The Nikon D80 is actually a camera from late 2006. The D90 was released last year and the general reaction everywhere was to show the thumbs-up. The D80 was known to be a good camera. It made good sense as a dSLR for a casual photography enthusiast. We were interested in the D80 primarily for its lower pricing with the D90 now in the market. The controls and body construction of the D80 are similar to those of the D90. The directional buttons aren’t very large,
though. A two-jog dial setup is present on the D80 and is a welcomed feature any day. Changing shutter speed and aperture size simultaneously with them makes life easier, for sure. Controls for the white balance and ISO are lined along the left of the screen, so operating the camera settings requires using both your hands at times. The smaller screen is present on top which immediately takes it a step up from the entry-level dSLRs. This feature makes adjusting settings much more straightforward. There’s no need to look at the screen and use the directional keys to change
any of the settings. Taking photos while making adjustments simultaneously is a lot simpler this way. This is a feature only found on mid-ranged dSLRs. The other difference is the eyepiece which is larger than with other cameras. Focussing automatically becomes simpler. There’s also
support for a remote-control which is a nice function that can be useful when taking long exposure shots on a tripod. One of the annoyances of the D80 has to be the tiny direction buttons all combined together. This is hard to use and is similar to the control used in the much older D70.
The D80 supports a larger battery pack; this gives more power to the camera and also makes it easier to hold. The battery pack can hold two D80 batteries. Like the D90, the D80 also uses SD/SDHC cards for storing images. The lens we received with the camera was Nikon’s AF-S 18–135 mm. It’s the most powerful lens of the ones in this test. This wasn’t a VR, but it didn’t affect us a lot while taking telephoto shots. Another addition with cameras such as the D80 is the more comprehensive menu system. Control for many more of the features can be found and each one modified according to your needs. While the D80 is pretty identical to the D90 on most fronts, the larger and better quality screen is the biggest difference, we feel. Liveview and video recording are the other very important additions to the D90. With a price tag of Rs. 70,950 including the AFS DX 18-135/3.5-5.6G lens, the D80 is slightly cheaper than the D90.

The Nikon D80 is actually a camera from late 2006. The D90 was released last year and the general reaction everywhere was to show the thumbs-up. The D80 was known to...