and good on yah with the nikon choice - the d80 kicks the 30d easily - ask about 3 ppl i know who have sold all their canon gear (with 3k plus worth of lenses) to switch to the d200 after they're played with mine for a day

d80 has lower noise as the software processing is newer (newer camera). this is mainly in jpgs and if u shoot raw, it makes no difference as they both use the same sensor.

d200 v d80 - consider... flash sync, metal v plastic body, all-weather seals, multiple exposure shooting, buttons/controls location for ease of shooting fast, interval shooting (ie x shots, every 5 min over a number of days), speed of focussing even tho they use the same focus module, 5 v 3 fps shoot speed... maybe a few more i forgot but a fairly big difference if u'r willing to shell out the extra $1k.

The D80 beats the 30D in most places except image quality and speed (3fps vs 5fps if you shoot motorsport)

Dont get me wrong I think both are great, but having used both a lot I find that to be a fair comment.

100% crops here.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dslr-comparison/us.htm

Albeit the minimum amount of respect Ken receives from the internet photography community, his article that you linked explains it very well.

Here's the summary:

"Excuse me, but do you see anything significantly different among the DSLRs? The only thing I see is more aliasing with the Canons, but the same noise. I have a sneaking suspicion that the people who start these old-wives' tales start them from what they read in a press release from a camera maker, or an article written by someone who finds it easier to repeat the press release instead of running his own tests. These shots took me a couple of hours to design, a couple of hours to shoot, paying attention to maintaining the same focus and conditions and settings for all cameras, and a week to format into this web page with all the little crops all labeled.

Any simpler effort introduces other variables which skew the results. I believe it is these other variables which lead to the old wives' tales of Canon or Nikon having better high ISO performance. Once someone expects a result, they (and I) will tend to see that result. It's simple psychology.

I see the same noise and the same real resolution from each DSLR. Above the real resolution, I see much cleaner response from the Nikons (just gray in the middle of the star target) and aliasing from the Canons."

BTW - aliasing is an in-camera noise reduction feature post shot which is more pronounced in the cropped canons. this results in a more softer image (not as sharp) and is NOT reversible.

if you wanted to do something similar, you can run the picture thru noise ninja and get identical results.

I found the same results as kens test using the D80 and 30D in different situations. I found the canon much faster both in terms of maximum shutter speed AF and FPS.

1/4000sec 3 frames per second for 23 jpgs per burst on the D80
1/8000sec 5 frames per second and 30 jpgs per burst on the 30D.

I shoot a lot of motorsport/outdoor action so this matters to me. If I worked in a studio I would def use a nikon for reasons already stated.

My point is that neither camera can be classed as "best" when they both have different strong points. I just dont think either camera kicks the other overall.

yep i agree that for sports the D80 doesnt have a fast enough shutter or fps speed.. i guess it was never meant to be compared to the 30d at half the price the 30d is - but i think it's dropped a lot recently. i do however feel that the d200 does this job better with 5fps, very fast AF and 1/8000 (which is no where near needed unless it's bright as day and u'r using f/2.8 or similar). d200 was at the same price point as the 30D before retailers starting dropping prices on the canon.

in any case, for motorsport, none of these cameras are suitable and i'd be looking at at the mk2/3 or D2Hx or similar

more importantly, for amateurs and semi pros, glass is where it's at and i would love to get my hands on a 300/2.8

100% crops dont mean much when you print anyways