I would like some opinions...

[Baaaark]

I'm not asking what sort of camera to buy, but I do want to ask something from people who have real experience with SLRs.

What entry-level system/camera in your opinion does the best job with higher-ISO settings? If you needed a camera to use indoors without flash, and needed to go up to 800 once in a while, what would your choice be?

Understandably so, this would vary greatly with the type of lens (a 50mm 1.8 will help out a lot) but for the sake of argument, you have to use all of these cameras with the kit lens they come with.

Just curious.

 

[KAikens318]

I use a Nikon D80 and it has all of those settings. I absolutely love it!

 

[AtlPikMan]

I say D90...

 

[pixelfocusPhoto]

Im a canon guy myself. I use the 40d its terrific. Guess you will have to weigh your options.

 

[KmH]

I routinely make acceptable images with my Nikon D60 and kit 18-55mm at ISO 3200 with the in camera Noise Reduction feature turned on.
Here's one I took just the other day. This was captured as a RAW file, converted to JPEG with no processing other than the in camera NR. With a pass through a post process NR app it would look decent noise wise. EXIF data is intact.