For SLRs, Nikon and Canon are probably the best way to go, I personally prefer Nikon because I'm familiar with them but Canon has great cameras as well.
As for camcorders, I don't know what price range your looking for but if you want a nice small cam that can shoot with 1080i/p resolution and won't break the bank, I suggest going with either the Panasonic HDC-SD9 or the Canon HF10...