What camera brand is better sony, nikon, or canon?

I want to take photography as an elective and i'm going to 10th grade and i need a good DSLR. Also can you recommend a specific DSLR?

Nikon

The entry level dSLR with the most bang for the buck would be the Nikon D3200.

Before you spend a dime, spend some time in a proper camera shop, looking at the available cameras within your budget

Def. Try canon very reliable. Try the canon rebel its on sale at target for 499.99 and its amazing for nature shots. Touch screen, but if your going small then a sony cybershot.

All 3 make excellent cameras - don't forget to throw Pentax into the mix too.

Just look at the features offered by each, hold them in your hands and decide. You need have no worries about image quality because all 4 will deliver.

For DSLRs, limit your choices to Nikon or Canon.

Sony is putting all of their efforts into the NEX cameras, and how this will affect future DSLR growth is unknown. Why should you care about future cameras? Because if you are going to buy any lenses, you are locking yourself into that brand for future replacement. Lenses might last you 20 years or more, but a DSLR maybe only 3~5 years.

And Pentax? That is just an unknown these days. In the last few years, they have changed ownership twice; first to Hoya, and last year to Konica. And just a month ago, Konica announced the discontinuance of the Pentax compact camera line - and any future cameras would be under the Konica brand.

What the future holds for Pentax DSLRs is unknown. While Pentax makes a good DSLR, there's still a risk to buying one since you are in this for the long term.

All dSLR's are good. They are all basically the same. What can I recommend? The Pentax K-30 in Crystal Blue.

Any DSLR will work pretty much the same as any other, the more up to date sensors perform better in low light (which tends to rules out Canon).

Lenses matter more for image quality, always buy the best you can afford.

Any camera is just an image recording device, 80% of what makes a good image (subject, lighting, composition, the 'moment' etc.etc.) matter far more than the device used to capture the image.

For the camera body look for the ergonomics, how does it feel in your hand, are the controls readily available, build quality, does it have the functions you might need (auto bracketing for example)?

The cheapest system to buy into is Pentax by far. Great build quality even entry level are weather sealed, best backwards compatibility with older (and cheap) lenses, all will be image stabilised at no extra cost, all will meter correctly, the current models all have the latest sensors which work well at high ISO and are low noise.