I am not sure the Olympus camera given in another's answer to your question would fill the bill for you. It is however a great camera. You would be better off looking at the other Olympus cameras that specifically DSLR. Or Fuji makes some great cameras.www.fujifilmusa.com 1-800-800-3854 m-f 9am-8pm Est. sat-sun 10am-6pm Est.S200EXR $419www.olympusamerica.com product support 1-888-553-4448 www.usa.canon.com/home (Phone number) 1-800-OK-CANONThe Canon Rebels will probably be the best, but you may have to expand your budget a bit.

the nikon d3x is a cheap entry level dslr

Canon EOS Rebel XSiNikon D5000Canon EOS Rebel T1iOlympus E-30

Since you already are familiar with Minolta's, the new Sony DSLR's use all the auto focus Minolta lenses. Unfortunatly none of the entry level Sony DSLR's have HD video recording.If you are starting out with NO lenses, then the top entry level camera at this time with HD video, is the Nikon D5000. It out performs many of the cameras that cost hundreds more. Canon also makes an entry level camera that shoots HD video.Here they are side by side.http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Ima…

Not sure if it's a DSLR but, the olympus pen looks nice.http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Interchang…

think

you can consider buying Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR# Capture widescreen HD 720p video at 24fps; 2.7-inch LCD with autofocus and Face Detection Live View# 4.7fps capture rate with 1/6000 sec max shutter speed; 11-point wide-angle autofocushttp://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_n…

I am not sure the Olympus camera given in another's answer to your question would fill the bill for you. It is however a great camera. You would be better off looking at the other Olympus cameras that specifically DSLR. Or Fuji makes some great cameras.www.fujifilmusa.com 1-800-800-3854 m-f 9am-8pm Est. sat-sun 10am-6pm Est.S200EXR $419www.olympusamerica.com product support 1-888-553-4448 www.usa.canon.com/home (Phone number) 1-800-OK-CANONThe Canon Rebels will probably be the best, but you may have to expand your budget a bit.

you can consider Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera# Capture widescreen HD 720p video at 24fps; 2.7-inch LCD with autofocus and Face Detection Live View# 4.7fps capture rate with 1/6000 sec max shutter speed; 11-point wide-angle autofocushttp://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_n…Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00267S…

The best entry level DSLR for video is the Canon T2iOthers that do an ok jobPentax KXNikon D5000The Canon will do 1080P and is comparable in quality to the much more expensive full frame brother, Canon's 5D markII (not an entry level camera)