Yea I knew that I would be limited by not getting an SLR but I wanted to start off slow (and cheap) and learn as much as I could and then if I was still enjoying taking photos in a year or so I would drop around $600 on a better one.

I guess the best thing to do would be to just experiment and take tons of photos but it's always good to get tips from the pros . I really want to try the panning thing...