Is the Nikon D80 My DSLR Pick?

Since I wrote Thinking About Getting a DSLR Camera, I’ve been doing a lot of research. A LOT. I’m still not 100% committed to my pick, but right now I’m primarily focusing on the Nikon D80 as the DSLR I’m going to add to my stable.

I Want Your Body

One of the key factors for me as I set out on this endeavor was being able to find something that would be a 35mm film camera equivalent. That meant that I’d want a minimum of a 10MP (mega-pixel) camera. While I’ve looked long and hard at the 6MP Nikon D40, I just couldn’t warm up to it because I’m the sort of photographer who likes to crop and 6MP just doesn’t give me enough wiggle room despite the slightly better light-gathering ability of the D40’s sensor.

My budget is such that I do have to balance out the cost of the camera (with or without a lens “kit”) with the accessories I’ll need to buy. As a result, my search pretty quickly narrowed to the Canon XSi (a/k/a 450D) and the Nikon D80. From reading the reviews, it seems that the Canon has a few quirks that might grate on me a bit…more than the Nikon’s quirks. You know, it’s sort of comforting in a way. This was the same sort of tipping point I had in the 80s when I was choosing between Canon and Nikon systems. It’s nice to know that some things stay the same.

The main reason the XSi is staying in the running is because Canon continues to have better lens offerings, overall, than Nikon. However, since I’m not planning to return to the professional ranks, this (costly) advantage doesn’t make that great of an impact on me.

So, even assuming I totally commit to a D80, there are still things I have to juggle. The first, and most obvious, is whether or not to buy a body alone, buy the body with a lens kit, or buy the body and order a separate lens.

In Decent Exposure

I mentioned in my previous article that I do plan on resurrecting my old lenses, especially my 85mm f/1.4 favorite. As review after review warns me: I’ll have to go totally manual. No auto-focus. No auto-exposure. Nothing but my own skill. Considering that’s how I was trained, I’m not finding it a drawback. I like having the control and knowing that in order to take good images I need to be a photographer and not just a picture taker. (Yeah, I know that sounds kind of snobby, but I’m old-school…I learned the trade before AF bodies and lenses were even on the market.)

Though I still have a good light meter (so exposure can be handled), finding batteries for it has become a nightmare. The only sane thing to do is to get a new light meter—which, considering the battery situation, is something I need to do in any case. That has resulted in me having to do research on those as well. Since I don’t need much than a consistent meter, I’m thinking of either a Gossen Digisix GO 4006 Digital / Analog Exposure Meter or a Polaris SPD100. Both look to be sufficient to do what I want them to do without going nuts. The Gossen is a mixed digital/analog, which I like, but the Polaris is also a flash meter, which I’ve had need of in the past. It’s still a toss-up.

While the D80 comes with a pop-up flash that is more than good enough in a pinch, I have a flash unit in my bag that gives me both auto and manual control. Unfortunately, it also has a trigger voltage that can threaten the health and well-being of even Nikon’s hardy flash connections. As a result, I’ll need to get a voltage isolator (probably the very popular Wein) that will not only manage the hot-shoe voltage but give me a PC-sync connection so I can use the flash off-camera. (I’m still amazed that PC-sync connects aren’t standard on all DSLRs.)

Of course I’ll need at least one extra battery. That’s only common sense. The question does arise as to whether I should also get the MB-D80 battery grip as well? This not only gives me more power flexibility, but also increases the size and heft of the camera. You have to remember, I used to shoot with motor drives attached to my film cameras. I’m used to having something bigger than just a camera body. While some would welcome the extra shutter button, I’ve liked having to have my grip on top of the camera for portrait-oriented photos. What can I say…it’s how I learned.

So, in addition to the body I’ll need to get an exposure meter, a hot-shoe adapter, and a better grip. One thing that does help me is that since my Canon point-and-shoot uses SD cards, I’ve got a little farm of those already on-hand. All that’s really left is consideration of lenses.

Heart of Glass

The standard kit lens for the D80 is an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom. It’s not a bad lens, but it’s not hit-it-out-of-the-park great, either. The lens I would

love to get is the Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR II Autofocus Lens. Unfortunately, as it costs more than the camera body, I just can’t swing that at the moment. Instead, I think that if I get a lens, it will be the Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX. This lens is well-reviewed, but more importantly it seems to be a good general-purpose wide-to-portrait lens with an effective focal range of 27-82mm plus macro (minimum distance 11″, which is good for a zoom).

What about telephoto? Didn’t I mention that I’d want to shoot some sports? That’s going to be the domain (for now) of my 80-200mm f/2.8. I can’t afford to get an AF version of this lens that saw a LOT of sports action in the day (at least, not in the next few months). Because of the needs of available-light photography, you simply can’t go slower than an f/2.8 lens when shooting sports. You just can’t. There is a bonus, of sorts, in that with the lens multiplication factor of the D80’s sensor (1.5x), that means that this is effectively a 120-300mm f/2.8 lens. More than adequate for sports.

Going Shopping

So, I think I’ve got a lot of my preliminary research out of the way. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to get, it’s not just up to the equipment not to let me down. I’ll be going out to the local camera store soon to do more hands-on research. This is fun. I’m starting to get excited.