canon and nikon make great dslr's, followed by Olympus
I opted for an Olympus myself. Olynpus actually has has a dslr cam out now with a live lcd screen, so you don't have to use the viewfinder like a traditional camera. I think this is currently the only one on the market with that feature.
I'm fairly happy with my Olympus, but you'll be able to find more lenses, etc for the canon and nikon....in other words, more crap to spend your money on.
anyway, if you're interested, I'd say start with one of those, and look for a decent all purpose lense that can zoom from wide angle to telephoto, etc. I actually have 2, a 40-150mm, and a 14-45mm.