Oh and I forgot to mention. When you go to buy, you want to check out B&H Photography. It is by far the number one source for professional and amature photographers alike. They have an excellent reputation. Over the few years, I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of equipment from them and it alway arrives within a few days of my order.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
When I visited NYC for the first time, their store was one of my vacation spots, lol. I was like a kid in a candy store.
Another store, which is growing, but already has a nice reputation is Badger Graphics.
http://www.badgergraphic.com/
The nice thing about Badger is that often, their actual price is cheaper than their web listed price. In the camera field, many manufacturers place restrictions upon authorized resellers of how low of a price they can publicly list on their websites.
Badger complies with this restriction to remain an authorized dealer. However, often if you email or phone them for a better price, they will give you one, if one is available.
Be aware of what you are buying, in the every industry has US products and grey market (import) products. B & H's site has a nice explaination of both. I have no problem with grey in the photo side, but if the price difference is just a few bucks between US warranty or grey warranty, I will go with the more expensive US version. B&H prices will clearly indicate if you are looking at US or grey as they have them listed side by side.
Nice thing about buying from B&H or other on-line locations is the obvious fact you do not pay sales tax. On a high end purchase, this is a big savings. Sure, you may pay a few bucks for shipping, but it is usually less than the tax saved.
With that be said, I do wish to suggest one other factor. Many cameras, like Canon, come with a one year manufactuer's warranty. (I am a Canon user, both film and digital cameras) Most digital cameras are great and perform without issue over their lifetime. However, you never know if you get the one that will not. Because of that uncertainty, I purchased my last digital at Best Buy, as I wanted to get their four year no hassle warranty.
If it goes bad, they give you a new camera, even if it needs to be a newer model. Four years from now, the camera you buy today will not be for sale, so it is a nice back up plan to have. I normally do not care to pay for extended warranties, but when it comes to digital photography, I find it nice piece of mind. The problem with Best Buy is that you will pay sales tax. You can buy an extended warranty from B&H, but it is with Mack's Warranty, and I have no experience with them.
Remember, everything is negotiable. My last digital was over a $1000. Knowing that I was going to have to pay extra at Best Buy for sales tax and warranty I wanted the retail price reduced so that overall, I would pay no more than what I would thru the better on-line stores, factoring in the additional cost for shipping.
I printed out my on-line prices, including what shipping would cost and went to Best Buy to work a deal. I point out that I really want to buy at Best Buy, but I needed to offset the higer retail price and sales taxes that I would incur from buying from them. The first Best Buy I visited had a young manager, who did not know she had the authorize to bargain. She offered some concessions, but not enough to impress me.
The second Best Buy had a more experienced manager who quickly worked price breaks or made the deal appealing with extras, bags, CF cards, and price reduction on the camera.
Shop around, take your time and good luck.