Earlier this year I reviewed both the Nikon D70s and Nikon D200; so now I will review the last of my CCD based Nikon DSLRs the Nikon D80.
The Nikon D80 is the successor to the Nikon D70/s and in a lot of ways is a "D200 Lite". It shares a very similar sensor (though I have been told the Nikon D200 uses a higher end variant of the sensor that was only released on the D200) and fits squarely in the high end prosumer/mid range DSLR offering by Nikon like the D70, D90 and D7500 that offers a top screen and some pro features such as a built-in AF motor but lacks weather sealing, Dual Card Slots (though the D100 and D200 only had one).
Additionally, both the D70 and D80 lack more robust shutter mechanisms for longer life; which was something Nikon struggled with in their early years- only the higher end bodies like the D200 and D2 were made to have a shutter life that on average exceeded 50,000 clicks. This would change at the advent of the D90 and DXXXX series cameras.
That said, average shutter life is not an absolute and both my D70s and D80 have went over that 50k threshold and are still working (the D70s at just above 50k and the D80 at around 60k) but as such are not cameras I could rely on for anything but casual shooting, another reason I am ok on letting the D80 go in the future as long as I could find the right home for it.
I got this camera in early 2022 from a Goodwill online auction. At the time I wanted an alternative to my failing D200 and I wouldn't find a decently priced D200 with a low shutter count till the following year.
The two cameras share enough similarities (with the D200 being obviously better- it was a higher-end camera) that I may be letting this camera go as I continue to cull camera equipment in my collection,
Doing these reviews has allowed me to figure out what gear I don't shoot that often, isn't something rare (exception made for the 1D Mark IIn but the new owner of that camera is certainly enjoying it a lot more then I did), is too close to another camera in the collection I already own or just doesn't "speak" to me.
The Nikon D80 was released in 2006 one year after the D200 alongside the D60. It sported a newly upgraded 10mp CCD 1.5x APS-C sensor; the second and last generation of Nikon APS-C CCD sensors. This sensor would be used in a few other cameras including the D40x and D3000 before Nikon would abandon CCD sensors in their APS-C DSLR cameras.
As previously mentioned the D80 was the higher "mid range" camera that would sit above the Nikon D60/D40x/D3000 but below the Nikon D200 the flagship APS-C camera from Nikon at the time.
Overall the Nikon D80 was a lot of fun to shoot and was a lot more responsive then the D70s I had reviewed previous. The Autofocus (though I only used lenses with built-in motors for this test) was extremely fast and surprisingly rivals/ is on par with more modern Nikon DSLRs such as the Nikon D7200.
The time to turn on, focus and take a single shot was really fast, and the write speed of the camera is fast enough that even shooting in RAW the file is saved to card before the camera is ready to take another photo.
But the thing that really impressed me the most was how sharp and distortion free the images taken on the D80 were. During the entire week I only shot the D80 using the 18-105 and 55-300 which are both APS-C "higher end kit lenses" and they felt like pro glass on the D80 based on how fast and accurate the autofocus was and how sharp and distortion free the images were.
Slapping these same lenses on the D7200 the images taken with these lenses look "ok" but you can defiantly tell that the colors/contrast are washed out, the lens is slower to focus and image quality is less sharp/has more distortion then when using higher-end glass such as the Nikkor 18-55 2.8 or even the Nikon 24-120 f4 lens. But the images taken with these same lenses on the D80 look beautiful.
This all said, the D80 is not a perfect camera and like most more vintage digital cameras on my shelf is not all sunshine and rainbows. It did well and certainly could be a camera I had stored in the car to take casual photos with and I'd be happy enough with it, however it does have its shortcomings.
Outside of the sensor which struggled with anything over ISO 800 (common for this period whether CCD or CMOS) the one thing that really shows this camera's age was the shutter mechanism.
The shutter on the D80 is a bit slow and has a brief second or so "mechanical reset" time after firing before the camera is ready to take another photo. In burst mode this reset time is reduced but it still manages to only slug out a max of 3fps "as advertised".
However most reviewers admit that the actual FPS of the D80 is a lot lower then the specifications laid out by Nikon and the real burst rate is only around 2fps; which is more consistent with the performance I was getting from my D80 when I used it.
The D80 therefore can be summed up as a great vintage CCD DSLR that gets nice crisp, vibrant and clear photos with any lens you slap on it with the caveat that its an Outdoor Shooter with a shutter mechanism that is a little wishy-washy when compared to similar cameras such as the Canon Rebel series bodies of the same era.
No comments:
Post a Comment