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Well, there I was in Gatwick departures waiting to fly off on my honeymoon. I took a walk around the tax free shops and wound up in Dixons.....who were offering a Nikon D80 plus 18-70 zoom for £650. Prices on the high street ranged around £730 - £780 so I bit the bullet and bought it. I got a good deal, camera kit and 2Gb SD card for £680.
I've already got a D70s with a range of lenses so there was nothing extra to purchase.
I especially like the fact that the D80 is a 10.2 mpixel as against the 6 mpixel D70s, minimum 100 iso as against 200 iso and has a larger 2.5" preview screen. It also doesn't seem to be so prone to dustspots as the D70s. One thing to remember is that you need to get larger capacity SD cards. With a 2Gb card the RAW image capacity on my D70s Compact Flash card shows as 356 images. This falls to 163 images on the D80's SD card due to the increased image size. Obviously the total number of pics available changes according to how "busy" each frame is but it gives you an idea of the extra storage needed. This is the one thing that puzzles me about Nikon. Why are the D50 and D80 using SD cards while the remainder of the digital SLR range use CF and/or microdrive ?
Image quality really shows through with the 10.2 mpx image. I find that I am getting much sharper images with my 170-500 Sigma at longer focal lengths and when it became necessary to crop more heavily than normal in PS when using the 18 - 70, much more detail was retained.
I've only taken a few aviation pics ( see my latest Heraklion uploads if you like. The ones on the apron are at around 50 -70mm with the ones on the far side of the apron being quite a heavy crop.The approach shots are from around 360 -500mm ), but am already very pleased with the D80. I'm still learning its various features but, having already owned the D70s, it was easy to pick up and use out of the box.
If, like me, you cannot afford the step up to the D200 (£950 body only and not really any different to the D80), or the D2 series (anything up to £2700 body only) then I can thoroughly recommend the D80, especially if you already have Nikon equipment. One handy option with having two bodies available means that I can have a combination of focal lengths available to hand without having to hurriedly change lenses.
I've already got a D70s with a range of lenses so there was nothing extra to purchase.
I especially like the fact that the D80 is a 10.2 mpixel as against the 6 mpixel D70s, minimum 100 iso as against 200 iso and has a larger 2.5" preview screen. It also doesn't seem to be so prone to dustspots as the D70s. One thing to remember is that you need to get larger capacity SD cards. With a 2Gb card the RAW image capacity on my D70s Compact Flash card shows as 356 images. This falls to 163 images on the D80's SD card due to the increased image size. Obviously the total number of pics available changes according to how "busy" each frame is but it gives you an idea of the extra storage needed. This is the one thing that puzzles me about Nikon. Why are the D50 and D80 using SD cards while the remainder of the digital SLR range use CF and/or microdrive ?
Image quality really shows through with the 10.2 mpx image. I find that I am getting much sharper images with my 170-500 Sigma at longer focal lengths and when it became necessary to crop more heavily than normal in PS when using the 18 - 70, much more detail was retained.
I've only taken a few aviation pics ( see my latest Heraklion uploads if you like. The ones on the apron are at around 50 -70mm with the ones on the far side of the apron being quite a heavy crop.The approach shots are from around 360 -500mm ), but am already very pleased with the D80. I'm still learning its various features but, having already owned the D70s, it was easy to pick up and use out of the box.
If, like me, you cannot afford the step up to the D200 (£950 body only and not really any different to the D80), or the D2 series (anything up to £2700 body only) then I can thoroughly recommend the D80, especially if you already have Nikon equipment. One handy option with having two bodies available means that I can have a combination of focal lengths available to hand without having to hurriedly change lenses.
Honeymoon Brian? At your age? 
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