Q1: I can't say much about Adobe Premiere Pro, but I use Final Cut and love it. It integrates very nicely with Soundtrack Pro and Motion (if you use those at all).

Q2: I just ran into this problem earlier this week trying to use a Nikon D70s. For me I had to set the camera on PTP Mode first (before connecting it to the computer). I did this through the camera menu settings. From there I left the camera on and connected it to the computer.

Here is the trick. I didn't understand what iStopMotion was saying about a live view and didn't know what I was doing, but you have to use the "Preview Shot" first. Slide the little toggle under the view window to the left and you should see the shot you just took. If you like it then you can record it. What it is doing is taking an actual photo with the camera and then downloading it into iStopMotion (very time consuming if you don't have a rocket ship for a computer)....Very much a pain and would highly recommend going with the iSight as it works very well with iStopMotion. You have full control over the settings the only down fall in my mind is no zoom, and resolution is a little low (640x480).

Unfortunately for us Mac users, Logitech doesn't make drivers for Mac and so the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 that everyone highly recommends is useless to us  

Q3: Like Aquamorph said Blender is a great powerful open source 3d animation tool. (http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/). If you have never used 3d animation before or Blender, here is a great way to start (http://www.blender.org/education-help/t … -tutorial/)

Good luck