Photographers HELP! Nikon D80 or a Canon 400D?

Okay... This will be my FIRST DSLR. I am an aspiring Fashion Photographer and I need the camera to shoot my models. I have been using a Nikon p5100.

I need a camera that has little to no noise! Also, color is very important to me! With that said... which is best?

Now the Canon is a few hundred dollars cheaper, lets keep that in mind!

HELPPPPPPP!

There really is not much difference in the quality of colour when shooting using a Nikon or Canon camera ... if there were, one of the companies would go out of business very quickly.

If you are going to compare apples to apples, you need to compare the Canon D400 (XTi) to the Nikon D40x .. they are in the same entry level DSLR category.

For your consideration:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/d200-d80...
http://www.jdpower.com/electronics/ratin...

I am a glamour/fashion photographer and use a D200 with a 24-85mm lens for nearly 90% of my work ...

From Ken Rockwell: "My D80 is great, just that's not much better than my D40 and not much less expensive than a new D200. I prefer the ligher weight and better switches of my new D40, and I can get two D40s for the price of a D80.

The D80 didn't get worse; the new D40 got better for half the price and skunked the D80. That's the way technology works."

I really hate to pick on the Canon Rebel XTi, but it is not the best 10MP Canon made. In fact, the pairing of the 10mp APS-C sensor with the Digic II processor attributed to a slight increase in noise and artifacts that were not apparent in the same photos at the same ISO on the 8MP Rebel XT which is about 150.00 less.

With the development of the Digic III processor, Canon made great stride in its ability to reduce noise from the 10mp APS-C sensor to the point where image quality from the 40D matches that of the 5D at ISOs up to 3200.

And if you are shooting fashion photos, eventually you are going to want to get a lens like the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM or the EF 24-105mm f/4 L USM. On a very small Canon Rebel body (even with a battery grip) these lenses are hard to control especially with the Speedlight EX430 or EX580 II.

WIth that in mind, I would lean toward a used Canon 30D (from a reputable camera store) if you decided to go with a Canon because it will have the best picture quality (8.2 mp w/Digic II) for the same price range of the Rebel XTi plus it will be easier to hold with a heavy lens hanging off the body.

I hope this helps on the Canon side. If you already have significant Nikon glass, I would steer your towards the D80 because you do not want to have to deal with selling you older glass to purchase Canon lenses.

I hope this helps on the Canon side. All of the Canon DSLRs are awesome, but the Rebel XTi is just not the top of the Canon "Awesome" list. In comparisons of the XTi to the D80, the D80 was always the winner. In that case, the D40x also beat the XTi repeatedly.

I hope all of this helps. Good luck with your career in Fashion Photography.

We use the Canon 400D at the Art Institute. It's a great choice.

Without hesitation, I would suggest the Nikon D80. The D80 and Canon 400D are about the same camera, however, the D80 pulls out ahead with build quality. The 400D was never designed with build quality in mind. Along with build quality, the D80 also is better in several other ways: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_...