So I have a few friends who are either studying photography, or are just serious hobbyists. (A couple of my friends have awesome galleries of their work: Mike and Alan)
I don’t have the time to dedicate a ton of time to photography, but I really enjoy it when I have the time for it. My current camera is really easy to use, and works great for casual outdoor shots. But it starts to really suck when I want to do anything in awkward or low lighting. What I’m looking for is some more general control in my photos… And beyond messing with exposure settings, I can’t do much of that.
So I’m thinking about saving up for a DSLR camera… The things are really expensive, starting around $400 for anything respectable 
I’m not sure if I’m that into photography, although I hear that they come cheaper used.
Any suggestions for good cameras that offer a lot of manual control? It doesn’t have to be a DSLR, but I’m looking for more than a regular consumer point-and-shoot model.
So I’d just go for it and get a DSLR. Nikon is coming out with a D40 soon that should be a very nice compromise between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR (even more of an intro-level than the D50 was), and the price should be really good.
Who you really want to talk to is Ev. He knows more about cameras than I could ever learn. Poke me and I can get you in touch with him.