Camera Shopping

I'm in the market for a new camera. I'm looking to spend no more than $600, if possible. I can't decide if I want a video or a still.

I'm a member of the Texas A&M Sports Car Club, and we do a lot of events such as autocrossing. Very few people have a video camera in the club (I was shocked!) so there's not much footage to go through when they put together the semester video. This would be my primary reason for wanting a video camera. But, I really don't know a thing about them.

On the other hand, I take a lot of still pictures. I photograph my model cars to post up over in the Car Modelling forum, and I also take pictures of friend's cars, cars at car shows, as well as friend's pets etc. I'm looking for an SLR digital camera, but beyond that I don't know much of the technical stuff.

So, I'm torn between replacing my "okay" digital with a "really good" digital, or just keeping the "okay" one and getting a video camera. At the moment, it's looking more like video than still. And then, I don't know what kind; brand, model, zoom, numbers etc. So...help!

http://www.dpreview.com/

Go to the "Buying Guide" and you can do side by side comparisons of practically any model you can find. Also read the reviews - lots of good info.