D80 vs. 450D

Where are you photographically, where do you want to get?
What do you want to photograph?
What existing equipment do you have?
What size hands do you have?
With or without kit lens?
It is a bit like asking Porsche or Ferrari.
They are both good, just that each will be better for certain things.

Mike

I asked the same question some time ago, I was advised to go and handle them I bought the D80, it felt right. Lenses kit lens 18-70 is a great lens depends on budget really.

Have you physically handled the 2 camera's ? If not I would suggest go to a store and hold both, I did that and found the Canon grip so small and uncomfortable I bought the Nikon.


Edit: the feel was actually the deciding factor in the end

CCD generally has worse noise at higher ISO, and is more prone to Bloom, (when one pixel saturates it bleeds energy into the ones around it, so they all start to saturate) It can cause halo's.

If budget is not an issue, And hands are biggish, You may want to consider the D90.......Easy enough to learn on, But more advanced when you need it...... Oh! And it's a CMOS sensor too.......As well as all the latest technologies from Nikon....!

If Canon was your thing, The way prices are at the minute, I'd be very very tempted to look at the 40D, This again is a more advanced camera, And at it's current prices, Is probably the best bargain around.......A lot of camera and a better biuld than the 450D too..!

I think Nikon are the way forward now, they were lagging behind Canon for many years with digital SLR's but have now got their act together. Their lenses are now getting better reviews than Canon so theyre a good system to buy into.
The king is dead, long live the king....

40D - only cost you around £100 more than the 450D after cash back - worth that for the extra fps if you ask me, never mind the other improvements

It is a bit of a mixture to say the least. The first 3 lenses listed are real lenses but are budget nikon lenses. The next 2 so called lenses are just adapters and coupled with the original lenses will give fairly disappointing results. The flashgun looks to be a waste of time - it will not give Nikon dedicated features. The rest is a mixture of cheap and cheerful to be honest. You would be better getting the D80 with the 18-70 mm lens as a starting point and adding decent components as you build your system.

Mike

D80 is presumably better than 450D as cameras belong to prosumer and amateur classes respectively. I suggest you to choose D90. 2 years ago I chose 30D between 30D an D80, because then Canon bodies were definetely before of Nikon's. But now D90 has the only visible disadvantage before 50D - SD vs CF cards. Nikon's kit lenses usually far better, than of Canon, third-party lenses for Nikon mount are usually cheaper and technologically more advanced, than same lenses for Canon mount. The autophocus movt in the body of D90 allows using old Nikon lenses as usage of FD mount lenses with EF(-S) cameras is impossible.

The D80 and 450D and D90 are in the same class, just read the spec sheets and handle them. Both use plastic bodies. The 450D has a more advanced sensor technology, more in line with that found on the D90, while the D80 uses CCD technology that is being phased out at the dSLR level. The difference comes in high ISO quality. At ISO 100 to 400 the difference is small.

The third party lenses are of a par, and I have not seen any significant differences re price or performance for Nikon or Canon mount. Nikon have started t odrop old lens support, so this is causing sigma etc to have to roll over their lens range. For this reason you may get some lower cost Nikon mount Sigmas but beware compatability issues with newer Nikon's.

Canon's L series have the F4 series, bringing a mix of quality and price that is hard to find in Nikon's ranges (17-40L, 70-200, 24-105). The top lenses from Nikon and Canon are very good. Both are quality brands, pick your price and feature set.

If you can spend a little more and get a 40D, its a class up. Or for Nikon the D200 is similar sensor technology to the D80, but has a whole lode of functionality and durability in its favour.