New Camera

When I was 15 or 16 I bought my first SLR (film). It was a Fuji, and I loved it! I bought it second hand and it was completely manual (focal, aperture, and shutter speed). I studied and studied to figure out what all that was and how different settings worked together. Because I didn't have a lot of money I was limited in the number of "experimental" pictures that I could take with it. I had a good time figuring it all out. Then when digital cameras started to become popular in 2000 I really really wanted to get a digital camera. But the only ones that were anywhere near affordable were the point and shoot. The DSLR's (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras started at the $2000.00 to $5000.00 range, way out of my price range. But I did a lot of research and found one I loved that was also very versatile. It had what I felt were the options I needed and all adjustable settings (shutter speed, aperture, focus, 10X optical zoom and a macro setting for taking close up pictures). This is the is the camera that I have had and used for the last ten years. It was a Fuji Finepix S602. It has been a wonderful camera. Recently this wonderful camera has started slowing down. It uses a lot of batteries as well.
After a lot of reading a lot of reviews, talking to experts and researching I have bought the Nikon D3100. I've officially owned it a week. I really love it! The picture quality has blown me out of the water. And one of the things I'm most excited about is that I get 8 free photography classes to learn all sorts of tips and tricks.