Digital photography

i thought this might be the case, guessed the DSLR would give superior low light performance. i want to be doing long exposure shots of stars and desert/remote location shots but will be using it alot during the day whilst travelling. will be used for action shots when climbing and riding as well

any reason why you went for the sony over nikon/canon?

the appeal of the nikon for me is the ability to get the more affordable sigma lenses.

i should note that i am very much an enthusiastic amateur and learning from mistakes and trial and error

nb is anyone familiar with the pentax kx? been reading it performs well in night photography situations and is capable for HDR applications as well which is also of interest

I liked the feel of the sony, plus it was cheap as chips, plus I knew that they're lenses were proper excellent, and finally I liked the fact it had no unnecessary features.
Its a real good budget DSLR camera- can't reccomend it enough.
Produces some real nice shots, and unlike some of the other cameras I looked at the bundled lens is amazing- I mean like perfect.
I love it.
And normally I hate Sony- I hated the way they seemed to make their products deliberately incompatible with things.

anyway- its good. and especially good for the money.