I'm going to assume that you shoot ground-to-air stuff at airshows and stuff. That imposes the key constraints on the gear you buy.
You'll notice a huge difference in pic quality between what you have and even a low-end a DSLR. I sometimes use the Sony equivalent of your Panasonic, and the compactness, zoom length, and versatility are great -- especially with image stablization -- but the picture quality approximates that of old 110 or disc film. Fine for web posting and screensavers -- in fact, if all you want is to view pics on screen, almost as good as the top DSLRs -- but useless for any prints above 5x7.
The low-end DSLRs from both Nikon and Canon are pretty good. If your old film SLR was a good one, you'll recognize any DSLR for what it is -- not really a camera, but a cheaply built computer peripheral, engineered for a short life cycle -- but they capture decent images. Most airplane photogs choose Canon because Canon has specialized in long lenses since way back into the film days, and they offer the most to choose from, especially at the high end. If you buy a low- to medium-end Nikon or a Canon such as the latest Rebel XSi or 40D, you'll need a long lens that goes to at least 300mm to equal the reach of the zoom on your Panasonic. Cheap zoom lenses of, say, 75-300mm are available for these cameras but they are not great and most importantly they lack the image stablization that your Panasonic has, so your pics may have more motion blur. To get all of the versatility of your Panasonic with DSLR image quality, you'd have to move up into higher-end telephoto lenses with image stabilization, and you'll find Canon has more and better options. If you climb up into the higher level DSLRs with what are called "full frame" sensors (the size of a 35mm film image), you'll need an even longer lens, say 450mm or 500mm, and the cost really goes up.
Getting a good lens is probably smart, because it has a big impact on the quality of your image and you can use it through several generations of camera. Back in the film days the rule was to invest all your money in the glass and use cheap bodies, because any camera, under all the bells and whistles, was just a black box between the lens and the film. Nowadays, bodies incorporate sensors of varying quality so you have to pay more attention to the camera than before. Lenses still have a much longer lifespan than cameras, however, and should probably drive your choice of what system to get into.
Indeed, as described in this NY Times article last week, some digital photographers are discovering that lenses made decades ago for film cameras are better and much cheaper that the latest ones, and there is a cottage industry of adapters to fit them on DSLRs. This route is not for everyone because you have to give up image stablization, autofocus, and other significant features of your camera, but it does to the point that a good lens, unlike most modern cameras, essentially can serve you forever.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/techn ... asics.html
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