Pentaprism instead of mirror-prism. Nikon quality. Fast, accurate auto-focus. Excellent metering.

no weather-proofing

Well built "Prosumer" level camera. Allows everthing from fully manual to fully automatic operation. Excellent lightweight SLR for travel or backpacking.

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkormat FT3 Nikon F3HP

Lightweight, easy to use, light on the pocketbook. Great used camera if you can get it for under $400 CDN.

Don't use the pop-up flash unless you are zommed out to 35mm or more, and are no farther away than 10 feet or so.

This is such a great camera to recommend to people who want a serious SLR but don't want to part with a limb. It may not be as heavy duty as an F100 or F5, but the F80 (N80) will meet the needs of most serious photographers. Light but sturdy, the viewfinder unlcuttered and the controls simple and easy to use, this camera is an excellent choice for pros and amateurs alike. Even SLR newcomers can enjoy this product. Metering is accurate, especially when used indoors with a Nikon speedlite. You should be using the exposure compensation dial when shooting into light, as this fools any meter. Overall, great performance in a small, easy to use package.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

F801s, F90x, FE, FE2, FM, FM2, 2020, F3, F100

1. I found it to be very steardy. 2. Light metering excellent. Matrix metering too good. 3. I have switched off the A/F assist light, but still works pretty well in dim situations. 4. Shutter release smooth and quite, accepts ordinary cable release.

1. Should have accepted AA Batteries. 2. Camera back should have been more firmer 3. In Build Flash not so powerful, I avoid using it.(OK for fill in

Excellent camera from Nikon : Quality and Features wise. Indeed Poor man's F100. If properly taken care of, it will work hassle free for years.

Customer Service

None so far

Similar Products Used:

Nikon FM10, Olympus OM10, Yashica FX3 super 2000, Canon T70

Light weight, excellent features

bit slow for sports

Good camera, but falls short of being great. Got this as a Xmas gift. The N80 is an excellent camera. I will never get rid of it because it was a gift and it does so many things. Night shots on a tripod. Casual street/people photography. This thing rocks with a 50mm f/1.4. Where it falls short is as a sports camera. Bit slow AF, and FPS. All in all a great camera for a beginner and the casual shooter. If anyone thinks they will shoot much sports/events, with the devestation the digital marketplace has caused to photography in general with the D70, I would highly reccommend that one save/spend some extra money to buy mint/demo F5 which can be had for $1000. They are the best value for film camera's anywhere. I plan to pick one up for my sports interests. Can't justify the D2X at this point, and don't want the D2H and D70 for various reasons.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Yashica Fx-3

Better metering system than the old N70. Especially when taking flash pictures. The new dynamic auto-focus with the closest subject is much improved over just the continuous auto focus on the N70. Great for taking wedding shots when people are walking down the isle. You can increase the self-timer up to 20sec as opposed to the 10sec on the N70. Has an optional battery pack that uses AA instead of those expensive LI batteries. This way I could always take out the batteries from my SB80DX flash in case the batteries die.

Auto focus assist uses a bright light as opposed to an infrared light. Auto focus assist doesn't work too well with large barrel lens. They tend to block the light. Exposure in 1/2 steps and not 1/3 steps. Not as good for slides. Not as fast in the fps as the N70. However, I did not use that feature to often.

The new auto-focus is much improved over the N70. Has a dept of field preview button. It also can take multiple-exposure shots. It also has a LCD panel iluminator. No longer have to carry around a flash light to see the settings at night time. Much easier navigation of the controls as compared to the N70. It doesn't also have the dummy modes for portrait or lanscape shot modes. I never used them on the old N70, since I would just use the dial to shift the apeture/shutter speed. Body is a bit lighter than the N70. So if you have a heavy lens, it tends to pull the camera down when you're wearing a neck strap.

Similar Products Used:

N70

Sturdy, and very powerful for a fraction of the price of the professional line cameras. Designed for the more professional, non-comsumer market, while still remaining very easy and intuitive to use.

