Nikon's D80 finally official
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 9th 2006 1:46AM
posted Aug 9th 2006 1:46AM
Ok, alright already, we get it, the Nikon D80's officially real. We've been waiting for this one for the last few weeks, but by now any real mystery about the device has surely gone up in smoke. So, what've we got? The D80 features a 10.2 megapixel (uh huh) DX format CCD, Nikon F lens mount, 3D Color Matrix Metering II, 11 area autofocus, 0.18 second bootup, 80ms shot response, and... apparently an SD slot? (from the release: "Images are processed instantly and recorded quickly to the inserted SD memory card." (This is the first time we've seen an SD slot appear in a high end DSLR in, well, a while.) Then there's also the 3fps rapid fire shots, and 2.5-inch LCD; elsewise, besides the bundled 18-135mm lens the body comes with, Nikon is releasing a AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens (and we thought Samsung had rough product names) for the D80, with a 4.3x zoom and Vibration Reduction II OIS. The lens is going to be available worldwide in October (if you have to ask how much, it's probably not for you), but the camera's due September, and will set you back $999 body alone, or $1299 for the body with that 18-135mm lens.
[Thanks, Blake & Trevor]
[Thanks, Blake & Trevor]
shitty lens, boring stats on the body and SD memory? Nikon lost the pro game years ago.
Great camera for the price. The 70-300 will be a great basic lens! Boring stats? Find a better camera for the price range!!!
wow, looks great for the price, hopefully the image quality will still be great, great adition to the line, and now let's hope that the d70 has a fast painless dead... and also de d2h hahahaha
ef shooter: at least back up your claims... sd memory actually works faster (at the same X speed) than compactflash. it's just a common myth that compactflash is faster. search digg for "memory card roundup."
also, the 18-135 is immensely better than ANY kit lens that canon offers, so what the hell are you talking about? unless you can convince me that an 18-55 canon is somehow better than a 18-135 ed lens, quiet down ;-)
have you ever even used a nikon?
Canon bundles crappy lenses with all their cheaper cameras. I'd guess that this 18-135 easily beats those.
SD sucks for people who upgrade and already have a stash of CF-Cards laying around. On the other hand, memorycards have become really cheap, so you can just buy 2x2GB SD when you can buy this camera.
The link doesn't do much right now, by the way.
i don't have a problem with SD, but i find it odd that all the other nikon dslrs uss CF...can't use the D80 as a backup if you have the D200 as the primary, e.g. wonder what's the reason behind the decision was...to make the transition for point-n-shoot users easier?
This url works all better and stuff.
http://www.nikondigital.com/main.html?page=d80
A $999 dSLR is a "high-end dSLR?" What of the $3000 Canon 5D, $3600 1D MkII, $7000 1Ds MkII, $1700 Nikon D200, $4000 D2X* then? High-end camera maybe, but high-end dSLR?
* Prices on the above are a little bit messed up because they mix up lens/body packages, but still the point's there.
Not to be picky (actually, this is entirely to be picky) but the canon 1d has an SD slot (as well as a CF). its quite useful having both, and is good for futureproofing to some extent. but i guess this is *just* sd, which is, yeah, wierd.
3fps isnt that fast, mind you. i think the 1d-s (16mpx) is faster than that.
looks good though, a much better improvement than the 20d-30d.
For people who are complaining about the SD card, here's the reason why Nikon preferred the SD card to CF: they have included SDHC capability (SD High Capacity) which can take up to 32GB.
D80 Product specs:
http://www.nikonusa.com/fileuploads/pdfs/D80_brochure.pdf
So the capacity issue is gone. Moreover, now you can get 24Mb/s 160x SD cards upto 2GB
http://www.datawrite.co.uk/pdf/datawrite_memory_cards.pdf
and 22.5Mb/s 150x SD cards upto 4GB. There are quite a few manufacturers. Just do a seach using "4GB 150x SD" in Google. Also, these new SD cards have built-in ECC (Error Correcting Code), so is more reliable than the old SD cards.
See the following review and look under Memory Shift section:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D80/D80A.HTM
Hope that clears your notion about SD cards being crap.
