Archive for the ‘Camera comparisons’ Category

Nikon D80 compared with the Nikon D50

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Nikon D50 vs D80 – one reason why this is still such a hot topic for debate is because the D50 currently represents the best bang-for-the-buck Nikon digital SLR system … we’re talking about approximately $480 to $530 for the Nikon D50 kit which includes the Nikkor 18-55mm lens, depending on how good your bargain-hunting skills are.

The dilemma comes in when you consider that the D50 is $300 cheaper than the D80 … it can get a bit mind-numbing deciding whether you need the extra megapixels and features in the D80 to justify the additional expenditure. In many cases, the D50 in the right hands can take astounding pictures, but on the other hand, there are those who (like me!) need to always get the latest and greatest, within reason.

Regardless of your preferences, here are links to interesting discussion on this subject:

  1. Read Peter’s detailed user impressions about upgrading from the D50 to the Nikon D80.

You might like to read Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

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Nikon D80 Compared With P&S / Prosumer Digital Cameras

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

No, it’s not surprising that many are curious to know how a Nikon D80 compares to digital Point-and-Shoot cameras.

I have owned (and still do) a Nikon Coolpix 4500 before purchasing the Nikon D70, and asked the very same questions. The following links point to discussions and debates on this topic.

  1. His wife prefers the Nikon D80 over the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 (a bridge, or prosumer digital camera).

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Nikon D80 compared with the Nikon D70 / D70s

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Nikon D70s/ D70 vs D80 – another favorite topic of discussion, especially among current owners of the D70 / D70s.

First, speaking from experience, the D70 is a camera that you’d need to coax and tweak to produce the type of pictures “the majority” would prefer, that is, bright and colourful. Images from the D70 in default settings tend to be on the “dull” side, a bit dark, with a slight greenish tint.

Good news then, that Nikon has tuned the D80 to produce much more pleasing images in the default modes.

  1. Luxun54 upgraded from a D70 to a D80, and is happier with the better high-ISO images from the D80. He posted links to 100% crops from ISO800 and ISO1600 images, and talks about the test methodology.
  2. Read this excellent article by Howard Sandler describing the improvements the D80 has over the D70
  3. The 1/500 sec flash-sync capability of the D70 / D70s is sorely missing from the D80. It’s not all bad news though, as absence of this feature is made up by an improvement: the D80 has less tendency to produce blooming in images – read this Imaging Resource excerpt for more details.
  4. A laundry list of improvements in the D80 vs the D70 from a D70 owner’s perspective: lower noise, better automatic white balance, more dynamic range, better infrared (IR) suppression (so black fabrics stay black), better dynamic range, ISO100. RGB histogram helps to tame reds, and green colours are better reproduced in the D80 than the D70 / D70s.
  5. AlbieSky is happy to note that his decision to upgrade to the D80 was a correct one, as he’s now enjoying better colours, white balance and high ISO performance.
  6. Ex-D70 owner lists the positives on the new D80: 11-point AF, bigger viewfinder, better high-ISO images, 10MP resolution giving more detail in images, and the ability to set the maximum ISO value (eg ISO800) for the Auto-ISO function.
  7. Teru has no qualms now shooting high-ISO images with his new D80, compared to his old D70. The D80 also allows the built-in flash to contribute illumination to a scene in commander wireless flash mode. ISO100 capability is also a huge bonus.
  8. He enjoys the larger viewfinder and gets more vibrant exposures from his new D80 vs the D70
  9. The larger LCD on the D80 vs the one on the D70 really makes for a more enjoyable photographic experience. View the LCD size comparison image here.

    D80 vs D70, LCD size

Read more at Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

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Nikon D80 Compared With The Sony Alpha A100

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Links collected here point to discussions and debates comparing the Nikon D80 vs Sony A100.

  1. Anthony Cheh owns both cameras and compares the two.

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Nikon D80 Features and Specifications

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Reading the specs sheet of the Nikon D80 is one thing, in-depth understanding each feature and specification is another. The links here point to discussion or articles which should yield additional insight into a particular spec.

  1. The ability to retouch images within the D80 frees the photographer up from having to do simple edits on the computer – see this series of excellent Nikon D80 image retouching demos at Imaging Resource.
  2. See this picture series demonstrating the black-and-white feature of the D80. In-camera B&W filters used were gren, red and orange.
  3. The actual meaning behind Nikon D80 high-ISO values (Hi0.3, Hi0.7 and Hi1.0), and why ISO3200 shows as 1 EV over 1600 in the EXIF.
  4. Why Nikon D80 doesn’t provide metering capability for old, manual, Nikkor AI and AI-S lenses. Some illuminating points about Canon’s stop-down metering is mentioned too. If you’re curious, this discussion on The Nikon Forum on photo.net gives a good idea of what a stop-down metering process is. Although stop-down metering is not applicable to Nikkor AI and AI-S lenses, it gives you a good idea of how it works when using Nikon lenses (via an adapter) on Canon cameras.
  5. Sam Stern really likes the new push-the-button approach for zooming in on preview images on the D80.
  6. The Nikon D70 / D70s have built-in remote flash trigger capability, and so does the D80. The difference is that the D80 can trigger 2 groups of flashes, vs only one in the D70 / D70s. Also, the Nikon D80’s popup flash can contribute to the overall exposure of the scene (up to approximately 3 – 4 metres) while in commander mode – this is a huge improvement over the D70, where popup flash is only able to trigger a remote SB-600 / SB-800 flash but not able to add to the illumination on its own. Read these discussions for more information :> #1 | #2 | #3 | #4
  7. The Nikon D80 viewfinder vs the VF of the Canon 10D and Canon 30D / 20D in terms of magnification size and construction type
  8. The larger viewfinder on the Nikon D80 (compared to the Nikon D70 / D70s or Nikon D50) is really kinder on elderly eyes.

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Nikon D80 Compared With The Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Links collected here point to reviews, discussions and debates comparing the Nikon D80 vs Canon Rebel XTi.

  1. Nikon D80 pretty much shines in this Camera Labs image quality and noise tests. The review also highlights the superior optical quality of the Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 G ED-IF AF-S DX “kit” lens vs the 400D’s kit, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.
  2. A Swedish photography magazine summarizes the AF performance of the Nikon D80 vs Canon 400D / Rebel XTi as: The XTi was marginally faster while the D80 was marginally more reliable.
  3. Regarding noise at ISO1600, I like the way Dave Etchells summarizes the differences in his Rebel XTi review, which is basically to say that they’re insignificant in prints. Head over to Imaging Resource’s Rebel XTi review, and scroll to the bottom, where you’ll find this block of text:

    All of the artifacts I mention in both images are visible from about a foot away in 13×19 inch printed images, but not from arm’s length; which is the closest most people get to such images. The XTi’s somewhat softer images are better able to handle unsharp mask than are the noticably sharper D80 images, where unsharp mask enhances many of the smudgy artifacts.
    It’s clear that there are differences in the way the Canon XTi and the Nikon D80 deal with noise at ISO 1600, but most impressive is that they both handle the situation very well. The 13×19 inch images we printed are surprisingly good. I think we can call the images from either camera unprecedented.

  4. Here are a 100% crops from RAW files developed in Raw Developer for the Mac showing how little the difference is between Packy’s Nikon D80 vs his wife’s XTi at ISO1600.
  5. A subjective opinion in favour of the Nikon D80.
  6. This CNetTV.com video hosted by Veronica Belmont doesn’t do a decent job at all comparing the Rebel XTi vs the D80, but is a fun watch nevertheless.

Read more at Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

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