Hi Nak,
I think (hope) Jim is getting your budget confused with $US 800 rather than the very healthy budget of £GB 800.
From my experience, many of the actual dslr's are much of a muchness and I'd advise spending more on the glassware in front of the camera.
For example, a Nikon D50 is now around £399 ...and if you purchased a lens or two at the same time, you would get these at further discounted prices.
Others that would be similar, would be the Canon 350D and Nikon D70s.
Canon or Nikon, it matters not much today... in the past it was a case that Canon had a more up to date range of lenses, with image stabilisation incorperated at not much extra cost. Nikon has always thrived on producing camera bodies that are easier to use, with functions and general layout coming to hand more naturally. Today, Nikon are producing a wider range of modern lenses, image stabilisation being included now at a reasonable price (not that I.S. will be too important with wide angle lenses and hopefully a tripod as support).
I'm no expert at wide angle lenses, but the crop factor with dslr cameras that use 'APS' sized sensors is something to remember, so you do need to look for lenses that have a lower focal length than those recommended for 35mm film cameras... 18mm will be more than adequate for a nice wide field of view.
cheers,
Andy
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