Nikon D80 digital SLR camera review
 £612.84 |  £501.33 Your Best Buy |
| Design |
| The Nikon D80 doesn’t look to dissimilar to its older brother the D70 – and lets face it, why would Nikon want to change a winning design that people liked. Obviously they’ve tweaked a few of the design features to give it a newer look like the softer, rounder top and more textured mould that hugs the metal chassis. If we start at the back the D80 DSLR has a 2.5 inch 230,000 pixel LCD which is bright and sharp with a 170 degree wide viewing angle. The screen doesn’t come with an anti-reflective coating so you will find some difficulty when out in the sun, but the view find means at least you won’t have problems taking a photo. To the left of the LCD are the play, menu, WB, ISO and quality buttons, while to the left of the screen you’ll find the four-way control pad. The delete button is sat to the left of the view finder which has been based on the D200, being bright and with no distortion. To the right of this you’ll find the AF button on its right. Up front you’ll find a well designed grip which makes holding the Nikon D80 easy even with one hand and the fact it’s quite light adds to its handle-ability. Up top you’ll find the electronic release pop-up flash which works automatically or manually and the mode dial. Nikon’s entry level digital SLR works on an SD card and also supports the new SD-HC standard and this can be found on the left of the camera. On the right of the body you’ll find all the connections hidden by a cap – you’ve got a USB 2.0 port, DC-IN connector and A/V out. |
| Setup/Installation |
| Thanks to the D80’s lovely interface the fonts and icons make using the digital camera as simple as snapping a shot. Switch it on, and start playing around. |
| Features |
| As we mentioned earlier, the Nikon D80 has enough extras to keep Ricky Gervais in business for a few years. We’ve already stated this is a 10.2 megapixel DX format CCD with an image processing engine that is similar to the D200 and the D2X. It uses a 3D colour matrix metering II, 420 pixel sensor and an 11-area AF system. There are various automatic scene modes such as night, portrait, landscape and close up to name a few as well as all the manual functions. When measuring light the camera uses the entire frame from the centre out. Even in shoot mode you can access the menu on the LCD monitor can. It allows you to White balance, ISO sensitivity and image quality and size and when you’re in Playback mode you can access additional functions. It supports an SD card and a SD-HC card which means you can store over 2GB worth of goodies. It has a 80ms shutter lag and mechanical only shutter. And it all operates on a high capacity EN-EL3e battery. |
| Performance |
| There’s little to report back about the performance other than it’s a camera that does what it’s supposed to – and that’s take pictures without any jiggery pokery. For enthusiasts this provides sharp, clear images that are focused well when using automatic mode. When switched to manual you have all the options of a top-end DSLR without the complications. Thanks to the easy-to-use, clear icons you can navigate around the camera easily and when icons aren’t available the text is simple to understand. |
| What's In The Box? |
| Nikon D80 DSLR, battery. |
| Overall Opinion |
| There are some things that scream buy me and this one of them. For any enthusiast or amateur who wants something a bit special then the Nikon D80 is your boy. A good operate that isn’t high maintenance and does a decent job. |
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Pros + Lightweight + Easy to use + Good pictures + Great icons on menu |
Cons - No anti-glare on LCD monitor |
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Picture Quality 8/10
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Battery Life 8/10
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Setup Simplicity 8/10
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Build Quality 8/10
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Ease of Use 8/10
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Overall Rating 
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By Babita Wakelin
20/9/2006 at 5:00:18pm
20/9/2006 at 5:00:18pm
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