[photo dude @ Aug 5th 2006 8:50PM]

First of all, I have to call out Paul Treacy as being full of s***. My ass you can guess every exposure without failing. Maybe you bracket and take 100 shots and one of them works. Give us all a break and spare the "I'm a photo/light God" routine.
Having gotten that off my chest, I have to say that high-end Nikon and Canon cameras are equally good.
I own two D2x which I love. I recently got a staff job where they supplied me two Canon Mk IIn. I like both the D2x and the MkII equally. The ergonomics of the D2x are better, in my opinion, and the colours are a bit better.
Also, I find Nikon optics to be just a tad sharper.
The canon, however, has slightly faster autofocus and the shutter speed of 8.5 fps is unrivalled.
Really, unless you are a super-picky photog, any camera is going to work. It's the person behind the lens, not the body it's attached to.
One can only assume that the d80 will have better quality than the d200, which is already extremely impressive.
ALso, just to stoke the fanboy fires and piss off all the condescending canon lovers, check out all the reviews of the d70 vs canon's counterpart - the rebel.
Now, check out d200 reviews vs the 30d.
Hhmmm...goes against what a lot of you have been claiming, huh.
P.S. How does using high-ISOs constitute lazy photography? Some people like the natural look of shooting ambient light rather than using flash or strobes -- especially a lot of photo editors I've dealt with throughout my career.

[Paul Treacy @ Feb 10th 2007 12:34AM]

So who is Photo Dude? reveal yourself. You say I'm full of shit. How dare you. I said I can nail an exposure most of the time without taking a measurement and I mean it. Most pros who've been studying light as it rises and falls, day in day out absolutely can. I know what I'm talking about. Here are a couple of links for you to see...
http://www.paultreacy.com
http://www.yellowbellybooks.com
Venture a gander why don't you. You might learn something.