Something Recent: Nikon D80

[Tom Swaman]

Having not spent much time here before yesterday and today, I am surprised to find no thread about the D80. All I can say is you may want to try it because you will like it. I am a life long Nikon fan and film photographer converted to digital. My experience is with nature photography, scientific photography and scenic photography. I bought a D80 at the end of last year. I bought my wife a D80 body at the beginning of this year and sold her multiple Canon poin and shoot cameras. Frankly, the D80 is not the perfect camera, but it is the best buy in today's digital market. I also looked long and hard at the Canons before delving into the D80s as did my wife.

What are the cons to the D80?
1) The camera is not as heavy duty as the professional series of Nikons, but its features are many and it is built oin the excellent D200 engine.
2) The D80 only shoots 3 fps so like all the great photographers claim who shoot high speed Canons, the D80 won't stop hummingbird wings in flight without a strobe.
3) The D80 has an excellent viewfinder that is not 1:1.
4) The D80 will not taccept any of the long range RF remote triggers, but it does accept a rinky-dink IR self portrait taker and an excellent cord release for vibration reduction.
5) The D80 does not have a mirror lock-up, but it does offer a 0.4 sec. shutter delay for vibration reduction.

So those are the major drawbacks of a less than $1,000 US body. On the plus side, the D80 is incredibly low noise for an amateur camera and the electronics are equivalently stable to ISO 400. The menu is a clone of the best logic possible and so easy to use that you can pick up a new, heretofore never scene body and put it through rather strenuous paces.

For the rest of you who own or have used the D80, may we hear from you about your experiences with this camera?

Oh yes, do not forget that the D80 is totally compatible with the Nikon wonderful renowned strobe systems including the two versatile close up kits and all work without the extra external control CPU through the camera electronics and dial-in menu.

I might mention that the kit lens, namely the 18-135mm ED lens is excellent. We tested this independently at every f-stop and at four different focal lengths against the now famous 18-200mm VR lens. Overall, there was very little image quality difference and the 18-135 is absent much of the lens barrel creep of the broken-in 18-200mm VR lens. True it is not a VR lens, but it has a shorter focal length range and costs about 1/3 to 40% of that cost of its longer brother. It is worth a look see for a general purpose lens. No it is not the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 ED-IF quality, but it costs much less and gives good results for its intended purposes.

No, I do not work for Nikon nor have I been fired by Canon. However, for those of you in search of a wonderful SLR camera body, second body or whatever, you owe it to thee to take a good hard look at this camera. Oh yes, please know that you may have to take better care of this camera than of some because it is not as well sealed from the enfirem=onment as some bodies who cost two to eight times its cost. Sorry friends, you will have to leave it in the camera bag when you go swimming or photograph a dust storm from the inside out unless you have a protective case for it.

[james23p]

I have a D80 and love mine it is the perfect DSLR for me at the right price. Nice post and well thought out. Jim

[mechanicjesus]

I use a D80 and have been very happy with it.