I did a little ... yeah very little reading... hopefully you guys could advice me further thx ^^
1. Do I need built-in antishake or not? - Yeah i need it..... they dont listen to my brain any more...
2. Do I need video? not really... but if it comes with it why not... but seriously i dont need it..
3. Do I need fast autofocus in live view mode? Do I even need Live View? Live view is the ability to see what you will take on the LCD before you take the picture, much like a normal point-and-shoot. It can be very very handy for macro shooting, or for taking "over everyone's heads" shoots at events, etc. Sony (and Olympus I believe) have DSLR cameras that can focus in live view as quickly as when using the viewfinder (using phase-detect autofocus), while other camera makers use a much slower contrast-detect method. This may or may not matter to you - again it's a personal choice. You may even want to be a "traditionalist" and get a camera that does not have live view at all.
- I would love live view... I believe the 2 model i am looking at have that feature. Fast autofocus would be a good bonus....
4. Do I need an articulating (tilt and/or twist) LCD screen? This is closely related to question 3. One of the benefits of live view is the ability to accurately frame "over the head" or ground/waist level shots without needing to look through the viewfinder. But this (in my opinion) is not helpful without also being able to adjust the LCD screen so that you can see what you're about to shoot. So it's good to understand the value of this - personally, I find it very helpful on cameras that have liveview.
- like above its good to have but not a must
5. Do I need an in-body autofocus motor? If you are considering Nikon cameras, consider that the budget range like D40, D40X, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000 have no in-body autofocus motor - so only the (slightly more expensive) lenses with the autofocus motor built into the lens will be able to autofocus. For the others (most notably older legacy lenses) it's manual focus all the way. Again, this might not be an issue to you at all!
- need advice here.. what do you guys prefer?
so other then the 2 model i mention is there any other better recommendations?