I’m a Nikon D70 user and I really love my camera. I’ve been shooting architecture/city life pictures during 2 years and now I mainly shoot in clubs/bars. I’m really happy with the settings I found but I wanted to get a D80 to have brighter backgrounds like on the Canon 30D for example (which is known as the best one for low light conditions)
I bought the D80 yesterday and I made some tests in my room. As I mainly shoot people in clubs with my SB-800 Flash I tried to have more or less the same conditions (=me at 60cm in front of the lense, using a tripod and a remote control + a low light behind me). I took a picture with the D70 and the D80 (both with the exact same settings): I was quite disappointed by the result of the D80. Of course the background was a lot brighter (I had exactly the same feeling than watching on a 30D LCD), yes the focus is faster and looks more precise; but on the other hand It kept the same weak points: the contrast was not that powerful (even with a +2 in settings). I love how the faces look on the D70 with the “II Adobe color mode”: the skin has some white cold tones and the effect is very nice. I never saw that on Canon’s pictures….It looks like now the D80 has the same quality than the 30D in low light conditions, but it also lost his color tones differences. Instead of the white cold tones on my skin, it was more “yellowish”. I tried to play with WB but it didn’t really work: it changes the overall temperature of the pictures but not the colors on the face.
More than this, I cannot trust the LCD anymore. It’s very comfortable to have a wide screen like this, but the colours/tones are different than the render I have on my computer’s screen. I didn’t have this problem with the D70. Actually I had the same feeling with the 30D’s LCD than with the D80 one: it’s wide but colours are “weak”, with poor contrast. In these conditions, it’s hard to set up the camera during your shooting without being next to a computer.
Anyway, that was just a test made in my room, I’ll shoot in two different clubs this week end and try to get better settings. I really hope it will be ok. Otherwise I’ll work on Capture Pro and build my own contrast curves; I don’t know how useful it is.
Beside this, the plastic box is not disturbing at all. The quality is still very good. It’s smaller but still very acceptable. The D70’s size was perfect for me; I’d say the D80 is my limit (the 400D is way to small).
I bought the D80 yesterday and I made some tests in my room. As I mainly shoot people in clubs with my SB-800 Flash I tried to have more or less the same conditions (=me at
More than this, I cannot trust the LCD anymore. It’s very comfortable to have a wide screen like this, but the colours/tones are different than the render I have on my computer’s screen. I didn’t have this problem with the D70. Actually I had the same feeling with the 30D’s LCD than with the D80 one: it’s wide but colours are “weak”, with poor contrast. In these conditions, it’s hard to set up the camera during your shooting without being next to a computer.
Anyway, that was just a test made in my room, I’ll shoot in two different clubs this week end and try to get better settings. I really hope it will be ok. Otherwise I’ll work on Capture Pro and build my own contrast curves; I don’t know how useful it is.
Beside this, the plastic box is not disturbing at all. The quality is still very good. It’s smaller but still very acceptable. The D70’s size was perfect for me; I’d say the D80 is my limit (the 400D is way to small).
). I just made the step for the autofocus improvement and especially for the performances in low light conditions (and I must admit it’s quite impressive, it’s as bright as on the 30D). I “just” have to fix that WB + contrast problem on the skin.
I'll try it this week end 