Canon was better for digital photography for years, has nikon caught up?

What other cameras in the $400-800 range have competitive quality?

Not only has Nikon caught up but it surpassed canon. Right now Pentax and Sony are at the level of canon too so you have alot of options to choose from. The best camera in your price bracket is a Nikon D3100…

Four years ago with the introduction of the Nikon D3, Nikon surpassed the image quality of Canon especially when shooting indoor sports.

The image quality of the Nikon's D3X studio camera even surpasses the Hasselblad H3D40 and other medium format digital cameras

Take a look at the way digital sensors compare

http://www.dxomark.com/...r-rankings

The best entry level cameras, $800 to $900, here is how the sensors from Canon and Nikon compare

http://www.dxomark.com/...nd3)/Canon

As you can see, in your budget range, the Nikon out performs both in dynamic range and low-light, high ISO performance

Yes in term of picture quality nikon is ruling dslr world,
but nikon still suck at point and shoot