Thanks to those who jogged my memory about what an F stop is, it brings into focus something else my cousin's wife mentioned. Because the F stop is a ratio that involves the focal length of the lens, with a standard (variable apurture) zoom lens the F stop varies with the level of zoom you are using, it will be lower if you are at the lower end of the zoom range, and higher at the higher end. There are zoom lenses with fixed apurture, that remain F2.8 let's say zoomed in or zoomed out. Looking at the Nikon website, those with Fixed apurture are a lot more expensive than ones with variable, which is not surprising, and they are heavier.
I tend to agree with others, that what is probably most important is finding a camera you feel comfortable using, the brand, the kind of lenses, for most casual users won't matter much. Canon and Nikon make great cameras, but that doesn't mean you can't do well with Olympus or another brand, and might get more bang for the buck with them, too, as others keep pointing out and it is true, most of the secret to great pictures is someone knowing what they are doing
. I personally have used and liked Nikon products when I had cameras, but I also really liked the camera my cousin has (I didn't get the model, but I would bet it is top of the line pro equipment from Olympus).
