Upgrading, new P&S or used DSLR?

[Crazykirsch]

So I've had a Powershot sd1200 for a few years now, and I think I'm finally going to pull the trigger and upgrade. My question is whether I should grab a new gen P&S or a couple year old DSLR for the same price. I don't really have a specific style of shooting, but I am quite interested in being able to do long exposure / night shooting as well as Macro shots, which my little 1200 doesn't excel at, especially low light. I was just thinking that going with an older DSLR might be an affordable way to finally step into dslr without breaking my bank, but worried about image quality and such vs current gen advancements. any insight would be appreciated

 

[Tailgunner]

You can pick up a nice refurbished Nikon/Cannon DSLR camera for the cost of a New P&S camera.
Buy or Learn at Adorama

 

[usayit]

My vote... Older DSLR.

first step.. figure out a budget.

My second choice... Mirrorless (Micro 4/3)

My third choice would be a high end P&S (Fuji X series, Canon G series, Sony RX100, etc..) but even those can cost as much if not more than a DSLR.

 

[TheBlues]

Ill vote for used DSLR.

 

[Gavjenks]

Old DSLR. If youre doing astrophotography, almost any telescope will have a T-mount, which can be adapted to canon or nikon or any of the other consumer brands with like.. a $10 adapter. (Although regular lenses work fine too for this).

In general, fast lenses (for low light, amongst other things) and macro lenses and such specialty or extreme equipment that does these things best are most available for SLRs.