D80 or D90

I'm still looking at cameras, I've narrowed it down to the D80 or D90; is the D90 worth the extra money.

I like the interface on the D90 (screens) more then the D80, but is that really worth the extra money?

Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

The short answer is yes. The d90 has enough improvements to justify its higher price.

High ISO performance w/ low noise and better dynamic range. I love my D80, and I'm thinking of getting the D90 myself... when prices come raining down during or after a dismal Christmas retail season.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Test everything; hold on to the good.



D80 photos: http://esuastegui.esmartweb.com/D80

Epson just dropped prices on their photo inkjet printers. The 1400 now is $126 (B&H) and includes a set of cartridages that sell for about $120. This printer used to sell for about $400.

Circuit City is closing some stores. I am watching closely one near by for deals on cameras and lenses.

I chose the D80. I have a lot of different interests to spend money on and only a limited amount of it to spend. The extra features are nice and I would like to have them. The answer to your question is going to be personal rather than technical. The actual image quality of the two cameras is not enough to justify the upgrade in most cases, IMHO. You have to place a dollar value on the enjoyment you would get out of the additional features yourself.

I bought D80 this summer (refurbished on purpose, so I would spend less and be able to upgrade to D90).

D90 has better CMOS sensor, better ISO performance, and I have heard the exposure is KNOCK ON.
I'd go for D90 if you can afford it. Same size, weighs just a few ounces more.

Cedarhill said:

The actual image quality
of the two cameras is not enough to justify the upgrade in most
cases, IMHO. You have to place a dollar value on the enjoyment you
would get out of the additional features yourself.

Click to expand...

When I try doing this with my D80, I come away with quite the opposite conclusion:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=29931841

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Test everything; hold on to the good.



D80 photos: http://esuastegui.esmartweb.com/D80

I have both and can back up goldshield on the knock in exposure! Although I bought the 90 for it's video capabilities, I'm finding the quality of images to be much better in the 90 with less pp required!

goldsheld said:

I bought D80 this summer (refurbished on purpose, so I would spend
less and be able to upgrade to D90).
D90 has better CMOS sensor, better ISO performance, and I have heard
the exposure is KNOCK ON.
I'd go for D90 if you can afford it. Same size, weighs just a few
ounces more.

Click to expand...

I don't mean to offend, but I don't see anything special about your sample photos that would lead me to believe the camera performs substantially better than the D80. A longer exposure using a D80 would have produced images with equal amounts of noise. There are lots of ways to improve image quality and spending more on a camera is just one of them.

I'm also tempted with the D80 or the D200 actually just because of the price point. I've got my fast lenses and I'm happy if the camera can perform well at 800 and below. at 1600 or 3200, then i'd just have to convert to B&W.

At the moment the D80/D200 are about half the price of their new counterparts. My only temptation to go new would be the new AF system on the D300 and the AF fine tuning on the D300.
--
-Bo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bo_z/

If you can afford the difference - no contest. If you can't afford the difference, get a D40.

Since the 90 is newer get it. Why buy yesterday's flavor when today's tastes better.

Besides, the few hundred bucks you will spend will be forgotten in a couple of weeks.
--
Skatterball

From Nikonrumors.com:

"Nikon D80 is now discontinued from Adorama and B&H (automatically redirect to D90)- if you want one, you better hurry up (Amazon still has it)."

jsunbailey said:

I'm still looking at cameras, I've narrowed it down to the D80 or
D90; is the D90 worth the extra money.

I like the interface on the D90 (screens) more then the D80, but is
that really worth the extra money?

Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

--
Renato.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhlpedrosa/
OnExposure member
http://www.onexposure.net/

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus
(Mark Twain)

RAL said:

If you can afford the difference - no contest. If you can't afford
the difference, get a D40.

Click to expand...

someone swears by ken rockwell...hehe

--
-Bo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bo_z/

eNo said:

Cedarhill said:

The actual image quality
of the two cameras is not enough to justify the upgrade in most
cases, IMHO. You have to place a dollar value on the enjoyment you
would get out of the additional features yourself.

Click to expand...

When I try doing this with my D80, I come away with quite the
opposite conclusion:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=29931841

Click to expand...

Those shots are pretty good and the D90 certainly does handle noise better then the D80. However The D80 can get the job done at night:



For me, if I was buying right now, it would probable be a D80 or a D300. Leaning more towards the D300, understanding that it does cost a fair bit more, however what it has over the D80 and the D90 would make it worth it IMHO. That is until the D400 comes along.

--
Dan



London, Canada
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_bolger/
D80, rest of gear listed in profile

rhlpetrus said:

From Nikonrumors.com:

"Nikon D80 is now discontinued from Adorama and B&H (automatically
redirect to D90)- if you want one, you better hurry up (Amazon still
has it)."

Click to expand...

rhlpetrus said:

Renato.

Click to expand...

Looks like it is just the 'body only' which has been discontinued. B&H is still offering various D80 kits for sale.
--
Nick

I'm sure you've seen it many times but using live.com, plus waiting for a paypal coupon when they are available, I was able to get my D90 Body only for $668. Sold my D70 for $250 bringing my $418. A very worthy upgrade.

Not on this one. Just quite a bit of hands on experience.

I know there is nothing more obnoxious than a once resistant convert, so please take what I say with a pound of salt.

I own both, and, even though I didn't want to acknowledge this for the longest time, about the ONLY good reason to choose the D90 over the D80 is cost, unless of course one already has a D80 and is content with it.

It was only when I got my hands on some real life high ISO NEFs (never mind those artificial imaging-resource samples), converted them according to my prefered workflow, and took a long hard look at them that I realized I really wanted to harness the High ISO excellence of the D90.

I like high ISO/low light stuff, and I have spent months with my D80 trying to play to its features and limitations. I have tried most NR software and have gotten adept at it. I have spent hours of tweaking in PSE, tweaking here, selective sharpening there, blurring over there. I have dropped eyedroppers into shadows in an effort to selective reduce the effects of a blown blue channel. I have fiddled with film grain plug-ins in an effort to mask with a more pleasant grain effect the less pleasant effect of digital grain.

Given all of this effort, with at best inconsistent results, you can appreciate that I saw the high ISO performance of the D90 as a revelation.

Despite the DPreview, imaging-resource samples, and the claims of so-called pundits here who have never actually used the camera to any great degree, the D90 is so much more than just and expensive D80 with some desireable extra features.

I am so glad I put my stubborn hubris aside and caved in and splurged. I will continue to take my usual lot of bad pictures, but I will relish being able to do so with more flexibility and less noise and colour distortion. The D80 is a great camera, and at present liquidation prices is an amazing deal, but for the extra money the D90 is in a whole different league.

Les

You are very wise! When that comes I may have a twinge of buyers remorse too, wondering while I didn't wait, but such is the gamble one takes with our rapidly evolving technologies.