Standalone digital cameras a thing of the past? Maybe not. Enter the
consumer digital SLR. These cameras won't fit in your pants pocket, but for as little as $300 they give you a terrific 12x optical zoom on top of a typical compact point-and-shoot model's feature set. That's right... 12x. Optical. Zoom. Not the puny 3x you normally get. And most definitely not that fake ass digital zoom stuff used to puff up spec sheets. This is the real deal. So you can finally capture decent quality photos of your favorite band or team - even from the nosebleeds. They're still not going to get you a gig with Rolling Stone or a contract with Sports Illustrated, but if your cameraphone leaves you wanting check out this consumer digital SLR review by David Pogue. The accompanying slide show does a great job highlighting the pros and cons of this class of cameras.