I'm starting to learn how to shoot. Up until now I've only used point-and-shoot cameras mostly on automatic settings. My view is there are basically three classes of cameras sold by the major manufacturers:

1. **Point-and-shoot:** for those who want nothing to do with photography
2. **Advanced:** (Canon's *G* series, or Panasonic's *LX*) - some settings, but not complete flexibility
3. **SLR**: The "real deal"

My question is, if I want to learn how to shoot good photographs, can I start with a camera from the 2nd category, instead of an SLR? There are still options for manually setting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed on those models, I just don't understand how lacking they are and if they would hinder my learning.