The custom settings aren't described inside the camera. They are just numbered, with options, which means they are difficult to adjust on the fly, much less out in the field.

For years, I used a Nikon N6006, and the things I loved about it was that the settings were all very intuitive, and it didn't have a bunch of automatic settings designed for people who don't squat about how to set up their own exposures. It also had a reliable light meter, and it felt like a tank, unlike a Canon. After some time, my N6006 started to show its age. First, the little hook that keeps the film door shut broke off randomly (just sitting in my camera bag untouched), and then I got a new lens, the Sigma 12-24mm, and the computer on my N6006 was just a tad bit too old to be compatible. So, I started searching for something that would give me what I needed in a camera. I was really impressed with the N80. It essentially is slow F100. It too is setup for professional use (no wheel marked with a Mountain or a Flower, etc.). I find I can trust the light meter, although I never take it out of spot mode. It too feels very sturdy like my old camera. Having 5 spot meter/autofocus spots controlable by a control pad on the back of the camera is very helpful, like when you are on a tripod and don't want to pick up the camera to meter the sky or something. The grid settings are also nice to have, and I always leave them on.

Customer Service

never needed it, like to keep it that way.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon N6006, N70, N75, F100, N90s, N60, FM-10.

- Very solidly-built for a plastic body - Tons of features for money - Very accurate metering - Lots of lens options (although not as good as Canon EOS) - Dual command dials! - Decent battery life - Love the on-demand grid lines!

- Awkward and small focus mode selector - Doesn't seem to calculate exposure with the built-in speedlight open - Noisy autofocus - AF assist beam is very annoying to subjects - Optional MB16 battery grip should have vertical shutter release!

I bought this camera to replace my old Rebel G when its shutter curtain jammed. At first I was eyeing the new Elan 7N because so I could stay in the EOS lens system, but the N80 kind of swayed me due to the fact that it has a spot meter and the 7N does not. Plus, Nikon was offering a $50 rebate on the N80 which essentially made it a $300 camera. I picked up the Nikkor 28-200G ED lens with it. The first thing I noticed about the N80 was how solidly it's built for a plastic body. It doesn't feel like a toy like my old Rebel did. It feels more like a smaller F100, but at a third of the price. The dual command dials are awesome! Every camera should have these. One dial for shutter speed adjustments, and the other for controlling aperture. On my old Rebel, you had to switch modes to do the same thing with its single command dial. Very welcomed improvement for me... Another thing I'm liking after shooting dozens of rolls is how accurate the Matrix metering is. I guess the downside is that it makes you lazy. I've shot perhaps 2 or 3 bad rolls out of dozens and that's mostly because of my ignorance while experimenting with the camera's features. Battery life is very good - I probably shot about 20 to 25 rolls with some flash use before needing to change out the lithiums. Perhaps the only minor gripe is that the LCD indicator really gives no warning that the batteries are about to go - they just do. Always carry spare batteries with you. The on-demand grid lines help out a great deal with shot composition. I leave them on all the time. Now, the camera does have some setbacks. Most of them are weighed out by this camera's strengths, but are nonetheless present and annoying. My biggest gripe is the placement of the focus mode selector. ALL Nikons seem to suffer from this same problem. On the N80, it has a small, sniff switch to select manual, single auto, and continuous auto. It is nearly impossible to switch modes while looking through the viewfinder, which is highly annoying for action photography where I find myself switching modes constantly. Canon puts the focus mode switch on the lens, which is much more convenient. The autofocus is a bit noisy unless you're using a Silent Wave lens (very pricey). Canon offers USM lenses (their version of "Silent Wave") for a much lower cost. The AF assist beam is very bright and has the tendency to blind subjects. I turned it off in the custom functions and find myself using manual focus a bit more frequently. If only this beam was infrared instead... The camera also doesn't seem to give proper exposure readings when working with the built-in flash. You really have to guess, which defeats the purpose of having a meter in these cases. Hopefully, the SB600 Speedlight I'm planning on picking up will eliminate this issue. The last gripe (which is pretty minor, actually) is the MB16 battery grip sold for this camera. It has no vertical shutter release! I've compensated by using a mechanical cable release whenever the camera is on a tripod. Great camera overall though, and I'm always learning new things about it!

