I just bought my first dslr camera!
The little casio pocket camera was ok but it really wasn't up to the job of large-scale archival study. Kept overheating, and wasn't stable enough in the archive's tripods which meant I had to hold the camera over the books: bit of a pain in the neck when taking 400+ shots.
I've gone for a pretty basic starter camera, no need for all the bells and whistles. Though I did also get a set of filters in case I need to go in close for smaller writing. It's had mixed reviews, but I feel safe with Canon, so have gone for a Canon EOS 1000D
http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/prod...slr/EOS_1000D/