I took a great one-day introduction to digital photography class back in January from local photographer Steve Glass. I’ve had a point-and-shoot digital camera since they first appeared on the market (well, when they went below about $500) and used to use a 35mm SLR quite a lot as a hobby.

But this class did two things - first I learned that my little Canon point-and-shoot actually could do a lot more than I suspected. I learned more about that camera that morning than the the entire time I’d owned it, and I also learned the basics of a digital workflow in Photoshop and/or Lightroom.

The second thing the class did was reawaken my interest in photography. I started taking the Canon out once a week or so and got involved in Flicker. And then I started buying photography magazines. That led to learning about the product lines of the major digital SLR companies. And that led…

You know where this is going.

After reading a few dozen reviews of various DSLR’s, I now have  an Olympus Evolt E-510. Yesterday I took it out for half a day and spent most of the evening processing the images I took. I will say that (1) I don’t know what I’m doing very well yet but (2) I’m really very pleased with the camera and the quality of the shots. It’s very lightweight, I’m getting the hang of all the controls and menus and I think it was a great deal (I bought it from Amazon in a kit with two lenses for $640).

Here’s my Flickr site if anyone wants to see what I’m up to.