The decision on buying the type of digital cam depends on your purpose or what you want to achieve with your photos. You mentioned a semi-professional camera, I assume you want a creative shots. I would suggest an olympus camedia, which is the one I have, it's only 5 megapixels (C-5050 model). It's a semi-professional, the colors are bright and clear, looks like a shot from a slide film. It has a manual mode - gives you control on the setting you want with your shots. Mine is already an old model, I think the latest model they have is 8 or 10 megapixel. This camera is good for hobbyist.
But if you want to go pro, it's a good to invest on DSLR...I'm targeting to have Nikon D80.
The decision on buying the type of digital cam depends on your purpose or what you want to achieve with your photos. You mentioned a semi-professional camera, I assume you want a creative shots. I would suggest an olympus camedia, which is the one I have, it's only 5 megapixels (C-5050 model). It's a semi-professional, the colors are bright and clear, looks like a shot from a slide film. It has a manual mode - gives you control on the setting you want with your shots. Mine is already an old model, I think the latest model they have is 8 or 10 megapixel. This camera is good for hobbyist.
But if you want to go pro, it's a good to invest on DSLR...I'm targeting to have Nikon D80.