Digital cameras for beginners?

somebody recommended nikon to me, but i forgot which one it is. is it true that even if the camera is second hand its still good, but whats really important is the lens?

Check out dpreview.com, it has loads of information for both beginners and advanced photographers.

If the camera is second hand, it could be good or bad. Before you buy it, check out it's review on dpreview.com, then decide if the price is worth it.

I'd say for a beginner, second hand is probably the way to go (assuming you get a good deal). It will allow you to know what you like/don't like in a digital camera before you spend "real" money on a new one.

I love the Sony cybershot! Easy to use and great results.

If you are talking about a digital camera then you really have to know what you are looking ofr when it comes to second hand used cameras. You don't know if it has been dropped or submerged in water or what and may have some small quirk about it that you will not discover until much later.

Yes, the lens plays a big part in photography. Most Nikons come with great lenses but other companies make great lenses that will fit on Nikon, like Sigma and they are much cheaper.

If you mean a SLR/EOS type, i reccomend canons.
I bought a canon powershot s3 is that i love.
the settings are pretty basic, so yeah, it's great!

I would recommend Kodak or HP brand not too expensive and easy to understand the techniques.

I would highly recommend the Canon Powershot A630. It has been a great learning device for me. It has great automatic controls when you're starting and later down the line you can start using Program mode, then posably full manual. The veri-angle screen is great, it's very big screen with a high res. It has a lot of features as your average DSLR, and it's almost invisible in crowds, great for candid shots.