Hi everyone. I am looking really hard at a Nikon D300. They are ALMOST out of my price range but I think it’s worth it. However, is there a less expensive Nikon DSLR? one that is almost of the same quality? how about Canon? I am pretty open to any suggestions.
Thank you!

I’m starting to take photography as a real hobby, spending many weekends out there shooting, and I feel it’s time to change my shooting gear from a canon A520 point & shoot (which surprisingly accepts a lot of manual settings) and my old canon AE-1 (with a tamron 70-280 lens, and the trusty old 50mm prime) to a dSLR. Now I have done quite a lot of research about Nikon and Canon dSLR cameras (Nikon D50 and Canon 350D in particular), and I know both are very good bodies with not-the-greatest kit lenses. And I know that it all comes to lenses when photo quality is considered, and that both manufacturers have excelent lenses. I also know that I’ll stick with the brand I choose now for the next couple of years.

Question: How do Nikon and Canon lens offerings compare together in terms of pricing and quality? To be more specific, if you take two very similar lenses (both in terms of numbers AND optics quality) from each manufacturer, which one would be cheaper? Would this be a general rule?