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Camera Reviews

The Nikon F80/N80 Review

Darrell Young (DigitalDarrell)


Keywords: nikon, f80, n80, camera, bodies, film

Page 2/9 show all pages

BODY

The body of the N80 feels reassuringly robust.  The top and bottom of the camera are made of a hard substance, probably polycarbonate, with a textured coating that makes it fairly difficult to scratch. 

Click for enlarged view

Nikon N80 body
.

The front and back, or grip area, is covered with a thin textured rubbery coating. The 
coating, grip on the front, and a thumb protrusion on the back of the camera allows your right hand to comfortably and securely hold the camera. Most users will hold the camera naturally with their thumb on the back, trigger finger on the shutter release, and the second and third fingers wrapped around the grip. The little finger hangs below the camera body, except for people with small hands.

 

 

LENSES

You have access to virtually all the fine auto-focus (AF) Nikkor® lenses that Nikon® makes, plus a plethora of other AF lenses made by Tokina®, Tamron®, Sigma® and others. 

The N80 will even use the Nikkor® AF-S (Silent Wave) and VR (Vibration Reduced) professional lenses. It also supports the older AF lenses made since the early-nineties. 

The newer AF lenses have a "D" or "G" designation at the end of their name. These lenses have the new Distance measuring capability, and so will provide more accurate flash metering since the camera can better determine how far away the subject of the photo is.

 

Click for enlargement

Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6G

 

The N80 also supports the "G" series lenses made for the "consumer." These lenses have no "aperture" ring, so all aperture functions are controlled by the N80 automatically or by one of the "command dial" controls. The G series lenses are also D (distance measuring) lenses.

The N80 does not technically support the older manual-focus (MF) Nikkor lenses. They will mount on the camera, and will work normally, except that the N80's light metering system is turned off. You could use the N80 with the older lenses if you use a hand-held light meter. The AF lenses have a small computer brain (CPU) in them that helps the camera know how and where to focus. Since the older MF lenses do not have this CPU, they cannot communicate with the N80. Also, it is preferable to use the newer "D" AF lenses, since they provide more accurate flash metering with their built-in Distance measuring capability.

Technically the N80 is designed to work with the following lenses styles: AF, AF-D, AF-G, and AI-P.

(2 Votes )
Page 2/9 show all pages

Originally written on May 30, 2010

Last updated on June 12, 2016

1 comment

jay yutzey (jyutzey) on June 24, 2013

Although I have largely converted to digital, I still do film, and the N80 with the last Tamron 28-200 for film (the A03) is what I typically use, although I have several other Nikon film lenses (50, 28-80, and 75-300). I typically use Fuji Superia X-tra 400 film, and have it scanned at 5000 dpi after processing. I duck the film to digital comparisons, since they are different media with different looks. Whether I use film or digital depands on what I'm shooting and the look I want. The Fuji can also be converted to B/W in PhotoShop with surprisingly pleasing results. So I applaud your review of the N80 which in my view is also a quite capable "digital" camera with hybrid processing. Yet another tool in the photographic toolkit.

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