The image quality is nowhere near what an SLR can deliver, but you are getting away from the original posters intent and my point of using the camera that you have to learn how to compose images. Sure, cell phone cameras are not going to have as many conveniences or the same image quality as a camera with a sensor larger than a pinhead (about the size of cell phone camera sensors), but you have it with you.

Ideally, I am waiting for a camera company to comet head on with Leica, but at lower prices. I just cannot justify a digital rangefinder in the $7-9 thousand range for the body alone when the image quality out of my Canon's is better. I wish I could as they are remarkably compact and discrete. The Fuji cameras are sooooo close. They need interchangeable lenses and slightly larger sensors, but I can easily see going with a solution like that when available.

Indeed. I regularly use two Canon 1D bodies and the associated lenses that can add up to over 30lbs of gear when on assignments, but I am not going to haul those bad boys around with me wherever I go. For lots of places, particularly when doing something like wearing a suit, a 1D and 70-200 f/2.8 is not always going to make the fashion police cut. ;-)

He *might* not have a good camera in his cell phone... or he might not think about using it do learn more about photography... Why would you assume that he has?

this is the best advise i've seen so far... the best camera to start out with is one that will always be with you.
WTF moderators, why did this get a low score?

OP, unless you're dedicated to becoming a photographer and don't mind carrying around a DSLR all the time, you'd be better off carrying a small compact point-and-shoot camera. get something in the $200 range(8-12MP, 3x optical zoom) they're all pretty comparable, but i've always been partial to the canon xilim or canon powershot series. my criteria was a camera OS that was usable as well as quick and responsive. i've spent time in several stores testing various brands for what i felt were important features: power on to shutter ready; switching capture modes; the ability to turn off startup sounds/animations; size or a pack of cigarettes; sd card. once you've got narrowed you choices down to a couple/three cameras, go to http://www.steves-digicams.com/ and compare your impressions against someone whose tested many evices.

IMHO, if you want to learn how to take photos, you do it by taking pictures. don't get an DSLR. don't get a micro 4/3. you can graduate to these later, when your comfortable taking pictures. don't buy a camera that you haven't actually touched and toyed with.

1) carry a camera with you all the time.
2) take lots of pictures. if you get a one good picture out of 20-36 exposures, you're doing well.
3) not every picture is sacred. capturing the moment with all it's flaws is better than to miss the moment.
4) keep taking lots of pictures
5) don't be afraid to edit out crap images
6) learn the various functions of your camera(night shot, red eye/no red eye, flash/no flash, etc)

i take between 6000-10000 pictures a year(the camera is with me all the time). i replace my camera every year or so(depends on how beat up it gets).
and i get surprisingly good images from a stupid little canon powershot. i have a lot of reject images, but i also more than my fair share of keepers. eventually i'll get a fancier camera, but in the meantime i'm looking at a new refresh(canon s100 is looking sweet) for my daily shooter.

I used to say that and carried a P&S with me wherever I went... Until the iPhone 4 came along. I've been really, really happy with the iPhone 4 camera never before posting images to Jonesblog from anything other than a dedicated camera until then.

A fading light shot is here: http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2011/10/evening-light/

and an indoor shot of the inside of an instrument is here:
http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2010/12/gravity-probe-b/

To get me back in the point and shoot camera buying club, the camera companies are going to start to have to do something exciting again, like Olympus and Fuji are now doing with the larger sensor sizes.

A good cell phone camera... honestly. The best camera you can learn with is one that you will always have on your person. The latest cell phone cameras can make some really beautiful images: http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/2011/06/time-and-space/

When you are ready to go beyond framing and composition, then step up to a basic SLR like a Canon Rebel or a Nikon D40.

it is a concept after all, so some of it's shortcomings might be obvious to apiarist that aren't to the industrial designer who came up with the concept.

from a non-beekeeper perspective, some things seem lacking:
ingress/egress opening looks too small for proper venting... don't drones need larger openings in the summer to fan cooler air into the hive?
mechanism for extracting honey probably is destroying cells to release honey... wouldn't the bees build around this mechanism after a few uses?
i thought queens needed a special chamber

but i expect that you've inspired enough people to think differently, that you'll at least live on thru the memories and actions of an entire generation.

go analog for longest life span.

HP designjet z2100 or epson stylus 4880/4900.
these printers don't come cheap, but over the lifespan of the printer, i'f your printing 100's or 1000's of prints RIO will be better than paying snapfish.
they are favorite entry level printers in the graphic arts and prepress market due to the fact that:
1) they can produce contone images at resolutions that make dithering imperceptable to the naked eye
2) color fast inks that can be archival for 150-200 years
3) wide color gamut using multiple inksets
4) FOGRA/GRACoL certifiably using approved rip software
many pro photographers are ditching the darkroom in favor of the class of professional inkjet printers for reproducing their images.

Magnetohydrodynamics has been around for quite a while and has long been one of the holy grails of submarine propulsion with prototypes existing now for years. During my last visit to a Los Angeles class submarine, this was a hot topic. Movement of ferrofluids is a natural extension of this concept with applications in everything from medical imaging to cooling of large and small objects. Its pretty exciting, though I am surprised that this is the *first* implementation of this.

two weeks away, and you still haven't spec'ed all your hardware?
c'mon, this is a put on!
if you're getting this monster installation, you would have spec'ed all aspects of the hardware, including 10gb and gpu's and OS months ago.

You *so* have a deal there.

Best of luck my friend and good to hear that you are back at the mothership.