Looking for advice on my first camera!

[TCampbell]

Thanks for your input! I see that the D7000 is weather sealed and the D5000 is not, so that may be a nice feature to have if I do a lot of hiking with it. Thanks for giving me a good starting point for my research!

Nikon mirrorless:

Nikon 1 Cameras | Interchangeable Lens Cameras from Nikon

Annnd.... You're welcome.

I actually just got back from Best Buy (I wanted to get a feel for the size) and I loved the size and weight of the mirror less cameras! I am not sure if they had the Nikon, but I was looking at the Sony ones. How would a mirror less camera limit me? Obviously its more portable, but I assume there has to be some big down sides.

Edit: After doing a bit of research I don't see many downsides to the mirror less camera. It looks like the major downsides are that accessories can be a bit harder to come by and aren't as universal, and obviously the mirror less camera lacks a view finder.

I feel like the upsides of having a more compact and light model far outweigh these downsides (assuming the picture quality is truly equal).

Is there anything else I should know? As far as Mirror Less vs DSLR?

The picture quality is not necessarily equal. A landscape in the middle of the day with plenty of light is an easy task for any camera... even a phone.

A DSLR provides a vast array of lenses and accessories that can allow for things like long low-focal ratio lenses with a larger sensor size. This completely alters the "look" you can achieve. If you want a shallow depth of field with deliberate background blur... you can do that. With compact cameras... it's generally beyond what they can do (not without a lot of struggle and even the best of what they can do would be considered mediocre by comparison to what a real DSLR can do.)

Canon makes the EOS Rebel SL1 which is the smallest and lightest true APS-C sensor DSLR camera. But sometimes a small camera body isn't an advantage -- especially men who tend to have larger hands.

A comfortable camera strap would be pretty high on my list if I were planning to go hiking with the camera. I would be looking at a Black Rapid sling-type strap -- so the camera rests at your side and not on your chest. (And if I had to do any climbing, I'd probably also get a carabiner so I could snap it to my belt loop and avoid it swinging around.)

A Nikon D7xxx series body is mid-range. A Nikon D5xxx body is the higher end of the entry-range and the D3xxx body is the low-end of the entry-range. A D7xxx series body has some weather sealing treatment (note it is not waterproof and must not be submerged -- also the lenses typically are not weather-sealed. If hiking in potential wet areas (waterfalls) or in rain/mist then a rain-sleeve (there are even disposable versions of these) would be a good idea.

On the Canon side, the 7D is the higher-end of the mid-range and the 70D and 60D are mid-range. These all have some degree of weather sealing. The Rebel series are all entry range and have no weather sealing treatment.