Great advice above. As a newbie to DSLR, I've been quite happy with my Pentax and that's without getting any fancy lenses yet besides what it came with. I went with that brand over a Canon or Nikon as it seemed comparable from the forums I read and pricing was a tad easier on the wallet.
I found this site to be of great help when I was shopping:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
good luck!