Nikon N80 35mm SLR Camera Kit

Nikon's N80 offers features photographers want in a compact design, including a five-area AF system with the Multi-CAM900 AF Sensor module and a 10-segment 3D Matrix Metering system. The built-in Speedlight incorporates the 3D Multi-Sensor balanced fill-flash system. The advanced focusing display system provides two distinct benefits - the Vari-Brite focus area display and On-Demand grid lines. The Nikon N80 is a highly versatile SLR suitable for shooting portraits, fast-moving sports action, nature photography and many other applications. This camera features a Multi-CAM 900 sensor, three AF area modes, on-demand grid lines function which superimposes a grid over the viewfinder, and 18 user programmable custom settings.

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• Reviewed by: captlaite

  12-27-04

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Compact and lightweight, the Nikon N80 easily goes anywhere,with a plethora of available accessories making this a camera you can grow with.

  Weaknesses:It is a complex camera, with a very detailed instruction manual. Nikon should include a quick start guide.

  Overall Evaluation: The F80/N80 meter is dead-on to my F100's. I'm talking about nearly zero difference in virtually every situation I tried. However, there's a small "gotcha": the F80/N80 uses 1/2 stop increments instead of the 1/3 stop increments of the pro cameras. That means that, while the meter is every bit as accurate, the camera can't always set an exact exposure--your exposure could be rounded a sixth to a fourth of a stop. If you're shooting print film, this difference is not enough to even spend ten seconds thinking about. However, if you shoot slide film in the F80/N80, you need to account for even this slight difference in exposure setting. That said, I didn't find any slide exposures that I was uncomfortable with. And you can always dial in exposure compensation or turn on the auto bracketing, if you're really worried. Center-weighted metering in the F80/N80 biases 75% of the exposure evaluation on the 12mm diameter circle in the viewfinder, as do most of the newer Nikons. And the spot metering is exactly the same as the F100 and F5: five spot meters that coincide with the five AF sensors, each approximately 1% of the frame. Manual exposure hounds will appreciate one change in the F80/N80 over previous Nikons: you get three full stops of metering information on each side of 0 instead of only one. Autofocus Go read the section on autofocus in my F100 review. With a couple of caveats, it all applies equally to the F80/N80. The caveats have to do with the use of the CAM900 sensor instead of the CAM1300. The F100 and F5 have much better low-light and horizontal sensitivity in the left and right sensors. On those pro cameras, this translates into less focus hunting in a few situations. But coupled with the N80/F80's slower continuous drive, I found that the less-sensitive left and right sensors resulted in sometimes missing a shot that had cross frame motion. If you shoot wildlife, the F100 is a better choice. If you mostly shoot static shots, this slight difference isn't going to bother you.

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