I was looking for a camera for the family - I didn't want anything super fancy or crazy, but I wanted it to be high quality and good enough to capture all of the moments I wanted to save forever. Luxury DSLRs with professional features have started to become lower and lower in price, without sacrificing the quality. So now, compact and household DSLRS have become much more affordable in price, and really popular.
I chose the Nikon P7000 for several reasons. I love it'd larger, bulkier exterior, and how that made me feel like a "real photographer". The P7000 is larger and very square, but I like the exterior and look of the camera very much. It has lots of external controls, which I like - it makes it feel very hands-on, and I don't really like the touch screen controls. It has an optical viewfinder and a flash hotshoe, which adds to the professional feel of the camera. It even has a 3 inch LCD, although it's not very clear and its fairly small. The sensor has 10MP CCDS with a ISO range from 100 to 3200, at a full resolution. You can also record high definition video with a microphone jack for an extra microphone that you can add. You an also zoom in and out while you're recording home movies, which I had an issue with using some of my previous cameras as video recording devices.
I love the P7000. It was the right price, and has many fantastic features that I actually find really handy when I'm with my kids and want to capture the moment. I also like how portable the DSLR is and that I can take it on vacations, trips or any play days we have. I also love that I can record little videos with it - I'm no camera expert, but this was perfect for me.