The body is just the start of it and many will argue that the lens is by far the more important consideration, you will find that Canon and Nikon have the widest range and most highly thought of range of lenses and you will get the Canon/Nikon debate wherever you ask the question, I take the canon side of the arguement personally owning a 1dmk11N and a bag full of lenses as I prefer their selection of glass, the option of buying second hand opens up a much wider choice and buying something along the line of a canon 30d which is no longer available new is worth thinking about as it is an excellent camera and is physically larger than some of the entry level cameras which has a nicer feel ( in my opinion), it can be worth keeping an eye on the Canon outlet shop on ebay as they sell refurbished items with full 1 year canon warranties http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet .
A good resource for information and advice is the Talk photography forums, well worth joining http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/
Good luck in your choice and definately visit a few specialist shops and have a play as you really need to get the feel of what you are buying as it will most likely become an obsession.

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Purchased the D40 a couple of weeks ago now - all I need is the sun to pop out so I can take some pics of the Freely  Now - 2017 BMW X3 M Sport Carbon Black
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