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.

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).

Read Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

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.

   

Read more at Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

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

Read more at Nikon D80 compared with other cameras.

1. Aside from the occasional bad experiences (which store has a perfect record?), B&H Photo Video and Amazon consistently get good reviews and top ratings from their customers. The Nikon D80 body only, or in combination with other lenses and / or accessories are options offered at their stores. To check availability, best prices and deals, see:
   • Nikon D80 at B&H Photo Video
   • Nikon D80 at Amazon (UK)
2. Buydig.com: Owned by Beach Camera – generally a positive experience to shop at; they are reputable, ship on time, and charge a mandatory restocking fee on all returns. Just for interest’s sake, they happened to be among the first to make the Nikon D80 body available for sale in the US around end-August 2006 … strike that, it was too good to be true. Their reseller ratings are excellent too.
3. Consider purchasing your Nikon D80 at Allenscamera.com – great prices and fantastic personal service.
4. Buying at Adorama vs Ritzcamera
5. If you’re going to buy the D80 in Japan, use this site to track the best available prices. They even have a graph that charts the price trend, and Ian explains how to use it.
6. How much the Nikon D80 body only, or with the kit lens (Nikkor 18-135mm) costs in Korea (1-Sep-2006).

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.

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.

1. Buying the Nikon D80 – A first-time shopper for a Digital SLR relates his experience and opinions on the D200 vs D80 vs D70s vs D50 at the store.
2. Why Walter prefers the D80 over the Canon 5D and Fuji S3 for lowlight wedding photography, and his advice for obtaining stunning ISO1600 images with it. He also thinks that the D80 images have the best colours, irrespective of ISO levels, of all Nikon DSLRs to-date. The Fuji S3 still does better in strong, outdoor lighting with its superior dynamic range. After shooting another wedding, Walter reiterates his preference for the ISO1600 images from the D80 vs those from the Canon 5D in terms of colour and saturation; the slightly higher noise in the D80 images were insignificant to be noticed.
3. Despite having relatively large hands, feeling the D80 body made him forget about getting the D200
4. Sam Stern’s among the first individuals in the US to receive his new D80 (Wednesday, 6-Sep-2006, from Ritzcamera.com), and he reports his initial impressions of it … noticeably faster in operation than the D50 since there’s less need to go into the menu to change settings. The ability to dial in Kelvin values for setting the white balance is also a great feature for use in the studio.
5. The Nikon D80 is similar in size, concept and weight to the N80 film SLR, and how this fits in with Galen Rowell’s idea of a light photographic arsenal.
6. A nice, long essay by a New Zealander about his new D80, having decided to buy it over competing 10MP digital SLRs such as the Sony A100 and Nikon D200, and other DSLRs.
7. Olympus E-1 owner shares his thoughts on the Nikon D80
8. What a 6′ 5″ inch man thinks of his new D80; notes the improvements in viewfinder, autofocus speed, noise levels and shutter response times over his D70. Kezzer comments also on the fit between the D80 and Sigma 80-400 OS, and shares a nice picture of a dragonfly.
9. The D80 viewfinder feels really huge vs the D50’s. Vladik also summarizes the advantages of the D80 vs the D50.
10. A D200 and D70 user who’s just bought a new D80 lists the advantages the Nikon D80 has over the D70s
11. First impressions of the Nikon D80 from a user of Canon AT-1 and AE-1 film cameras.
12. Alex is happy that his new D80 does not exhibit any of the D70’s flaws, eg better in-camera tone curve means he doesn’t have to resort to custom curves, and better auto-white balance. The improved viewfinder, bigger LCD screen are othe plusses.
13. Battery life on the D80 seems equal to the D50, if not better
14. A Nikon D2X user adds a D80 as a backup camera and shares his thoughts on it.
15. 5 minutes of handling the Nikon D80 + Nikkor 18-135mm lens sold Mike Woodland on the kit. Mike also includes links to three, full-sized image samples. Similar to the image samples I’ve seen on 2 Japanese review sites (first, second), the D80 + 18-135mm combo seems to produce images with excellent colour, detail (I can almost feel the texture of the metal objects in the pictures) and corner-to-corner sharpness. You also get an idea of the amount of noise (which is nonexistent to my eyes) in pictures of blue skies at ISO100.
16. In the hand, the D80 feels slightly smaller than the D70 and much better than the D50.
17. Ex-Canon 5D owner sells off $18,000+ worth of equipment and gets the Nikon D80. He shares his thoughts on the D80 and 4 ISO800 images of a frog + links to 2 full-sized images.
    
18. Shiny new Nikon D80 replaces his August ‘83 Canon A-1; and he thinks the gorgeous D80 offers so much for under $1000
19. Why he left his 300D and Canon for the Nikon D80.

1. Teru Rinshou processes high-ISO (ISO1600 and ISO3200) NEF images through the Nikon NX software, comparing the effect of various NR (noise reduction) settings, both in the camera and the software.
2. A series of resized-only Nikon D80 test images that nevertheless demonstrates the difference in colors between images shot in sRGB vs Adobe RGB (aRGB) modes. All images were taken with the old Nikkor 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 D lens.

1. This Canon 30D owner really likes the 0.94x D80 viewfinder compared to the 0.90x VFs of the Canon 20D / 30D.
2. From the Canon 20D to the Nikon D200, to Canon 30D and now back in the Nikon camp with the Nikon D80.