Can anyone here recommend a good professional level digital camera?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

wanting to get back into photography in a big way and my old film Canon AE1 is a tad outdated.

[Major Nikon]

1. Your FD lenses won't work on the newer Canons

You can get an adapter, but it's probably not worth it.

Professional level digital covers a pretty big range. At the higher end you have medium format where just the digital backs can run you north of $20k. Assuming you are talking about a DSLR type camera, I suggest you consider Nikons. The great thing about them is they are backwardly compatible with lenses with a few exceptions. I have a manual focus lens that is over 20 years old that still mounts and meters on my D7000. This capability opens up all sorts of lenses which are readily available on the used market.

With Nikon, their 4 number models are consumer grade with the D3xxx at the lower end and the D7xxx at the higher end. The single number models are at the top of the pro food chain, and the 3 number models are generally somewhere in between. With the D7xxx series and all the new 3 number and single number cameras, you get full capability with the older lenses. With the D3xxx and D5xxx series many of the older lenses may mount, but you may loose autofocus and/or metering.

[Brigid]

2. You need a winning lottery ticket for one of those.

I know that much.

Seriously, maybe you should consider cross-posting in the Photography group?

[olddots]

3. Find an actual camera store that carries pro gear

DO NOT price shop - I'd stick with Canon over Nikon .

[Chan790]

5. Adding on that...buy used from a reputable dealer.

People think I'm crazy but I found a place I like so I go 3 hours back to NYC to go there. They do good repair work. They inspect and fix everything they sell used before they sell it...and I'm positive that if I ever had a problem, they'd do me right. The prices are reasonable...the markdown on recent used equipment is not huge but it's enough to make it worthwhile, a few hundred bucks to a thousand on the high-end gear.

[mysuzuki2]

4. They are almost all good.

The Canons are most familiar to me and I can strongly recommend them. Otoh Pentax cameras have the advantage of being compatible with the old manual focus takumar lenses which are cheap and extremely good.