I'm interested in buying a camera (and potentially taking up photography as a hobby) so I'm looking for suggestions as to what to buy.

Ideally, I would like a DSLR and I'm prepared to pay around £300-400. However, because I'm a absolute novice, is it worth buying one? Should I settle for something less?

As well as photos, I'd like to shoot the occasional video too. Most DSLR cameras appear to do both, but is the quality any good?

I would also like to know what the battery life is like on DSLR cameras?

Give me your recommendations.

Cheers.