Ok, I'm going for a Canon EOS 500D, you might want to haev a look at 550D model as it's a bit newer... I'm also looking for my first SLR camera. I went to forums and looked over the discusions about the buget cameras. Then went down the list I can afford. My budget is 400. So it's a bit more, but I live farrrrr of the "great deals" so it's about the same. I came down to 5 cameras of Sony, Canon, Nikon, Pentax. Then I went down the peolpe I know who had some experiance and I was left with two reliable cameras on offer: Canon EOS 500D and Nikon D3100. Both great ones, but I was told the Canon has a good "case" and can upgrade it cheaper, so I'm going for that.
Make it short, my choise for buget cameras: Canon EOS 500D and Nikon D3100
milius