I bought my Nikon D80 for $925 in June 2007. At the time the camera was about a year old. I've been happy with the D80 for the time that I've used it. it's light weight, takes good pictures, has enough AF points, high enough resolution. I think I've taken about 10000 pictures with it so far.
One thing that I don't like about my D80 is the high ISO noise from the CCD sensor. It's really not good. The camera goes from ISO100-3200 (when bumped up). Past ISO800 I think the pictures look to grainy to use, so I usually keep my ISO between 100 - 640. One thing that I totally realized today was that the D90 has a CMOS sensor, which makes less grainy images at higher ISOs. Other than that, here's a comparison of things that matter to me. It'll help me decide. Right now (December 21, 2008), the D90 costs about $1050, and the D80 is about $650.
| Specs | Nikon D80 | Nikon D90 |
| Current MSRP | $720 | $1120 |
| Lowest Price | $650 | $990 |
| Sensor | CCD | CMOS |
| Resolution | 10.2 MP | 12.3 MP |
| LCD | 2.5" 230,000 px | 3" 920,000 px |
| ISO | 100-3200 | 100-6400 |
| Continuous | 3 fps | 4.5 fps |
| AF Points | 11 | 11 |
| Dust Removal | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes - 720p |
| Format | DX | DX |
| Viewfinder | 95% | 96% |
| Weight (no battery) | 585 g 1.3 lb | 620 g 1.4 lb |
| Weight (with battery) | 668 g 1.5 lb | 703 g 1.6 lb |
| Live View | No | Yes |
| Effects/Retouching | Yes | Yes but, lots more |
Now are all those extra features enough to make me spend another $1000? I'm not so sure. The things I like are the CMOS sensor, the 3" LCD, the higher ISO, the higher frame rate, having video (maybe), and the extra effects and retouching.
I hope my friend gets the D90 soon so that I can try it out and see if it is worth upgrading.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
