Another Rookie Photog...

I just picked up a Sony A-300 that came with two lenses. It's 10.2 megapixels and works great. It was $599.00 at Best Buy. I believe they have an A-200 model that's $499.00. The major difference between the two is that the 300 has a live view feature. Good luck!

i bought a Nikon D40 along with a 55-200 lens for $700 i think

i think the body and default lens is around $500 though so that might be worth a look.... then, if you want to upgrade... buy some zoom lenses

Under 5k I could offer some suggestions but under 5 hundred I'd say stick with a major brand and get a body and one lens. If you get a body and more than one lens in a kit for under 500 the lenses are bound to be off brand items and if you're shooting MX their focusing performance will disappoint you.

I don't know, I'm just a hack and I like the lens that came with my camera. It's an "off brand." I also don't have a grand to spend on a lens. Sure if you can pop for the high end lens, go for it. You can get some great looking shots with the kit lens as well. Kit lens and little Photoshop does wonders. Just doing it as a hobby, I think you can use the Tamron type lens's. This was taken with a Tamron lens. Sure this pic may look better with a higher quality lens, but you can have fun without spending big coin on a lens.

It depends on what you consider a "real" camera. If you don't plan on getting very involved in photography, just want to have a little hobby, then you could pick up a Nikon D40 and a lens for around $500. That will give you a DSLR camera. You can learn the basics of photography with that camera such as shutter speed, ISO, aperature, etc.. You might even get a used one for around $400. Just try to get a lens with an aperature of F/3.5 or F/2.8. These will give you good pics. I started out with a D40.