Cheers.
If you want to swap between D80 and D200 you could use an SD-to-CF adapter and use SD in both.
I'd be curious how this holds up quality-wise to a D200, and if it has the 'three kings' available as dedicated buttons like its bigger brother. Oh, and a GPS option like the D200 perhaps?
First, all you folks yelling at or in support of the kit lens - why don't you shut up till the lens is actually there and has produced the first results? Only then will you know if it's decent or not. We're getting sooooo bored with unsubstantiated talk.
SD seems like an odd choice for an otherwise great camera. It might be as fast or faster but isn't CF far more rugged? Not sure though...
All in all: great replacement for the D70. Congrats to the Nikon users!
I think it's a great follow up to the D70/s. I strongly believe that its a camera for the photo enthusiast who wants somthing a little better than your entry level ranks! Nice going Nikon!
Btw... The Nikon D50 (entry level) uses SD !
shooter, this isn't a "pro" camera. Duh. The whole Nikon vs Canon thing is really tired. The pros I know use whatever they are given (if they are in an organization). Otherwise it's whatever they are comfortable with. And any photographer worth a shit knows it's not the camera, it's the person behind it.
As for the D80, it's a nice update form the D70. The SD thing is a bit odd, but makes sense considering the market is probably someone for whom the D50 is too little and the D200 is too much.
How about everyone stops bitching about the memory cards. Sd cards are cheap as hell stop being cheap mother fudgers.. If you don't like SD buy the upgrade.. geez.. Plus cf and all those other cards are on their way out.. its all going to be mini-sd soon anyway..
Greg
LOL, anyone who needs a rugged card has problems.. Thats why you keep it in the camera or in a card case... OMG, never thought of that...
CF's dying
People use CF not because of speed, but because of durability. Some of those CF cards can survive mountain climbs in the freezing cold, or out in the rain forest in the blazing muggy heat.
I think going to SD will make this purely a hobbiest camera from people upgrading from their point and shoots. The SD slot will keep it from ever being professional or a valid backup camera.
All the pro photographers I know pretty much do ALL their photography in the city. They aren't going mountain climbing or to the rainforest. So the "durability" advantage of CF is pretty minimal, compared to the size advantage of SD. From what I've heard, Nikon switched to SD for this camera because it allowed them to make a much smaller camera. It worked well for them with the D50, so they're trying it out with the D80. This looks like a great camera to me, and I'm interested to see the reviews on those two new lenses!
Incidentally, DPReview says the 18-135 will add $300 to the kit price... and the 70-300 will retail for $700.
Wow a SD slot? I guess everybody is going with SD and 24mm/APS sensor. Canon will have to make their own sensor then.
Pip.. Those cards can function in pretty extreme temps.. the camera is more likely to have problems than the card..
Another reason for using CF format is/was harddrives that come in CF packages. IBM's micro-drive used be the king @ 1GB when flash memory topped out at 128MB. Now CF microdrives can be had in 8 GB capacities for fairly cheap (~$140). When you are shooting in RAW mode, esp. with a 10mpx sensor, you need a lot of storage.
jddji, you can laugh your brains out for all I care - and I really don't. Having rugged memorycards that are even machinewashable (yep, things happen), can stand moisture and even rain (just like a pro-camera) and will handle anything that's done to them might seem unimportant to you but for a lot of photojournalists (that do their work outside of fancy american cities) is pretty much important. But I guess you wouldn't mind losing your shoot from say elections in Congo or war in Israel because you cheapened out on your memorycards...
On the other hand, you'd be nuts to use anything less than a weathersealed pro-body for those occasions. Which are just as much alive as the memory-cards they use. CF that is.
Moron.
Anyone dumb enough to go shoot the war in israel is the moron...
Yea like your gonna be swimming through a swamp with ur camera... HAHAHA..
Battling iceslides and polar bears in the fridged cold.. If you we're serious about photgraphy like that you would buying 5k to 10k camera's so why complain about a 1300 camera having sd??
For more normal people, SD is a great format.. If it's not professional enough for you, THEN DON'T BUY IT!!! BUY A PRO CAM!!! AND STOP BITCHING ABOUT A PROSUMER KIT!!!
