hmm.. cathy photo/ms color/orient photo?and my suggestion is "do not buy the DSLR wanna be", it will fail u, sooner or later. all the so-called wide-angle lens on this kind of camera are not wide at all. you cannot even achieve distortion. How much is G9? add a few hundred and get a 500D if you really like Cannon, or go for D5000 from Nikon.

I am a real beginner...I cannot use a semi-professional camera like the one I have now (Canon G9) to its full power. Will play around with G9 for a while before I decide if I am willing to invest ~k bucks on a true DSLR (and those ridiculously expensive lenses). Thanks for your information and suggestion anyway.