Canon, Pentax or Nikon?

I'm wanting to buy a Digital SLR, I've never had an SLR before, but i do love photography, i thought it was time to step it up a bit. I'm interested in mainly landscape and wildlife. I have no idea what I need to buy but can anyone help me? I've been reading reviews And I'm not sure what to go for. I've been looking into the canon eos 450d but I'm not sure it seems a really good camera.

Landscapes and wildlife is more about the lenses you need to buy.

Nikon, Pentax and Canon all make lenses that will do what you want. You just need to decide which camera system you want to be married to over the next couple of decades.

Visit a proper camera store to see what each camera system offers and go from there.

The 450D Canon is a fine entry level camera and buying a used one can get you into a Canon system without much damage to your savings. Take a look at the Nikon D90 and Pentax K-r as well

While Pentax makes a decent camera, I would stick with Nikon or Canon. The reason is that the Pentax brand has been sold twice in the last 5 years. In my view, that tells me that they are not on stable ground, and have an uncertain future. It would not be surprising that it disappear altogether within the next 5 years.

Proponents of Pentax - and they frequent this forum - will tell you that is unlikely as Pentax has been around for many years. One only need look at Kodak to see that the digital camera market is a lot different than the film market, and survival is not assured.

I would not want my investment in expensive camera gear to be torpedoed by a brand that goes under.

I may be wrong, and hope that I'm. But I would not gamble my camera dollars such a concern.

It has to be your decision. I like Pentax, but they're not for everyone.

Find a dealer who'll let you handle them and see how they feel.

Much as I like Pentax's products, I must say in recent years their status has concerned me. Since 2007 Pentax has merged with Hoya, only to be sold onto Ricoh last year. Their cameras are almost always better than the Canon or Nikon product of the same price, however they don't make a full frame camera, or enough weathersealed lenses. All of this has resulted in a loss of professional clients, which really is the death knell for a camera company.

Between Canon and Nikon, there's no real difference, they simply match each other blow for blow, and their products and support come out as remarkably similar.