I need some advise on buying a semi-professional digital Camera?

I'm interested in pursuing professional photography but i don't have that kind of money to splurge on a professional camera just yet. I want something that will last and has everything I would need. I'm interested in photographing people.id like something that i could do close face shots with… And something with a good zoom as well…

Any suggestions?
I don't know where to begin… There are so many brands and models out there… Nikon? Cannon?

ps I want to invest in something good.

Take a good look at the Nikon D3100 and Canon T1i/500D. They are the lowest cost dSLR cameras at this time

You will need to visit a proper camera store and hold both in your hands after you have visited both camera companies websites (don't look for a cannon website… Those are military weapons) and compared those two cameras side by side, feature by feature

Here is a link that shows how their sensors compare which may be important if you tend to shoot in low light and do not want to have to use any artificial lighting

http://dxomark.com/...nd2)/Canon

How "good" the zoom is will depend upon your budget. A single lens solution could be the 18-200 mm or 28-300 mm zoom lens. My two favorites are the 14-24 mm and 200-400 mm

I've had my nikon d3100 for a few weeks now and absolutely love it. I normally don't write reviews but i love this thing so much i had to take the time to write one.first off, this is my first dslr camera, so i'm new to this type of photography. All i can say about my d3100 is wow, it's an amazing camera.i've noticed some reviewers here saying "buy a d90 or d7000 to start", but i completely disagree. If you're new to photography, this camera is all you'll need for a long time.