As an amateur photographer working to improve my skills, I love this camera.  It takes great quality photographs. 

If I hand the camera to someone else to take a photo, they are sometimes a little intimidated (as they would be with most SLR cameras).  However, it has a lot of options and once you learn to navigate the camera, it is easy to use. 

If you want a camera to just use with auto-focus, I would recommend not getting a digital SLR, but if you want to move beyond point-and-shoot photography, this is a great choice.