nikon d40 with the "kit lens" is a good start
as well as the
canon xti (rebel whatever range) similar kit lens

i suggest staying with canon or nikon for you first few cameras as they both have great lighting and lens systems

also i'll just revile this comment and response i've heard and said many times

someone - "that camera takes great photos"
me - "you mouth makes great comments" <- stole from someone else feel free to claim

what thats referring to is even the simplest of cameras can produce good results the greatness is between those that control the cameras and deiced what the eye is going to see and those that just allow it to do whatever


i noted rican said what camera ('s) he shoots so i'll list also, i have a d40, d60 (used mostly) d300, and d3x (only used for work) along with those a host of lenses and an array of flashes