@Joe, thanks. I use a Nikon D90 DSLR. I got it last fall and so far having a blast with it. Depends on your budget and how involved you’d like to be with photography, I think a Nikon D40 is a good start. It’s an entry level DSLR, a D80 is also good. I blogged about my decision on a D90 last year:
http://www.8164.org/new-camera/

Of course there are plenty good cameras by Canon too, and other brands. One thing I found most helpful while shopping for a camera was Flickr group discussions. People are very friendly and willing to help there.

I frequent the “Nikon Digital” group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikondigital/discuss/

Hope this helps.

I am looking to purchase a mid to low range priced digital camera with at least 8.0 mega pixels what brand would you or others who comment here recommend?

Dmitry, you can see higher res at my flickr account. The slideshow link is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jinny76/sets/72157612748385207/show/

I plan to upload the colored versions too in even higher res.

Some related info:

I’ve been planning this photo journal since the election result back in November. My goal is to tell a story. A story about my journal to the Inauguration. I decided to go with B&W because I feel the effect gives a timeless feeling. Then end it with bright, colorful photos to signify hope, change and patriotism. (That’s why I over saturated the group shot).

I left the house a bit after 4am, got to the metro station parking lot around 4:30ish. It was already full! So I ended up parking at a nearby shopping center. Many other people parked there too. When I got back later in the day, my car, along many others’ were towed. Somehow it didn’t bother me to pay the $125 fine :)

It was so cold in Washington DC. I forgot to bring my hat and gloves since I left the house in a hurry. Luckily my snowboarding jacket had a hoodie. My hands however, took some brutal abuse. I took a lot less photos than I wanted to. My pain tolerance was about at maximum 10 shots at one time, then I had to put my hands back in my jacket pockets.

I’ve never seen that many people (2 million) in my life before. And this is coming from a Chinese :) It was a fantastic experience.

Do you have some higher resolution versions?

@Bryan, I know what you mean. To be honest I had doubts about going due to all sorts of warnings I read. But I’m glad I did go.

@Victor, I’m glad you voted this time!

@Anna, thanks for taking the first 2 photos :)

@Janko, thanks! I’ll definitely have to do more this year.

@Steven, that happens to be my favorite too! I’ll have to upload the colored version of it later, it’s even better imo.