I have the D40x and the 18-200 VR zoom. I think the combination is excellent, although I still have a little 1 Meg Sony waterproof camera that takes many of my favorite pictures, because often that's what I have with me on the kayak or wherever.
You need to think seriously about whether you want to be carrying and switching two lenses all the time. Everyone's different and you have to decide for yourself. Maybe you've done it in the past.
Personally, it would detract from my day if I had to switch lenses often. I'd skip the combo package with multiple lenses and just buy the camera body and the lens or lenses you really want. For me that's the ultra-zoom for convenience.
I know the gear freaks who read all the specs will tell you about lens design compromises and why a wide range zoom can't be as nearly perfect as other lenses, but the real-world result is that this lens is so much better than what I actually need that any subtleties don't matter. It's easy to use and the VR makes a BIG difference.
If you take low light pictures, consider putting some money into one of their external flash units. The internal one is usable in general, but having lots of light from a big external flash makes a huge difference when the lighting's bad. BIG improvement.
The dpreview website is very useful. If you get a VR lens you'll see it helps a lot, especially with telephotos. Some manufacturers put the VR in the camera to make the lenses less expensive. Nikon puts it in the lens and they can optimize each lens better that way. (It also probably optimizes their profits..... :wink: ) I think the only real addition on the D60 is an ultrasonic mirror cleaning vibration feature. I didn't notice anything else, and I don't know that I've ever had a mirror dirt problem, either.
They make a lot of cameras, but many are quite large. I like the size of the D40 series, personally. Even smaller would be nice, but you start giving up a lot of features and performance.
Jeff
