What is a really good camera for photographers?

With a limited budget.

With a limited budget, take a look at the Nikon D3100. Should be about 350 - but its a good way above little pocket cameras.

Below is a link to a Flickr album, of images that I've taken using an old compact 35mm film camera, that I paid GBP £0.50p (about 70 USD cents) for at a car boot sale. I've used a lot of budget film in it, and develop my own B/W. I had a lot of fun with it. One of those images has had over 20,000 views.

So, how limited is your budget?

If you are using the camera to learn, I'd check out Kijiji or Craigslist and pick up a more advance camera like a Canon 5D M2 so you can get familiar with the advanced features. But it really comes down to why your using your camera.

So I don't know what you count as limited.
Panasonic Lumix FZ200/ FZ72 and Canon 50 HS are about 250-350 pounds

Panasonic Lumix FZ62

Then getting to around 100-150 Pentax P5, Sony DC 200