October 2006
First Look: Nikon D80
A high-resolution SLR at a not-so-high price
Ten-megapixel SLRs were once pricey cameras reserved for those with deep pockets. But since summer, when the groundbreaking
Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 brought the price for this class of camera down to about $1,000, the market is heating up. One of the latest entries, Nikon's
D80, offers features and performance that used to cost hundreds of dollars more. The D80 costs $1,299 with its 18-to-135-mm
kit lens or $999 for the body alone.
As with other SLRs, the D80 has extensive manual controls, can shoot images in both JPG and RAW formats, and has excellent battery life (about 600 shots per charge). It has a large, 2.5-inch LCD, and can shoot continuously at 3 frames per second for up to 23 JPEG images at the highest resolution, highest-quality settings; 100 JPEG images at the highest resolution, middle-quality settings; or 6 RAW images. Although Nikon's kit lens wasn't available as we went to press, the D80 did produce images that were Excellent in our initial tests using a 50-mm f1.4 lens. (That quality of lens tends to produce sharper images than the kind of zoom lenses commonly bundled with SLRs.)
Overall, in our initial tests, the D80 was a very good performer. Here are details on its other strengths and weaknesses:
PROS
The retouch mode. This lets you edit copies of images in-camera in a wide variety of ways. You can brighten or crop them, reduce their size, correct red-eye, convert them to black-and-white or sepia, combine multiple images into one, and apply color filters.
Menu system. A multi-page menu system is easy to navigate and lets you append text memos to images.
Dust mapping. This compensates for dust that has accumulated on the sensor when changing lenses. The D80 keeps track of where the specks are located and can subtract their effects from subsequent images.
Autofocus. It uses an 11-area system, similar to the one used by Nikon's pricier D200 SLR, providing a bit more flexibility in focusing than the Sony's 9-area system.
Metering. The D80's spot metering takes light readings based on 2.5 percent of the image, which is more precise than most SLRs.
CONS
Graininess at ISO 1600. An ISO setting of 1600 is a valuable capability that helps an SLR shoot handheld in very low light without a flash. Like the Sony SLR, the D80's images are noticeably grainy at 1600 and higher (its maximum setting is 3200). But the Sony's images are noticeably grainy even at ISO 800; the D80's are not grainy at that setting.
BOTTOM LINE
The D80 offers a lot of features and very good performance for the money. It's more expensive than the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100; the body alone costs $100 more. (With kits, the price difference between the two cameras varies, depending on the quality of the lens in the kit you choose.) But the D80 is better than the Sony for handheld shooting in low light, among other things. If you already own Nikon lenses, the D80 body is an attractive upgrade.
If handheld shooting in very low light is critical, consider the 8-megapixel, $1,330 Canon EOS-30D (Ratings available to subscribers), whose image quality at ISO 1600 is slightly better than the D80's. We'll soon report on a new Canon competitor, the 10-megapixel Digital Rebel Xti, which we are now testing.
As with other SLRs, the D80 has extensive manual controls, can shoot images in both JPG and RAW formats, and has excellent battery life (about 600 shots per charge). It has a large, 2.5-inch LCD, and can shoot continuously at 3 frames per second for up to 23 JPEG images at the highest resolution, highest-quality settings; 100 JPEG images at the highest resolution, middle-quality settings; or 6 RAW images. Although Nikon's kit lens wasn't available as we went to press, the D80 did produce images that were Excellent in our initial tests using a 50-mm f1.4 lens. (That quality of lens tends to produce sharper images than the kind of zoom lenses commonly bundled with SLRs.)
Overall, in our initial tests, the D80 was a very good performer. Here are details on its other strengths and weaknesses:
PROS
The retouch mode. This lets you edit copies of images in-camera in a wide variety of ways. You can brighten or crop them, reduce their size, correct red-eye, convert them to black-and-white or sepia, combine multiple images into one, and apply color filters.
Menu system. A multi-page menu system is easy to navigate and lets you append text memos to images.
Dust mapping. This compensates for dust that has accumulated on the sensor when changing lenses. The D80 keeps track of where the specks are located and can subtract their effects from subsequent images.
Autofocus. It uses an 11-area system, similar to the one used by Nikon's pricier D200 SLR, providing a bit more flexibility in focusing than the Sony's 9-area system.
Metering. The D80's spot metering takes light readings based on 2.5 percent of the image, which is more precise than most SLRs.
CONS
Graininess at ISO 1600. An ISO setting of 1600 is a valuable capability that helps an SLR shoot handheld in very low light without a flash. Like the Sony SLR, the D80's images are noticeably grainy at 1600 and higher (its maximum setting is 3200). But the Sony's images are noticeably grainy even at ISO 800; the D80's are not grainy at that setting.
BOTTOM LINE
The D80 offers a lot of features and very good performance for the money. It's more expensive than the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100; the body alone costs $100 more. (With kits, the price difference between the two cameras varies, depending on the quality of the lens in the kit you choose.) But the D80 is better than the Sony for handheld shooting in low light, among other things. If you already own Nikon lenses, the D80 body is an attractive upgrade.
If handheld shooting in very low light is critical, consider the 8-megapixel, $1,330 Canon EOS-30D (Ratings available to subscribers), whose image quality at ISO 1600 is slightly better than the D80's. We'll soon report on a new Canon competitor, the 10-megapixel Digital Rebel Xti, which we are now testing.
