camera so learning DOF etc is easier.