Customer Service

Haven't used.

Similar Products Used:

Canon Rebel G, Canon Elan 7N (very nice, but should have a spot meter for a $400 camera)

Build quality (both aesthetically and functionally) Functionality Customizable features Grid lines Manual ISO settings Exposure and flash compensation Metal lens and hot shoe mounts Auto-Bracketing LCD backlight Threaded cable release No bias to AF or MF - both are simply implemented perfectly Depth of Field Preview (! - never buy a camera without this feature) Meter accuracy Multiple exposures

No mirror lock-up Exposures only done in 1/2 steps instead of 1/3 steps - still highly accurate though

I have used this camera since December of 2000, and I have not experienced a single problem with it in that long time span. I have taken the camera into both temperature extremes (I have lived in California for most of my life, lived in Arizona, and North Dakota as well). And even at -45 F straight air temperature, the N80 coupled with the Nikon SB-80DX did not encounter a single malfunction. It is durable, dependable, and accurate, and the battery life, contrary to what some say, is really very good. My batteries usually last me a good four to six months. The features are all very intuitive, takes only a day or two to memorize the placements of the controls. The dual dials for shutter speed and aperture are incredibly useful - I don't understand how some people can use a camera without seperate command dials. The built in speedlight is acceptable, though it tends to turn good shots into blown-out snapshots, but I suppose you could simply use exposure or flash compensation and tune it down half a stop or so. Lens mount is incredibly sturdy and metal. Once the lens is snapped in place, it does not wiggle around or move AT ALL (unlike some newer cameras...i.e. Canon EOS 10D). The flash shoe mount is also very sturdy and is also composed of metal. It won't break or snap. As for the autofocus capabilities, I rarely use AF, even for action photography. 2.5fps really is fast enough for most situations, however. The metering is very accurate in all modes (center, spot, and matrix). Even with slides, matrix metering produces very fine exposures. I, however, only use spot metering (as I would with any camera), which is by far the most accurate metering method for any situation with any camera. The custom gridline feature is wonderful. I never even turn it off. Another great feature is the threaded cable mount - no need to spend $80 on some IR remote bulb exposure control. Instead, spend $10 on a good cable release, and that's all. No batteries or anything. Just a simple, reliable, analogue cable.

Customer Service

N/A :)

Similar Products Used:

Nikkormat FT3, Minolta rangefinders, Hasselblad 501CM, Nikon Coolpix 3200

A well priced Nikon 'system' camera; petit and lightweight, reasonably fast AF, good but not gorgeous viewfinder, operates smoothly and quietly.

No dust seal whatsoever: collects dirt real fast; expensive Li batteries don't last long; MB-16 grip lacks veritcal shutter release; may fail to focus on smoother surfaces, baby's cheek; a slide shooter may lament that 1/3 EV correction is not.

A fine advanced amateur camera, good backup body for pros.

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

F3, F100

quick sharp focus light (recomend mb-16) life saver economical price for features will bend to yur wishes (custom functions)

body plastic (not a real problem unless your clumsy)

i love this camera ive never been happier ive tried a variety of economicly priced nikon bodies and well i was kinda weary of buying into nikon but when i tried this onei was in love it fits like a glove and its great for studio work work with a very primative setup and i have a short selectionsof lenses but when it come to focuc wow it like nothing b4

Similar Products Used:

Kentax K1000, Nikon FM10, Nikon FM3, Nikon F65,70,75, Minolta Maxxum 7, Canon Rebel Ti, Canon Elan 7,