Spend big on the camera or the lens? The KEH blog had a piece on the topic.
If it's your very first camera purchase, I personally suggest going with a cheaper camera body and a more expensive lens. This goes for both film and digital shooters. If you're getting used to taking pictures, you're much more likely to enjoy the photos you can take with a wide-aperture prime lens or a well-built zoom. With a cheap lens, you may be stifling your creativity with stale image quality before even giving yourself the chance to get excited.
Reading this today made for interesting timing, as I was on the phone with
David Merrill yesterday and he made the comment that one should "date your bodies but marry your lenses", which is also pretty much my view on the topic. Heck, part of the reason I'm shooting full-frame Canon DSLRs for work these days was that a reader got me the hookup on an EF 70-200mm f/2.8L; I literally got the lens and started shopping for cameras on which to mount it.
