Nikons new D80

sobi · Aug 9, 2006

Well the cats out of the bag now. Anyone else check out the specs? It looks pretty good, but I don't understand the slower shutter speed. Almost every aspect of the camera seems to be improved apon next to the D70, but they went from a 1/8000 to a 1/4000. :er:

jwkwd · Aug 9, 2006

I'll probably get some flack for this, but I don't understand why one would need shutter speeds that fast anyhow. Granted, I only use film cameras, but having shutter speeds to 1/2000 or 1/1000 in the case of an Nikon F, has not prevented me from stopping action or getting the look I want. I would wander why Nikon has slowed the flash sync from 1/500 to 1/250. Having a faster sync would seem to be a more useful feature.

el_shorty · Aug 9, 2006

dpreview has a side to side comparison of the D80 and D70s, http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond80/.

Big Mike · Aug 9, 2006

It looks pretty good, but I don't understand the slower shutter speed. Almost every aspect of the camera seems to be improved apon next to the D70, but they went from a 1/8000 to a 1/4000.

The D70 used a combination of a mechanical shutter and electronic CCD shutter (like p&s digital). The D80 seems to use a regular mechanical (focal plane) shutter like modern film SLRs and other (Canon etc.) DSLRs.

As for why they made the change...or why they made the D70 like that in the first place...I don't know.

Looks like a great new camera...I'm hoping that Canon answers back with something great as well.

Digital Matt · Aug 9, 2006

jwkwd said:
I'll probably get some flack for this, but I don't understand why one would need shutter speeds that fast anyhow.

I'm not gonna give you flack, but I will tell you that there are situations where you could benefit from those faster shutter speeds.

Wide open aperture, bright sun. Any time you are looking for shallow depth of field in bright sun, without the use of ND filters, you will run into the need for 1/2000 - 1/4000 easily.

zedin · Aug 9, 2006

I don't like the fact it is even smaller then the d70s. True the d80 will have a vertical grip option (about damn time) so that should bulk it up a bit. Plus it only has a flash sync of 1/200.. not the best but workable. And what is with the switch to SD memory? On the other hand I like the 0.4sec delay mirror lockup you can use.

Big Mike · Aug 9, 2006

zedin said:
And what is with the switch to SD memory?

That's the same as the D50...so people who upgrade from the D50 will be happy. Too bad for anyone wanting to upgrade from the D70 though.

Lunatick · Aug 9, 2006

i never understood why they had their d50's with sd memory and d70's with compact flash, maybe they decided to use sd for their consumer grade cameras now?

bigfatbadger · Aug 9, 2006

There's not really much difference between the two types of memory nowadays anyway, so I guess they might start using SD for all of their amateur level cameras.

A cynic might say that if making the descision between Canon and Nikon and one already supported the memory type you had, you'd go for that one. I guess they've done a lot of research into the most popular memory types etc.

Looks like a nice camera, pretty much everything I want out of the D200 without the price tag, but more importantly, everyone will sell their D70s, which will mean they'll be going for silly money.

zedin · Aug 9, 2006

Psh.. I am not selling my d70s.. The wait for a d80 will be huge I bet and I don't need to throw more money onto cameras when what I have works fine =p (now if I drop my insured camera....

)

Sw1tchFX · Aug 10, 2006

Since I've run into some unexpected financial problems, I can't afford a D200 for school, and there is no way that a D80 will be available by October, so i'm going to buy a D70 and be happy. It's bigger than the D80, has a quicker shutter, 1/500 X-sync, doesn't have the battery sucking 2.5-inch LCD, and megapixels don't hardly mean anything anymore.

jwkwd · Aug 10, 2006

Thanks Matt, point taken.

jdunphy · Aug 10, 2006

sobi said:
Well the cats out of the bag now. Anyone else check out the specs? It looks pretty good, but I don't understand the slower shutter speed. Almost every aspect of the camera seems to be improved apon next to the D70, but they went from a 1/8000 to a 1/4000. :er:

I don't understand the concern about the loss in shutter speed. It also can has another stop down to ISO 100, doesn't IS0 100 * 1/4000 == ISO200 * 1/8000. My reasoning may be totally wrong, but that seems like an equal exposure setting.

jdunphy · Aug 10, 2006

Big Mike said:
That's the same as the D50...so people who upgrade from the D50 will be happy. Too bad for anyone wanting to upgrade from the D70 though.

I don't think that's the only factor. They're also trying to get new DSLR users, many of which have P&S's which take SD cards. Don't forget that SD memory is starting to get really, really cheap. Anybody making the switch isn't going to spend too much unless they need like 12GB of cards, or something like that.

Perhaps a few years down the road we'll consider CF to be SD's Betamax. Then again, who knows?

Big Mike · Aug 10, 2006

That's certainly not the only factor. I'm guessing that they switched in the first place, because of the physical size. SD cards are smaller and real estate inside a digital camera is pretty valuable.