Nikon D80 - Digital SLR Camera Review

Getting to grips with the ergonomics
The test camera I was supplied with didn't come with any software or a manual so I had to rely on my Niko-sense in order to figure things out. As a seasoned Nikon user finding my way around the D80 was fairly straight forward. There are a couple of areas where things are different, but on the whole if you have ever used a modern Nikon SLR you'll be right at home. Turns out that you don't even need a manual for the D80 because all menu functions are explained in detail by simply pressing the [?]/WB button whenever you are at any menu option that might need further clarification. Very cool. I wish my D2H had that.

The one thing that had me a bit puzzled at first was the new method of zooming in and out of your images. In the past this was usually done by pressing the magnifying glass button and then using the rear command dial to zoom in and out while holding down the thumbnail button. The new zooming method is a lot easier and involves using the same two buttons, sans the command dial. To zoom in press the usual button and to zoom out press the thumbnail button (which has moved down a slot to become the former button's new neighbour).

A very welcome new feature on the D80 that wasn't seen on the D70 is a user-defined custom function button which is found at 10 o' clock when looking directly at the F mount. This is a very handy button and one of the things you can program it to do is switch between your currently selected metering method and another. For instance, if I was shooting in matrix metering and I wanted to quickly check the range of my scene I could press the button and immediately have spot metering without moving my eye from the finder. The benefit of having ergonomic features like this is inestimable, but I used it to great effect during my acid test shoot (more about that in a bit).

I found the menu system to be typically well laid out and with the nice big rear LCD display it is easy to make out the menus in bright outdoor situations. There is also an [OK] button which is something we didn't see on the D70. Surprisingly the D80 is ever-so-slightly smaller than the D70 which might be a problem for those with large hands. However, unlike the D70 there is an optional battery grip for the D80 (MB-D80) which would improve matters somewhat for those who like to feel in command of a larger camera.

I never got to try out the grip, but I understand that it provides users with the facility of using a second lithium-ion cell as well as the vertical shutter release. Just on the issue of batteries, the EN-EL3 cell found in the D70 has now been upgraded to the EN-EL3e, which provides accurate information to the camera on the remaining charge. It might look like the EN-EL3 but it doesn't fit the D70. I tried.

The Pixel Appeal
Something photographers have had to deal with since the digital revolution began is the ever increasing pixel count of the DSLR. It began with the 2.7 mega-pixel D1 and we are now looking at 10.3 megapixels in physically the same sized sensor that we started with. The net effect of this increase in resolution is that whilst the actual pixels on the sensor have become smaller, the tonality of each capture has increased considerably. Definitely something we want. However, having said that, I still believe that much can be done with 4 or 6MPs. More resolution is certainly not a good enough reason to upgrade, unless you just absolutely have to have bigger files. Remember, a 66% increase in pixel count from 6MP to 10MP does not equate to an equivalent jump in resolution. In fact you are only getting 29% more resolution between the D70 and the D80. Do you need it?

The Acid-Test
One of my pet hates is listening to people who extoll the virtues of a certain rival camera brand and how noiseless its high ISO shooting values are. Unsurprisingly the people making these "rah-rah" gestures are seldom ever seen using their cameras at these high ISO values. In fact, all they seem to do with them is take photos of nothing and compare them to other photos of nothing, examining in great detail the size, colour and texture of miniscule dots that appear on their photos of nothing. Aren't cameras meant to be used to take pictures of something other than nothing?

All digital cameras exhibit noise at high ISO values. There is no escaping that, but something I have noticed (since being coerced into examining the miniscule dots of my own pictures by Photoshop weilding critics) is that the high ISO noise we are seeing from newer Nikon DSLR's tends to look a lot more like film grain than the Warholian kalaidoscope of yesteryear's DSLR's. I took the D80 into a very demanding shooting situation during the two days I had with it, namely shooting musicians performing in a dimly lit room. Shooting with the D80 at 1600 ISO produced images that to my eye were very pleasing and also did not require any noise reduction in post processing. All I did was set the D80's in-camera noise reduction to maximum and I shot that way. The sample images top right and bottom are examples of just what can be done using 1600 ISO with the D80. The image in the middle was shot at 400 ISO using flash bounced off the ceiling landing slightly to the front of the performer. On the whole I am very pleased with the results I got here under quite testing conditions.

The day following this shoot I took myself off to the harbour to see how the D80 performed in daylight. Sadly the weather wasn't playing ball, but I did get a few shots at the newer low ISO 100 setting, as well as some experiments using the B&W colour space, together with its various filter settings.

Problem Areas
An area that concerns me deeply with Nikon of late, and I cannot fathom why they are doing this, is the encryption of the RAW NEF files produced by the camera. During the course of my evaluation I discovered that my old version of Nikon Capture 4.0 doesn't open the D80 NEF files. Nor does the RAW converter in Photoshop CS2. Amazingly Google's Picasa can decifer the files and using this you are able to save them to a JPG format. The results, however, aren't great. The JPG's produced this way are dull and muddy and unless you are some sort of Photoshop Guru you would be better off just shooting in JPG to begin with (which is what I had to do).

My opinion is that Nikon Capture NX RAW converter should come with the camera and it should be either free or included in the price. When last did you buy a printer that didn't come with a free software driver? Digital cameras shouldn't be any different.

Another area of concern is the move from CF cards to SD cards. Sure, SD cards might be smaller, but that just means they are easier to lose! When I first got the camera for testing it didn't come with a card, so I thought, great, I am really screwed now! Fortunately my friends at Whysalls loaned me a 2GB card so I was able to go on with the evaluation.

Oh, and of course my favourite nit to pick with Nikon is that like the rest of the consumer-grade SLR's this one won't meter with your older MF lenses. I was really hoping that it would, but it doesn't.

Overall Opinion
The Nikon D80 is, in my opinion, a very capable camera that will probably serve its owners well for years and years. The construction isn't quite in the same league as the professional bodies such as the D2 series or the newer D200, but considering the level of specification available in this little body, I would have no problem packing one into my bag if I was going off to a "big deal" shoot. I forgot to mention earlier that the D80 also supports high speed FP Synch with the SB-800, which means you can use flash on all shutter speeds. I also think that coupled with the 18-200mm DX lens, Nikon have created the ultimate travel camera for photography enthusiasts. Lightweight, versatile and packed full of more features than a soccer mom's SUV.

There were many more things I would like to have tested using the camera if I had the time. For example, I would have loved to shoot a bit of fast action sports like rugby or surfing, just to see how it handles in the speed department, but having used a D70 with a fair degree of success in both those areas, I have little doubt that Nikon would not have gone backwards in this regard.

On the whole this Nikon D80 is a great camera and gets a deserved thumbs up from Nikongear.com!

Many thanks to Nikon South Africa for providing the test D80.