Cam and Cheese

I know the review for the Nikon D80 is a little late now, as the D90 has been out for a few months, but for those who still want to buy a really good digital SLR for a very low price, here's my review. I've owned my Nikon D80 SLR for over a year now, and have taken over 8000 shots with it. I think it's finally time for a review on my dSLR. The Nikon D80 is the lowest in their Prosumer class of digital SLRs.

When I first got my SLR I didn't really know much about them. I knew I didn't want a Nikon D40/D40x because they required AF-S lenses, they only have 3 AF points, and they don't have a top LCD screen. You'd have to look at your main LCD screen when you wanted to see how many shots you had left, your battery level, if you were shooting continuous, etc. I thought it would kill the battery way faster. Also, the biggest factor was that I could fully use my dad's lenses - the 35-70 f/2.8 and the 80-200 f/2.8. These are not AF-S lenses and they would not be able to auto focus with the D40/D40x.

Now why didn't I get the Nikon D200? Well, honestly, I didn't want to shell out $1600 for that camera when I wasn't sure if I was really going to like photography. It would have been a little more than double the price. I know its weather sealed and all but it was just out of my price range. They had a lot of the same features.

So with my year with the Nikon D80, it's gone with me to lots of places. To Toronto, Mexico, Bahamas, Belize, Honduras, Washington State, and all around Greater Vancouver. In my year I've taken over 8000 pictures, and to say the least, I'm very happy with the camera.

Specifications

• 10.2 MP DX Format CCD
• Flexible 11 Point Auto Focus
• ISO100 - ISO1600 plus HI.0
• 1/4000 shutter speed
• Wireless Commander
• 3FPS continuous shutter with up to 6 RAW and 100 JPEG
• 2.5" LCD
• 0.94x viewfinder
• Built-in flash

In The Box

• Nikon D80 digital SLR camera
• Body Lens Cap
• Hot Shoe Cover
• LCD Protector
• USB Cable
• EN-EL3e battery
• Charger
• Manuals and Software
• Camera Strap
• 2-year Warranty

The Nikon D80 feels great in my hand. I'm about 5'6" and the camera sits nicely in my hand. It has a pretty wide grip so your hand won't cramp up. I have had no problem holding this camera in my hand for hours at a time. It's also not too heavy as it weighs 585 g without a lens.

The Nikon strap straps onto two loops that protrude out of the side of the camera. I'm not very fond of these hoops, as I no longer use the default strap, but instead my R-Strap which goes into the tripod mount. Now these hard edges stick out of the camera. It wasn't that simple to connect the included D80 strap to the camera.

The Nikon D80 also comes with a plastic LCD cover, which has its pros and cons. It does protect the LCD and snaps tightly in place, but it also gets scratched fairly easily. The plastic also obstructs your view of the picture as it has a bit of glare. It's a shame because the LCD is very clear and very bright. I'm not sure if it's the LCD or the protector, but when I transfer my pictures to my computer, they appear darker than what I remembered them as.

The body of the camera is pretty well laid out and easy to navigate with a bit of practice. There aren't that many buttons. Some buttons have more than one function depending on what you are doing, the majority of the things you need to do can be accessed very quickly wthout having to go through the menu system (which itself is very well laid out). Everything feels good in my hand. Yes the body is not weather sealed, but you can't expect too much at a sub-$1000 price.

The viewfinder on the D80 digital SLR is also very nice. My friend who owns a 5D was very impressed by it. It's very bright. The light meter is a bit off, and opposite of what most of us are used to, but Nikon is also backwards when connecting a lens. That being said as long as you know which way is over exposing and which way is underexposing you are good to go. The viewfinder also has a nice grid to help you take straighter shots.

The camera has 6 scene modes which you can use. Scene Modes are basically presets which set the proper aperture, flash, focus point, and ISO for you. It's basically AUTO mode but with specific settings for the picture you are trying to take. It's good if you are new to photography. There's also Aperture Priority which allows you to set your aperture and it will adjust the shutter speed automatically; Shutter priority which adjusts the aperture for you; program which allows you to make your own custom setting and save it; and finally Manul Mode which you should be using where you adjust your own shutter speed and aperture for each picture.

Changing the aperture is easily done by the front wheel which is right infront of the shutter button. The shutter speed can be easily adjusted with your thumb on the back of the camera. In my opinion, I like this layout the best because I don't have to stretch my fingers as far, as I would on the Canon dSLRs.

The camera comes with a bunch of modes for you to meter the light - spot metering, centre weighted, and 3D Matrix metering. The 3D Matrix Metering supposedy compares your current exposure to over 30000 images in their library to give you the correct exposure for your scene. Personally, I always use spot metering.

The camera has a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 which is usually fast enough. The ISO ranges from 100-1600 and can boost up to 3200, but I find that the pictures turn out very grainy, especially if you underexpose (which I did a lot because I get tricked by the LCD). This is one of the bad features of this camera. It has a smaller CCD sensor, and creates grainy images even at ISO800 and worse when higher. And for that reason I try to keep my ISO below 800.

Also, being a DX camera the sensor creates a 1.5x crop when compared to full-frame or film cameras. That means when your lens says 50mm, the picture you see or take is actually 75mm. It's not good if you like shooting wide angle because even if you have say 24mm it's equivalent to 36mm. But it is good if you like shooting in the telephoto range. Your 200mm turns into 300mm, and you don't lose any f-stops like you would if you used a teleconverter. So the crop factor on this camera does have its pros and cons. I think Canons usually have a crop of 1.6x.

Another great thign about the D80 is the battery life. I was able to go through a 7-day cruise and only have to switch the battery on the last day. What's also great is that the battery status on the top LCD has 5 levels, so you have a more precise idea of how much battery is left.

The camera has a built in Wireless Commander which allows you to remotely trigger SB-600 and SB-800 flashes. By remotely, I mean that you can use these speed light flashes when they are not connected to your camera.

Aside from the feautres, the great thing about this camera is that the accessories are also very cheap. I was able to purchase a wired remote (MC-DC1) for $25, and a wireless remote (ML-L3) for only $20. 

Conclusion

What can I say, I love my camera. Sure it doesn't have live view, or video recording capabilities of the Nikon D90. It doesn't have 51 Auto focus points like the D300, D700, or D3. But this was also released over a year before these other cameras. It was considered a smaller version of the D200 which is a very good complement. I've seen this camera for $650 brand new which is an absolute steal for those who want to get into photography. You can probably get it even cheaper used. The Nikon D60, which is at the same price range offers Live View, and Dust reducing mechanism, but the D80 does not require AF-S lenses and has 8 more autofocus points (11 versus only 3). If you can afford to get the D90 for $1000 then I'd suggest to get it as it is an improved D80 with more features, but I'm not sure how good the 720p video is. From my experience with Live View, it is not very good, and you should use the View Finder.

The only complaints that I have about my camera is how the strap connects to the camera, plastic body, it is not weather sealed, the LCD seems to display pictures brighter/whiter than they should, and very grainy at mid to high ISO.

You can look at the galleries for samples of the D80 in use.