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Wow. Compare this side by side with an EOS 400D. No comparison.

Worth the extra just for that. Not just really bright, but can even see the whole field of view and the info bar with glasses on.

I will suffer the added weight of the D80 (which actually makes a better balance with a quality lens anyway).

Mind you, I pulled out my old Pentax Program A - I had forgotten just how small and light that was. DSLR's really are lardy bloaters! But I have an Ixus for my pocket and a rucksac for the DSLR, so that's OK.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

I'm not a particular fanboy one way or the other when it comes to Canon or Nikon but I know what you mean.

For me, my decision was made as soon as I held them both, let alone looking through the viewfinder. The D80 just felt a lot nicer in the hand.

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My Flickr

Lardy bloater
That's a little bit over my english vocab, but I think I know what you mean. I came from a Olympus OM1/2 and was quite shocked to see how big the DSLRs were even with only a have sized sensor.
This is really a field, where I wish the manufacturers should get a little further...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thomas - well your English is pretty good. Now I have added "lardy bloater" to it. Just don't say it about a person to their face!

Just so you know, Lard is white animal fat you buy in blocks and a bloater is a type of large fatty fish (I even had to check that myself !!)

Back to the subject!, its all personal choice, but for anyone who likes a bright crisp viewfinder the D80 wins by a mile.

The funny thing is that I like small cameras, but I found the EOS400 is hard to handle with a heavy lens.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

I totally agree. There is simply no comparison with the viewfinders of the D80 and Canon 400D. Also, I love the ability to put up gridlines with the D80. Composition is what it is all about and the larger viewfinder sure helps. To be fair the Canon D30 viewfinder comes close and the Pentax 10D viewfinder is as large.

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Frank