Nikon D80

As the proclaimed descendant of Nikon’s D70 and D70s, the D80 largely inherited the characteristics of its smaller sibling, the D50, as well as its bigger one, the D200. Actually, this new Nikon reflex is proud of its entry level origins, and in addition, has finishing touches that are much better. Relatively heavy and coated in quality plastic, the D80 has a nice semi-pro look. The addition of a new, good quality and versatile 18-135 mm lens reinforces these good first impressions.

The first wonder with this camera comes when you look through the viewfinder. While most of the competition is content with offering a small size in this domain, Nikon offers a spacious, bright and finally more comfortable viewfinder than the Sony Alpha 100 or Canon EOS 400D. We also liked this camera’s good reactivity. Startup is almost instantaneous, autofocus is both precise and fast (with the help from internal motorization) and its burst mode attains 3 images/s for 13 shots. This should satisfy most amateur photographers.

While the ergonomics of the D80 are practically without fault, menus are a bit « outdated » and overly complicated for no apparent reason. In this area, Nikon should improve and maybe take the example of the new menus on the D40.  Otherwise, the internal processor has high performances in image processing. Noise only becomes bothersome beyond 800 ISO and the D80 offers more flexibility than the competition with a 3200 ISO mode.

However, despite all of this, the D80 isn’t perfect. Nikon fans will not really appreciate the lack of an anti-dust system, which competing cameras now have, and to a lesser extent the absence of mechanical stabilization integrated to the camera.  Finally, one last positive is that the battery has excellent autonomy approaching a thousand shots.

So should long time Nikon fans (of the D70, D70s, and D50) fall for the D80? Certainly. The transition to 10 million pixels results in much higher image quality and especially a camera that has better performance (in autofocus, burst mode, 3D color matrix metering II).   The 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom had a lot to do with our appreciation of this Nikon. The Japanese brand is the only one for the moment to provide a versatile objective (28 mm wide angle and telephoto 202 mm eq 24x36) which allows the beginning photographer to do without an additional lens purchase.

For the same price, the D80 is available with the 18-70 mm which was already found on the D70. While it does have a high quality construction, the larger focal range and the quality of the 18-135 mm have our preference.

Canon’s bitter rival, Nikon, proposes a camera that is truly more expensive than the EOS 400. On the other hand, there is Canon’s excellent viewfinder that is precise and clear, and lenses that are much more superior in versatility and quality. Compared to the Sony Alpha 100, these arguments aren’t as strong. The viewfinder definitely remains a Nikon advantage, but the Alpha 100 has the solid characteristics of stabilization and an anti-dust system. Taking all of this into account, the D80 is a slightly better camera, notably in autofocus and light metering.  So in the end, this camera wins our preference.