I've always taken pictures, since I was a kid. I had really nice 35mms that my aunt used and I used. I stopped and went into loving video games\ spent some time coding, idiotically went to college for english instead of the things I enjoyed. After years of questionable living, illegal jobs and ridiculousness. I somehow ended up as a child photographer making far more than I should for a part time job, and even with it's challenges I love my job. I decided to spend some time at the community college learning a bit more about a job that I think might be the right thing for me in the future. School starts in the fall and so far My teachers haven't told me what I need outside of "You will probably spend $400 on a digital."

At work we use a Nikon D60 with the 18-200mm nikkor lens. In my work I meet ALOT of parents who like me and have asked me whether I'd be interested in doing home shoots or on location shoots for their families(this doesn't interfere with the company because for them I exclusively deal with children younger than 1 year old). I would love to start freelancing but I do not have a camera of my own.

This is the problem. I am 100% overwhelmed by all of the options for dslrs right now. I do not have much money. I'm perplexed as to whether I should buy something a little more pricey. I feel quite comfortable after using the d60 5ish days a week for the past year. I'm not sure if I should switch to a different company for my side business, will it be perplexing working with 2 different systems? Do I really need HD video? I don't need serious ISO for what I intend to use the camera for.

I've been looking at some factory refurbished Nikons. I feel like a dolt cause what kind of photographer doesn't know this stuff but I'm literally getting by at my job based on luck, personality and some natural talent. I've been trying my best to learn as much as I can on my own recently since I decided...

I've always taken pictures, since I was a kid. I had really nice 35mms that my aunt used and I used. I stopped and went into loving video games\ spent some time coding, idiotically went to college for english instead of the things I enjoyed. After years of questionable living, illegal jobs and ridiculousness. I somehow ended up as a child photographer making far more than I should for a part time job, and even with it's challenges I love my job. I decided to spend some time at the community college learning a bit more about a job that I think might be the right thing for me in the future. School starts in the fall and so far My teachers haven't told me what I need outside of "You will probably spend $400 on a digital."

At work we use a Nikon D60 with the 18-200mm nikkor lens. In my work I meet ALOT of parents who like me and have asked me whether I'd be interested in doing home shoots or on location shoots for their families(this doesn't interfere with the company because for them I exclusively deal with children younger than 1 year old). I would love to start freelancing but I do not have a camera of my own.

This is the problem. I am 100% overwhelmed by all of the options for dslrs right now. I do not have much money. I'm perplexed as to whether I should buy something a little more pricey. I feel quite comfortable after using the d60 5ish days a week for the past year. I'm not sure if I should switch to a different company for my side business, will it be perplexing working with 2 different systems? Do I really need HD video? I don't need serious ISO for what I intend to use the camera for.

I've been looking at some factory refurbished Nikons. I feel like a dolt cause what kind of photographer doesn't know this stuff but I'm literally getting by at my job based on luck, personality and some natural talent. I've been trying my best to learn as much as I can on my own recently since I decided to pursue this as my career and not just some job. I am trying to learn to be a better photographer but I really need my own camera.

So yeah, any opinions?