I bought a D80 a few days ago from the local Talls Camera. Previously I've owned Coolpix 990, then got one of the very first units of D70 that suffered BGLOD. I don't upgrade often as I only take pictures casually.
What drew me to the D80 was:
1) Bigger viewfinder
2) Bigger LCD
3) ISO 100
4) Better dynamic range
5) Better out of camera exposures
6) Less noise at high ISO
My initial observations of the camera:
1) Definitely smaller than the D70. The D70 was more comfortable to hold, because the grip was bigger and more natural. I don't have a big hand, but when I held the D80, my pinky was unsupported, so the pressure points made it less comfortable to hold with one hand compared to the D70. I suppose I could get used to it, but the D70 just felt better.
2) The viewfinder was definitely nice and had less of a tunnel vision effect. The LCD was gorgeous. Actually my pictures looked better on the LCD than on my laptop.
3) There was chromatic abberation in a few picture where there was high contrast. I know the lense is the biggest contributor to chromatic abberation, and the 18-200 VR isn't the best when it comes to this category, but perhaps the sensor makes it more prone to it. I took the same picture with the D70 and didn't see much chromatic abberation. I saw another thread on this issue, so while D70 may suffer from Moire, maybe D80 suffers from CA?
4) Quality control seems to have gone down. I saw a white spot on one of the pictures I took, and that's when I decided to take a picture of my table at iso 1600. Guess what... 5 hot pixels: two in the corner, and three in the center. I immediately took the camera back to the store (good thing I bought it locally), and they exchanged it for another. I had brought my laptop to the store, so I checked the other camera, and I found one hot green pixel. I understand that these sensors will never be perfect, but I expect hot pixels to be mapped away before leaving the factory. I certainly do not want to send it in on warranty immediately after purchase. I ran the same test on my D70 and found zero hot pixels after all these years.
In the end, I got my money back and I will be returning to my trusty D70 for a while. Until Nikon gets their act together in QC, I may leapfrog yet another generation of Digital Cameras.
What drew me to the D80 was:
1) Bigger viewfinder
2) Bigger LCD
3) ISO 100
4) Better dynamic range
5) Better out of camera exposures
6) Less noise at high ISO
My initial observations of the camera:
1) Definitely smaller than the D70. The D70 was more comfortable to hold, because the grip was bigger and more natural. I don't have a big hand, but when I held the D80, my pinky was unsupported, so the pressure points made it less comfortable to hold with one hand compared to the D70. I suppose I could get used to it, but the D70 just felt better.
2) The viewfinder was definitely nice and had less of a tunnel vision effect. The LCD was gorgeous. Actually my pictures looked better on the LCD than on my laptop.
3) There was chromatic abberation in a few picture where there was high contrast. I know the lense is the biggest contributor to chromatic abberation, and the 18-200 VR isn't the best when it comes to this category, but perhaps the sensor makes it more prone to it. I took the same picture with the D70 and didn't see much chromatic abberation. I saw another thread on this issue, so while D70 may suffer from Moire, maybe D80 suffers from CA?
4) Quality control seems to have gone down. I saw a white spot on one of the pictures I took, and that's when I decided to take a picture of my table at iso 1600. Guess what... 5 hot pixels: two in the corner, and three in the center. I immediately took the camera back to the store (good thing I bought it locally), and they exchanged it for another. I had brought my laptop to the store, so I checked the other camera, and I found one hot green pixel. I understand that these sensors will never be perfect, but I expect hot pixels to be mapped away before leaving the factory. I certainly do not want to send it in on warranty immediately after purchase. I ran the same test on my D70 and found zero hot pixels after all these years.
In the end, I got my money back and I will be returning to my trusty D70 for a while. Until Nikon gets their act together in QC, I may leapfrog yet another generation of Digital Cameras.
