Best dSLR camera for a beginner?

A thousand bucks is perfect. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10817633 Be sure to stay away from the D40 and D60 cameras. They lack a screwdriver motor which could hinder you depending on your goals.

Canon Rebel XSI is the best camera right now on the market. & it has the biggest selection for aftermarket parts.

There are many good cameras and asking this is somewhat like asking what car is best . You get many opinion from people loyal to what they have. I will warn you I am the same on that I like Nikon and recommend it for an entry level dSLR its hard to beat the D40 2 lens kit when it comes to value for price. It will give you a camera that gives great photos for a good price, has the large selection of Nikon accessories available. Nikon right now has be best backwards compatibility of accessories and lenses and has shown themselves to be committed to this so whatever you buy for you D40 will ork when you do upgrade probably to a camera that has not even beem produced yet. You will not have to start from scratch. No it won't have as many bells and whistles as some higher level camera that cost more but it will give you a format to learn the basics well while enjoying taking good photos. How good ? I plugged it an olympus 520 ( the 420 mentioned is not in the database at DXO ) and the closest canon to the D40 into the DXO mark a third party RAW data benchmark not affiliated with any manufacture. You will see the D40 hold its on and actually surpasses the canon a bit on signal to noise, dymanic range and tonal range, Both the canon and Nikon beat out the olympus in these categories http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Image-Quality-Database/Compare-cameras/(appareil1)/229%7C0/(appareil2)/184%7C0/(appareil3)/221%7C0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Nikon/(brand2)/Canon/(brand3)/Olympus

I'm 15 and i've been doin photography since the 7th grade. I'd say go with a Nikon or Canon camera. I've shot with both. Nikon D40 is what I would recommend. It's one of the lowest camera's your going to get with a professional touch. It's weight is sort of heavy but with a dSLR what can you expect.

Nikon D40 which is the biggest selling DSLR on the planet. It has superb image quality and by not having an internal autofocus motor, it forces you to buy af-s lenses, which are Nikons best lenses (please Nikon make the 85mm 1.4 with an af-s motor). AF-S lenses are those that have their own internal autofocus motors on the lens itself.

Canon 400D (XTi) I learned soooooooo much about professional photography from it, taught me everything, im 15

If you are really on a budget and want the best quality for the money, check out the P&S Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 which has more features than most pro DSLRs that require auxiliary lenses not even equal to the single initial full-range lense that comes with the FZ28. It is reviewed at: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2008_reviews/panasonic_fz28.html It just came out on November 4, 2008. It's an all-in-one 10.1 megapixel DSLR camera which includes (i) built-in image stabilization; (ii) HDTV quality video [Quicktime]; (iii) a 18x zoom [27 - 486 mm (35mm equiv.)] "Leica" lense for nature photography; (iv) up to 0.39 inch macro option; (v) up to 6400 ASA; (vi) takes up to 380 pictures per 120 min. battery charge; (vii) has a "burst speed" of 13 fps; and sells new for $315 at amazon.com. Here's an actual handheld picture of the moon: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/bf/1b/a83ac060ada0881604bad110.L.jpg Good luck!

Kodak EasyShare Camera 144 bucks at target great deal.