Nikon d300 Canon equivalent?

My friend has a nikon d300 that takes great pictures but I've always been a Canon user. What is the equivalent Canon camera to the Nikon d300?

That is a $2, 000 pro level crop camera. The Canon 5D and 7D would be the closest.

You do realize, however, that the PHOTOGRAPHER takes the great photos. You need at least a decent camera, and to create some shots, you need certain capabilities, but you can get those with almost any dSLR on the market.

The D300 is a last generation camera

the closest you can come is probably the 7D

Canon's 7D was specifically designed to compete with Nikon's D300 and compares quite favorably. DxO results aside, the 7D's images are as clean as the D300/D300s but, the D300's images look sharper straight from the camera. To be fair, the D300's images look sharper until enlarged to match the 7D's resolution or you shrink the 7D's images down to match those of the D300.

I'll say this from personal experience. I was seriously looking to leave Canon in favor of the original D300 or its replacement until Canon offered the 7D which addressed most of my complaints about the 40D compared to the Nikon D200 and D300. The key issue with the 7D is mastering the autofocus which is the most advanced/complex Canon has ever offered short of their 1D/1Ds series.