Pros & Cons
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- Excellent performance.
- Superb image quality.
- Zoom lens offers fantastic 7.5X optical zoom coverage.
- Great burst performance.
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- Slightly more expensive than then the competition.
Nikon D80 Specs
| 35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto): | 202.5 mm |
| 35-mm Equivalent (Wide): | 27 mm |
| Battery Type Supported: | Lithium Ion |
| Boot time: | 0.6 seconds |
| LCD size: | 2.5 inches |
| Media Format: | Secure Digital |
| Megapixels: | 10.2 MP |
| Recycle time: | 0.6 seconds |
| Type: | D-SLR |
With four advanced 10-megapixel cameras introduced from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony (five, if you count Samsung's rebranded model) in the last ten months and two more from Fuji and Sigma that may arrive before the end of the year, 2006 has turned into the year of the D-SLR. Among all of them, the Nikon D80 has been the most eagerly anticipated. It doesn't disappoint.
The D80 packs excellent performance, very good image quality, and a long zoom lens. There's little not to like about it, except perhaps the high sticker price ($999.95 list). That amount covers the camera body only, but $1,299 nets you a very fine 18- to 135mm lens in addition, which is what I used in testing the camera. In my opinion, it's well worth the extra cost.
In many ways, the Nikon D80 is very similar to the
The D80 stores images on an SD memory card, the way its predecessor the
Integrating some of the wonderful features found in the
Best Burst
In testing burst modes on the Nikon D80, I used a SanDisk Extreme III 1GB SD card. I was interested in seeing how quickly the camera captured images in Fine JPEG mode, RAW mode, and the combination of the two. This is important when you're shooting action shots and the last thing you want is to be hampered by a slow or stuttering camera.
My initial JPEG burst captured around 80 images without any stalling, at a consistent clip of 2.4 pictures per second. This was spectacular, to say the least. As I expected, the Fine JPEG mode worked the best and quickest. I was able to capture 339 JPEGs in 140 seconds on a 1GB SD memory card, also about 2.4 shots per second, quicker than with the same mode on XTi, which captured around 2 shots per second. The D80 maintained a steady pace throughout the burst sequence.
The RAW and RAW+JPEG modes were slower. My first burst shots captured 4 or 5 images (the XTi usually captured around 7 or 8), translating into roughly 2.5 pictures per second. I was able to capture 127 RAW shots in 125 seconds on a 1GB SD memory card, almost exactly one picture every second (again, slightly faster than the XTi). With RAW+JPEG, I was able to nab 86 shots in 125 seconds on a 1GB SD memory card, about one in just under a second and a half. Again, if you let a few seconds go by so that the buffer can clear, the burst of pictures would be about 2.5 pictures a second.
The D80 offers more options for capturing RAW+JPEG combinations and variable JPEG sizes than the Rebel XTi does. For the best-quality images, and especially if you're going to be manipulating the image, you'll want to use RAW. So, overall, I found the D80's burst mode and quality options just a bit better than the XTi's.
The D80 has a menu structure much like the ones on the Nikon D50 and the D200. But I think Nikon needs to include better menus, perhaps more like the graphically slick one found on the Coolpix S6. Nikon has borrowed other features from its Coolpix line, including D-lighting (which quickly adjusts some midtone and shadow areas in-camera), red-eye fix, and others.
One really promising feature, the Pictmotion slide show, lets you have music alongside your slide show, but you have to make sure the camera is hooked up to the TV. And you can't change out the music clips, which is really dumb. Still, this feature shows how multimedia functionality is working its way into D-SLRs.
The daylight and flash still-life test shots I took with the D80 were very good, but not perfect. The daylight shot revealed a slight fuzziness is some areas and wasn't as super-sharp as I'd like it to be. The image was also slightly overexposed, but the color was very good and accurate. Images revealed very little fringing. But the way to get the most out of a D-SLR is to bracket your exposures (meaning that you're manually adjusting either aperture or shutter speeds or both) to ensure not only the correct exposure but perhaps even a more creative image. In this, the D80 does an excellent job.
In general, the flash still-life shots were decent but slightly underexposed. Also, the D80's color was a tad more vibrant in the flash shot than the Rebel XTi's was. Like the XTi, the D80's resolution averaged 1,900 lines, which is right on target for a 10MP camera. And also like the XTi, the camera's boot-up time of 0.6 seconds and 0.6-second recycle time are extraordinary. There's virtually no shutter lag. I did notice some pincushion distortion, although not much, along with the usual barrel distortion. The results were still impressive for a 18- to 135mm lens.
The D80's 10MP resolution, powerful 7.5X optical zoom, strong performance, and suite of top-notch features make it a sure Editors' Choice. It should offer plenty of room for you to grow as a photographer as you acquire more lenses, accessories, and skills.
Benchmark Test Results
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