@brg wrote:

I grew up taking shots with my Nikon SLR film camera, I have been looking at the D40 and D80 myself, however for me this is most likely next season. It seems every time I bring up Nikon in a room, about 15 canon users start ranting about the rebel. How would you say the Nikon compares to the canons?

If someone knows how to “make” pictures and tweak the settings on a DSLR & PS you might not see a big difference in the final result. Myself a Nikon owner, I would say the Nikon bodies are better build, at least have a more solid feeling compare to the plasticky Canon bodies, and the tweaking of settings is made easy with the quick access buttons to menu settings via thoughtful designed buttons like White Balance, ISO, spot/center weight/matrix metering, etc. On the other hand Canon has a Full Frame sensor body (5D 24×36) for a much lower price than the new Nikon D3. One main issue is, with Nikon the smaller and somewhat more conservative company, they are always behind with delivery of their products for the high demanding market, they do not have the production capacity the multi billion dollar giant Canon has.

If you already have Nikkor Lenses, they all work on the latest Nikon DSLR bodies, the AF types will work with all metering functions including focusing, the MF lenses only in manual mode. Just the D40 will not drive the older AF lenses without a build in AF-S motor, but you still can focus manually.

It all comes down to personal preference, Nikon VS Canon, and Canon has a higher market share that’s why all of a sudden 15 guys are telling you about their Digital Rebel.

BTW: I like digital but I just added film equipment (MF) to my camera quiver for the really good shots – film just looks different.

a d40 will drive an 18-200 just as well… i am unhappy with my d200 because it’s so bulky. I love it for night shots because it’s stable but I didn’t even take it with me to south america because it’s so heavy. the d80 is about half of it’s weight and I think the d40 is closer to a fourth.

I only bought the d200 because i was desparate for the 18-200 and it was only available as a kit lens at the time due to high demand. And it was well worth it, too.