I am probably a yr away from buying a digital SLR but?

Question

I think it's very impressive to show 16X20 photos (or maybe a bit larger in living room or where ever. With correct lighting and no movement of camera which of these DSLRS would give consistent sharp 16X20s?

Nikon D80

Nikon D40

Nikon D40X

Nikon D300

Canon EOS 40D Canon RebelXTi

or choose one around same price class that you would pick.

Answer 1

You've pretty much defined the only situation where megapixels DO matter.

The image quality of all of those cameras is virtually identical. So is the sensor size by the way. So if you don't need any specific features, and if you don't have a personal preference, simply get the camera with the most megapixels. Today, I'd recommend the Canon 450D - same megapixel count as the Nikon D300 and significantly cheaper - spend the savings on a better lens.

By next year you should have newer models to chose from.

Answer 2

D300 no question ...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d300.ht...

Answer 3

I believe only the D300 out of the 6 models that you listed have the Full Frame sensor. Full Frame sensor for Canon will be EOS 5D & EOS 1

All 6 models should able to do the job. Having said that, I will favour the Full Frame models, because there is no chop factor to deal with.

Moreover, the technique and the overall setting are far more important that the equipment itself.

Answer 4

The physical size of the sensor doesn't make for bigger prints, lower noise maybe, full size sensors have advantages with wide angle lenses, APS sized sensors have advantage with telephoto, you pay's yer money and takes yer choice.

The only thing that determines how big a picture will print is Mb. For instance a 6Mp camera will print a tad larger than A4, A 10Mp at A3+. These are the 'native' sizes i.e. without adding or removing any pixels, but its not the end of the story.

Any Image manipulation software can add pixels by 'interpolation', by looking at the data and adding intermediate pixels based on that data. There is a limit to how far you can go with this, but, as an indication, I regularly sell commercially canvas prints 5 ft X 4 ft taken with my Pentax K10D which is 10Mp.

So the answer to your question is ALL of the cameras you listed will give good results at 16" X 20", easily.

You have my answer as to which camera I would pick, Pentax has all the functions, which some of those listed don't, anti shake built into the camera so every lens is anti shake, the ability to use any Pentax K mount lens made in the last 40 years, great image quality available for a song (I still use my 50mm f1.4 I bought 40 years ago just for its quality), cheapest system to buy into by far etc. etc. the list goes on.

Chris

Answer 5

if it is a year away. none of those. do keep track of what the answers on here say are best and then try that brand with a later model. Or get one of those models for half the price. That's what I did.  

Answer 6

None of these cameras have a full frame sensor. All of the Nikons will give you a 1.5x multiplication of focal length compared to 35mm sensor, and the canon will give you 1.6x. All of these cameras are capable of excellent 16x20s. I have made several enlargements of that size or larger with my D40 (6mp version, not the 10mp D40x)