I second the thought that you will get all kinds of recommendations insisting that theirs is the only system or only brand worth anything, or that "settling" is wasteful and unprofessional. Well, it IS unprofessional, and that's a good thing! When I was shooting to pay for college, way, way back in film days, I had to buy equipment that was rugged, reliable, and top quality. If I blew a wedding shoot, it was pretty likely that I wouldn't get another one. And I had to have the "Best" lenses and flashes available, because negatives had to be close to perfection to make the prints that actually provide most of the profit margin for a pro working weddings, especially a young man without a long resume.
The good news is that you don't need to have those limitations, and that even a relatively modest system in this digital age can produce spectacular results, results that are as good as or better than the highest end stuff of forty years ago. Here's my advice:
1) Set a budget, not just for initial purchases, but for how much you think you'll be spending on your new photography hobby. Some people have already said you should buy the best full frame camera you can afford, and some have said an entry level "crop" camera system will suit you just fine. They are both correct, depending on how much you figure you'll be spending on this. Remember "spending" includes not only purchasing gear, but also printing, matting, framing, and travel for some "photo trips". If you buy a full frame semi-pro camera, you will be lucky to get one zoom lens with it for $2K, and that's a big investment before you've had much experience in differentiating wants from needs. But if you're the sort of person who really needs to have the latest and greatest stuff, you may really be dissatisfied if you don't have everything you want in each individual product. Having a budget will help you decide on format and system. Full frame SLR, crop sensor SLR, and Mirrorless systems all have their virtues and vices, and have strong advocates here, who will, no doubt, let you know. Ken Rockwell is a great site for an overview of what's available, and what they can do. Like anyone, Rockwell has strong opinions, but he's quite factual in describing actual differences in gear, and has tons of articles showing what's compatible with what. Figure your budget, read Rockwell and other sites, and make a decision on what system to go with. More good news - there is a thriving market for used gear, on eBay, on this forum, on Craigslist, and on other sites, so you can often trade up fairly inexpensively if you time it right and are methodical in your buying. You're not just buying a camera and lens, you're marring into a family. And while divorce is relatively easy, it isn't always cheap. Consider what you'll be shooting, how large you'll be printing it, etc., and make your own decision on the family you want to marry into. This brings me to the second point.
2) It is okay to marry someone who's already been married - in other words, buy used. But be careful. The dealers mentioned above, KEH, Adorama, B&H, Hunt's, etc. are all terrific. Honest folks, easy to deal with, and willing to stand by their products. Buying from eBay has become much safer in recent years - you can often get a warranty from PayPal, and it's easy to read through past feedback to see if someone has a history of deception and failure to perform. I wouldn't let one or two bad reviews throw me off, it they're general and poorly written - there are some obnoxious and entitled customers out there - the kind who basically blackmail a seller with the threat of giving them bad feedback. I think you can get a pretty good sense from reading their feedback, and how they respond to it. I've been buying a variety of stuff (not just photo gear) on eBay for years, and I've only gotten one piece that went defective quickly. And even that was my own fault; the seller offered a refund, but after three weeks I didn't feel entitled to it, especially as I could have purchased a warranty. Even in that instance, I lost only $200, so it wasn't a financial death blow. Used prices can often be half or less than new or refurbished, so you earn a few Mulligans from the overall savings. Shutter count is an important indicator of how lightly or heavily used a camera body is - you can get 200,000 or more shutter clicks out of most of today's equipment, so buying one with a count anywhere under 10K should give a pretty good lifespan. Refurbished cameras are also a good choice for many, cheaper than new, but more expensive than an untested used camera on the open market - you can find them on the websites of some manufacturers, as well as at the dealers listed above. We bought our most expensive lenses new, from a local camera dealer, who was quite willing to match Amazon prices, but our bodies and other lenses were all used, and our flash equipment and peripheral gear came from eBay (used) or Amazon (new). We even found ourselves two used $500+ camera bags priced between $100-$200 on eBay - sometimes being patient and waiting for a bargain is all it takes.
3) After you've decided on a system to start with, try to find a quality lens that covers the moderate wide angle to moderate telephoto lens - that will be your "walking around lens" for a while, maybe quite a while depending on where you go. Depending on what you learn to like as you shoot more and more, you can go in several directions: A longer telephoto, a compact wider angle, or upgrading the speed of your basic lens. Agai, you'll find a ready market for anything you're no longer happy with and want to sell. Another thing that's changed since my film era photography is that non OEM lenses are much, much better than they used to be - in some formats they are better than the original Nikon, Canon, Fuji, etc. models in some focal ranges and distances. The best non OEM lenses, in my opinion (others are sure to differ!) come from Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron. You can't really go wrong if you buy one of those. Most amateur lenses come with one or two "kit" lenses, which are decent quality, but aren't as fast or as well built as the upgrade lenses. Wait a while before you upgrade or add - you'll quickly find yourself saying "I wish I had a faster lens for low light" or "I wish I had a longer lens for sports and wildlife" or some other variation on that. Get experience with your basic lens and then decide on the next step. Remember, when you're doing your initial research that the effective length of a lens depends on the format, and that lenses suitable for full frame and crop systems have inherent differences. Check Ken Rockwell on this as well. A full frame or 35 mm camera produces an effect that is about 1.5 times the same focal length on a crop camera - in other words, a 200 mm telephoto on a crop camera is the equivalent of a 300 mm on a full frame or 35mm system. I started with the kit lenses for the Nikon crop system - an 18-55 mm and a 55-200 mm, but found a faster Nikon 18-70mm, which is now my walking around lens.
4) Finally, have a plan and stick to it until/unless you decide you're heading in the wrong direction. If you love doing this, you'll find yourself wanting camera bags, tripods, flashes, etc., depending on what you enjoy most. These all have to be accounted for, and can get quite pricey. Two years ago, my wife and I decided it was time to jump into DSLR photography with both feet. We started, by accident, finding a Nikon crop sensor camera with two lenses in our local pawn shop for $150. We already knew the type of photography we wanted to do, as we were both experienced from the film era, so we had a plan of what we wanted to buy and what we could afford. We budgeted two grand over two years, and decided, after using that initial pawn shop find, that we could get what we wanted as well as what we needed, for that budget. We will probably spend another thousand a year on upgrades going forward, leaving that much more for travel, printing, etc. We're in our sixties, and don't have that many years, at that pace, to acquire stuff. If you're interested, here's what we planned and how we achieved that goal:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-526467-1.htmlGood luck! And above all, keep taking pictures!
Andy