10.2 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor.If you like Nikon’s approach, the D80 delivers an excellent balance of features, image quality, and price. Nikon and Canon camera layouts are very different, and you may find that you prefer one to the other.

In fact, users who are considering the Canon EOS 30D will want to take a close look at this camera. Though it’s priced higher than Canon’s Digital Rebel XTi and Sony’s Alpha 100, the Nikon D80 delivers a lot of extra bang for the buck. Battery life testers follow a precise script, including shots with and without flash, until the battery dies.-Tested in conjunction with the PC World Test Center Macworld’s buying advice The image-quality rating of the camera is based upon a panel of judges’ opinions in five categories: exposure, color, sharpness, distortion, and overall. Nikon far outstrips the competition in terms of raw number of features, few of which are superfluous or gimmicky. Useful featuresįor a camera in this price range, the D80 includes a huge assortment of additional features, such as multiple exposures, the ability to add text comments to any image, and a repeating flash option that lets you program the built-in flash to fire multiple times at a given interval. Users will also be impressed by the image quality: The D80 produces excellent images with very good noise response across its ISO range. As with previous Nikon SLRs, battery life of the D80 is excellent, allowing you to get several days of moderate to heavy shooting out of a full charge. For example, the bracketing mode only allows two or three shot brackets, as opposed to the D200’s five shot brackets. Many of the features that you’ll find on the higher-end D200 are present on the D80 as well, though the D80 typically offers scaled-down versions. Nikon has done an excellent job of including features that serious photographers will want–Raw format, auto bracketing, decent burst speed (three frames per second for Raw or JPEG), long exposure noise reduction, mirror lock-up, spot metering, ISO speeds from 100 to 3200, and more.

Once you start shooting, you’ll find that the camera’s autofocus system is speedier and more accurate thanks to the addition of seven more focus points, giving the D80 a total of 11 focus points. Boot and wake from sleep are instantaneous, autofocus is faster, burst shooting is speedier, and file management tasks are accelerated. The camera’s performance improvements are apparent as soon as you power up the D80.

Nikon d80