30d is a badass camera. the sony alpha100 is a good camera for starters I think. Thats what we have. We really love it. The Canon 5D is also a great camera and I think I will own one 1 day. Nikons are nice but I was really impressed with the sony, especially for the price. Plus you can get 20 year old lenses off ebay for hella cheap and they work with it np.