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Might have been called something different.
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"Auto Area AF" is the new name; not sure how close it is to closest subject priority, but I assume it grabs the point of highest contrast like before. My uncle is adding a D80 to his stable (Nikon FE, Canon EOS 3, Contax N, Canon Rebel/300D), so I'll be able to check on that, eventually.
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I'm really trying to resist the urge to purchase Capture NX...
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Keep resisting it. Buy a SanDisk Extreme III 4.0 GB card for about the same amount of cash; it comes with Capture One LE from Phase One which is much better.
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$180/$230 extra for the manufacturer's RAW converter & remote capturer
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Max, I wish I was joking.
BTW, Nikon Capture NX is not just a "RAW converter", it's actually a "competitor" to Photoshop Elements (massive LOL), as it does most of what PSE can do. I spent about a month using Nikon Capture NX 1.0 instead of Photoshop CS (the original CS1) and ACR to see what it could do. If ACR could do color like NX, I'd bin NX immediately. Eventually, I ended up switching to using Capture One LE in tandem with Photoshop CS, as Capture One's output is good "enough", and I can take care of the rest with a gentle LAB curve in Photoshop CS. I still use the latest version of NX for small numbers of images when the outmost quality is needed, but all files get "finished" in Photoshop.
My take, if you don't have software: Get Capture One LE and Photoshop Elements. They'll probably take you further unless you really want that last 10% of image quality that Capture NX squeezes out. No one's complained to me yet when I've decided to let Capture One do the conversion instead of NX.
Nikon Camera Control Pro is pretty sweet (at least from the demo I used for a while), but I'm still wavering on whether to plunk down the money for it. It's a good program, but it should have come with the camera. Saves a lot of time inputing custom settings on the little screen on the back and does some other stuff too. Now to decide if it's $80 worth of convenience...
Also, Nikon View (the old free software) is now "Nikon View Pro", and costs money (no idea how much/haven't seen it available). Not sure what it does now, though it used to provide free RAW conversion. Picture Project is the current free piece of trash included with Nikon's cameras.