The best cameras used for photography?

There is no single "best" camera. First, please see the answers to the questions, "Which is the best professional camera," and, "Do all cameras produce the same image quality?" Those related questions are both referenced below so you can just click on them. They will answer a lot of questions without repeating them here. If you're in the market for a camera, proceed with caution as cost does not necessarily equal quality.

Everyone thinks they want the "best" camera, but best for you and best for me are two different things. If you initially buy "too much" camera and can't work it, it's not the best - for you. Any camera that works at all is as capable of taking wonderful pictures as awful ones (and beauty is always in the eye of the beholder). Some of the great names such as Nikon, Canon and Pentax can be blown away by some of the lesser known (see Consumer Reports), but everything is relative. Do lots of homework. Lens quality is always huge, but if you're thinking digital be careful about falling for the Megapixel Myth. More can be less. As you cram more megapixels into the same size sensor, you may degrade sharpness. I think 10 mpx in a small point-and-shoot is about the maximum, and even that may not be as sharp as, say, a 6 mpx (but you can get bigger enlargements from a 10 mp).