How does the D80 compare to the 20D

My dad and I are aruging about which camera is better. Neither of us know a lot about DSLRs, and one of his points is that the D80's 10.2 megapixels rival the 20D's 8.2 megapixels. He also says that we can buy it new on eBay and still have a warranty on it, while the used 20D that I want to get has no such warranty. That I can't argue with at least except that I know that megapixels don't determine everything. Does the D80 do everything better that the 20D does?

20d shoots 5 frames a second
d80- shoots 3 frames per second

but there are many other things that can determine what camera people would want to get..also depends on what you plan to be shooting

IMO, I would go with Canon because it has never seemed to fail me while my friends d200 is currently in the shop because the buttons dont work. PLUS many people still shoot with their 20d's and LOVE EM

I used to shoot Nikon, started with a D70 (a great little camera) and moved onto a D200 (which is theoretically a better camera than the D80, and they have very similar sensors).

I found the image quality from the D200 to be dismal in anything other than great light, and even then it metered and focused unreliably.

It was (rather, they were - I owned two of them) terrible for what I do, bird photography.

I gave up on it, bought a Canon 30D (much the same camera as the 20D) and never looked back.

These days I would not use a D200 - or a D80 - to knock nails in with.

Prior to the current D3 and D300 Nikons, no one could rival the noise free images that Canon could produce, particularly at high ISO shots in low light. 10MP vs 8MP is not a night-and-day difference!
My son-in-law is always using his Nikon with flash bounce to shoot photos of the new baby and their toddler. I almost never have had to resort to flash, shooting available light with my Canon. Why? I can use high ISO!

for more detail...

Bascially, we used Wikipedia as our guide, the little table at the bottom of all the DSLR articles that indicates what camera falls within what range. The D70/80 is listed as midrange, same as the Canon xxD line, which is our basis for comparing apples to apples.

My primary application for the camera would be newspaper and landscape photography, shooting sunsets, sports, and indoor functions.

A used 20D is a faster, tougher, and better at high ISO then the D80. The D80 is a good camera, but when you get to 5 FPS vs 3 FPS, aluminum body, better high ISO, faster flash sync, and faster top shutter speed of 1/8000th vs 1/4000th on the D80.
Here is a side by side comparison. Although, the 20D/30D is more in competition with the D200, sharing the 5FPS, shutter sync, aluminum chassis, and price range.

hbdragon88 wrote in post #5722050
for more detail...

Bascially, we used Wikipedia as our guide, the little table at the bottom of all the DSLR articles that indicates what camera falls within what range. The D70/80 is listed as midrange, same as the Canon xxD line, which is our basis for comparing apples to apples.

My primary application for the camera would be newspaper and landscape photography, shooting sunsets, sports, and indoor functions.

Then it has to be the Canon for it's high ISO capabilities. D80 sensor cannot match the older Canon 20D in this respect.

That is going to get you better pictures than 2 extra megapixels.

Just remember your gonna get highly biased reports from canon lovers (me included) ton this forum because it is a CANON forum!

zeva wrote in post #5723492
Just remember your gonna get highly biased reports from canon lovers (me included) ton this forum because it is a CANON forum!

Is the better high ISO capability of the Canon 20D vs D80 a biased opinion?

(That is an advantage for the Canon unless the OP wants a camera with high ISO noise:oops.

After reading what has been posted, would renting both camera's with kit lens and trying them out for what you are going to use them for be a bad idea?

vgk1nka1dx wrote in post #5724413
After reading what has been posted, would renting both camera's with kit lens and trying them out for what you are going to use them for be a bad idea?

30D would cost about $100 a day to rent from my local camera shop. I'm extremely new to DSLR photography (as evidenced by my comparing D80 to 20D based on Wikipedia, whereas someone else pointed out that it's better to compare D200 to 20D) and I'd be beat on trying to tell which one takes the better pictures. Also it's summer and I have no idea when events will take place, the school newspaper publishes once a week and it's a very light eight pages. I'd rather just take a chance and get the camera.

hbdragon88 wrote in post #5726402
30D would cost about $100 a day to rent from my local camera shop. I'm extremely new to DSLR photography (as evidenced by my comparing D80 to 20D based on Wikipedia, whereas someone else pointed out that it's better to compare D200 to 20D) and I'd be beat on trying to tell which one takes the better pictures. Also it's summer and I have no idea when events will take place, the school newspaper publishes once a week and it's a very light eight pages. I'd rather just take a chance and get the camera.

So buying a used body, the reselling it would cost LESS than a trial rental!

having used both I the D80 doesn't feel as solid as the 20D but both are good cameras.

hbdragon88 wrote in post #5726402
30D would cost about $100 a day to rent from my local camera shop. I'm extremely new to DSLR photography (as evidenced by my comparing D80 to 20D based on Wikipedia, whereas someone else pointed out that it's better to compare D200 to 20D) and I'd be beat on trying to tell which one takes the better pictures. Also it's summer and I have no idea when events will take place, the school newspaper publishes once a week and it's a very light eight pages. I'd rather just take a chance and get the camera.

Don't take this the wrong way. If you don't want to go that route then I've heard of some people finding places that they can buy the camera they want to try out NEW, use it for however long they have before they have to return it and simply return it when they need to and try something else. That might be an option if you are interested. I'm just thinking that there may be other options than just buying one you don't like and being stuck with it or having to go through the hassle of selling it later on just to get the one you want. You say you'd rather just take a chance and get the camera then why even bother asking anyone here. We all(or most rather) are gonna say canon. Same with the nikon forums telling you to buy nikon. You might as well flip a coin. I'll call it, heads you get the canon.

The biggest thing you should think about when buying a DSLR is that you aren't just buying a camera body, you are buying into the family. Once you rack up a few pricey lenses you aren't going to want to just switch to another brand because that glass wont work. I have only had a DSLR for maybe 6.5 months but I already own lenses more expensive than my camera. It is something you should think about and it isn't just a coin flip.