This a part of an early post of mine:
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Without a lens and battery, the camera feels so light that I thought "I paid $1000 for this?!" It looks a lot smaller than my D70, but it is only slightly smaller in true dimensions. D80 seems 'toned' compared to the D70.
The mode/lazy dial is the same. A previous review said there was an extra scene mode. It is no different than my D70. The D80 scene wheel and the buttons left of the LCD-review screen feel more 'clicky' than my D70, which feel more dampened. Directional pad feels the same. The D80's 2 wheels have wider spaced teeth and better grip/feel. The strap is the same as D70.
Top LCD is wider but narrower top to bottom vs the D70. Review LCD is HUGE compared to the D70 (which is smaller than the D70s). The D80 protective cover seems to be more snug with less condensation from my breath occuring under the protective cover and on the LCD screen itself vs the D70. The outside of the protective screen still fogs up easily. (I wonder if those scuba mask fluid products would work on the protective screen).
The SD door slides back then springs open. I thought there was no picture of which way to put the SD card in, but there is a small pic on the thin yellow label. The SD card goes in with the front facing you vs the CD card going in with the front facing away from you on the D70.
The D80 comes with a flash shoe cover. I do not recall that coming on my D70 nor on the D200, which I got to play with in Dec 2005 for a few weeks.
The grip is slightly different than my D70. I think my D70 grip is more comfortable but maybe my brain is just used to the 'feel.' The build/feel..etc.. are as previously posted--very nice. However, I think the D70 plastic feels more 'dense.'
The viewfinder is better, but I really forgot about this part because my D70 has the magnifying eyepiece so I was not 'struck' with the difference. Also I wear glasses and can't get close to the viewer anyways so everything looks like a tunnel to me even when I owned a Canon SLR. I guess I better get back to wearing contacts.
The AF button toggles AF-A/AF-S/AF-C. I was hoping that they would appear in the viewer but only appear on the top LCD. The same with the Single/Continous/timed shooting--does not appear in the viewer, only appears on the top LCD. You just press it, you dont have to spin a wheel.
One big adjustment is the location of the delete button. I am used to looking at the review and using my right thumb to delete the pic. I delete pics ruthlessly on the D70. If they look a bit blurry on the small D70 screen then on the computer they will be very blurry. The D70 requires no hand shifting, only the right thumb.
On the D80 the delete button is high up on the left this requires me to shift my hand from cradling the lens/body to gripping the left side of the camera and using my left thumb to delete now.
The additional function button is awesome. I opted to make it the focus--single/dynamic/automatic. These are not the same as the top AF button of AF-A/AF-S/AF-C -----------------------------------------------
Now that I have been using it, i have become more comfortable with the D80 and I don't really notice much of a difference switchinga back and forth from the D70 to the D80. However, the D70 plastic still 'feels' more sturdy or dense.
The hard part of going back and forth D70/D80 is the way the cameras review shots.
D70: up and down, with data overlays R and L
D80: L and R, with data overlays up and down
I think they made the D80 as light/little as possible to not give up too many female buyers. More females are buying dSLRs and they want light and small dSLR's. If you are male and want more grip area, you can always buy the battery pack.
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D 8 0, D 7 0, 1 8 - 2 0 0 v r, 1 8 - 7 0, 1 0 5 v r,
5 0 f 1 . 4, S B 6 0 0, N V, N C, P P, P S E 4
In fact it's just about right, my only gripe is that the D50 grip feels like a simple cylindrical form that didn't care much about fitting to the contours of my hand.