Plus sd can be used in alot more devices, it's way more universal. It's just better for us comsumers.
SD Card Slot, What is the benefit????
OK, so you can shoot 100jpeg image bursts... So What.
You are still limited to only being able to shoot a burst of 6 RAW files. Obviously Nikon did not put too much effort into their procdessing engine to improve the buffer performance.
People, NEVER SHOOT JPEG!!!
You loose so much color information (that new 12bit engine drops to 8bit) and flexability that it just is not worth it, especially for beginners. You have so much more control because it is a true digital negative. Color balance off, no problem. Need to add a warming filter effect, no problem. What to make all of your adjustments post process with out recompressing a compressed image, no problem.
Oh wait, I forgot.... Nikon charges you a $100 for their RAW convertor software. Oh yeah, and now that you have an SD slot you've got pay more for that 2GB SD Card because 82 frames on a 1GB card just won't cut it. You'll spend more time trashing images on the preview screen that taking more pictures of your kid.
Guess I should stick with Canon (although I wouldn't mind some of that Nikon glass....)
I had the 50D and the SD card was fine (and now
bigger cards are much cheaper).
The other advantage is I could take photos at lower res and put the SD card in my Treo and use it to upload photos to flickr without dragging a laptop around.
Guys, guys, guys... this sounds like a school playground!
I use SD in my Nikon and my friend uses CF for his Canon. I bought Nikon because I wanted to use some of the 2Gb SD cards I already owned for my PDA, phones etc etc etc.
I am not a professional photographer although get professional results (taken in RAW) frequently. My friend's camera cost more than mine but I always get better results because as someone said the difference is in the person who takes the shot! Expensive cameras just mean your are more likely to get a good shot!
At the end of the day it is your choice so what is so important about slagging off other peoples? They aren't going to make you change your mind are they?
Enjoy your art!
People, NEVER SHOOT JPEG!!!
Personally, can't be bothered
Some people that make better photos than I ever will agree -
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm
Secondally, about CF and durability and all that. It's about matching the components. If the camera isn't all pro-weather sealed etc, then the fact that the memory cards aren't either isn't an issue. While compatability may be, SD cards are cheap enough.
Personally, I preordered one of these yesterday, with the kit lens. I look forward to making photos and not bitching about camera specs!
Nikon D80 Description
The Nikon D80 packs high performance and high resolution into a body that is more compact and slimmer than previous Nikon digital SLR cameras. True to Nikon’s commitment to intuitive operation, the size, layout and operation of all buttons and controls are designed for maximum ease of use.10.2 effective megapixel Nikon DX format CCD Optimized to capture sharp details, the 10.2 effective megapixel CCD image sensor yields extraordinarily high-resolution images, providing plenty of freedom to crop creatively or print impressive enlargements.Advanced Auto Exposure system Consistently dependable exposure is the hallmark of Nikon’s exclusive . . .
http://www.redopinion.com/digital-camera/category/nikon/d80/
_
OKay, I've read all the grips and complaints. I'm fixing to buy the D80 which will be by big step into the Digital SLR world from my old pentex K1000. I had a Canon Point and Shoot and it drove me crazy. Images didn't compare to 35MM. I love being able to download and crop though. But, it seems I need a lesson after listening to all of you. What is a RAW image?? Are you telling me that I can only get 6 frames in RAW (where)........on the card. This is where I need help....Thanks.
Cool site
this camera rocks...its very useable and idiot proof.
however, and this is a big however, the bundled 18 to 135 lens is a load of crap, the focus and controls are ok, but its seems to be manufactired in a toilet, ive had two now and they have both had dust inside them.
imagine my horror after sitting down in the dark, freezing my ass if taking night shots only to find them dotted..
i tell you what, is get the manufacturers and smash them in the face with the bloody thing..i paid over a grand for this and i get shit..
most certainly buy the camera body, but when they ask you for the bundle, tell them to shove it up their ass, by how dirty they are, someone got their first.
stop using cheap sweatshops in third world countries and get some real class manufacturing done nikon..