Canon Rebel XS. Perfect beginner camera. Whether you wanna get serious or not, it's really great. I started photography a while ago. Knowing one of my teachers was a legit professional, I asked for a recommendation before I went out and bought a camera, and this is what he gave me. Auto/manual focus, control over exposure settings. It's all there. You can go automatic exposure or you can mess around with it all to see what you can do.