I am someone who takes pictures who is a friend to someone who takes photos. There is a fair amount of distinction between those two sections of the spectrum.

I am someone who takes pictures who is a friend to someone who takes photos. There is a fair amount of distinction between those two sections of the spectrum. I bought a Nikon D50 years ago which only had a kit lens for a trip to Hawaii. My friend already owned that camera and so fortunately he was able to run through the settings and help fix anything that wasn't ideal (I think by default it was set to medium quality JPGs). At the time there weren't many point-and-shoot cameras that had anywhere near the quality. Second, the shutter speeds on point-and-shoot cameras were, and still tend to be, awful. Third, a ton go into a digital zoom long after their optical is used up which is worthless for high-end images. Fourth, the settings can be controlled manually if need be to get everything just right. Finally, let's be honest, SLRs look cool! You look bad ass carrying it around, who cares if you leave it on AUTO the whole time? SLRs can give you a lot more control than point-and-shoots that even just a novice can utilize. I can't imagine a kit lens that is worse than an equally expensive point-and-shoot.