Verified answer

The Nikon D300 and Canon 5D are both out of your reach - and that's just for the body.

For image quality, the lens is of greater importance than the body anyway. Focus (pardon the pun) on that first. For general use, and on a budget, I usually recommend the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. This lens costs £350. The image quality is almost the same as with the vastly more expensive Canon/ Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lenses. The Tamron version just doesn't focus quite as fast, and it's not built to the same high standards (the Nikon version has a metal lens barrel & weather sealing, etc.; the Canon version has Image Stabilization.) Tamron makes lenses for all major camera brands, so you can get one for whatever body you select.

A Nikon D80 costs £480, and a Canon 450D costs £460 (for just the body, prices from Jessops). Try them both in a camera shop and take your pick - they are both excellent. You can find cheaper bodies, even from Nikon and Canon, but I wouldn't recommend them. With cheaper Nikon bodies for example, you won't be able to auto-focus with fixed focal length lenses (if you decide to add one to your collection at a later point.) Other camera brands also produce good entry level bodies, but if you want to start a pro kit, start with a brand that has a pro line of gear. With Pentax, Sony, Olympus, etc, you will eventually run out of upgrade options.

So with a decent lens and an entry level body you´re already up to £820. Add a quality UV filter to protect your lens (B+W and Hoya are excellent), 2 memory cards (for example Sandisk Extreme lll, 2 GB), a spare battery, a cheap card reader, and a lens cleaning kit, and you´ll be very close to £1000.

If you don´t already have image editing software, consider Adobe Photoshop Elements. It´s inexpensive and it does a very decent job.

If you were hoping to include additional lenses, filters, a tripod, an external flash, a camera bag, etc. all for under £1000, you´re out of luck. You would have to economize on the body and main lens, as well as get cheap extras, and as a result you would end up with a bag full of amateurish gear.

The Nikon D300 retails in the US for around US$1,899 so should be in your price range. It is 12.3 mexapixels. This is one awesome camera.

I have a much less expensive Nikon Digital SLR and I am NOT a professional, but some of my pictures look like they were taken by a professional. The quality is great. And they now have the new vibration reduction (VR) technology in the lenses and a great variety of lenses and accessories available.

Check the D300 out at:

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Di...

Try the Canon EOS 5D, or one of the older 1D models.