Nikon D80 lenses

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mrb - 02 Dec 2006 22:00 GMT

I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
compatible with the new D80.

Are there any disadvantages to using them with the D80 (metering,
auotfocus) compared to lenses specifically made for digital?

I am thinking of buying the D80, and would like to save some cash if
possible by getting the body only.

mrb.

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Paul Furman - 02 Dec 2006 22:13 GMT

> I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
> compatible with the new D80.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> I am thinking of buying the D80, and would like to save some cash if
> possible by getting the body only.

Just that they all become longer/cropped by 1.5 (.66) so you'll want new
wider lens(es) also. A 50mm/1.8 needs to be replaced by a 30mm/1.4 Sigma
and a wide zoom needs to be a 'digital' meaning cropped 12-24mm Tokina,
or a 17-55/2.8 Nikkor or a slower 18-70mm.

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Arch (TX) - 02 Dec 2006 22:48 GMT

> I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
> compatible with the new D80.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> mrb.

I have 5 lenses that I had purchased years ago for my F4 35mm film
camera. They work fine on my D100 and D200 and on my Son's D80. Try
your old lenses on the D80 and see how they do before spending more
for new ones. Just a suggestion.

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Arch (San Antonio, Texas)
My Photo Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/aanzjr

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bmoag - 03 Dec 2006 01:15 GMT

Because of the crop factor your lenses will seem to have a longer focal
length.
The advantage of this is that the image sensor is centered in the sweet spot
of the lens so that lens performance may actually seem enhanced.
The disadvantage is, as noted above, a 28mm lens is no longer a wide angle
lens but has the effective coverage of a 42mm lens.
Get the kit 18-70mm zoom though and you are set for most practical uses.

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Bill - 03 Dec 2006 05:00 GMT

>I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
> compatible with the new D80.
>
> Are there any disadvantages to using them with the D80 (metering,
> auotfocus) compared to lenses specifically made for digital?

The D80 fully supports all Nikkor AF and AF-S series lenses. Older
lenses will also mount, but may not meter depending on the lense, such
as AI series.

Optically there is no image quality difference between older and newer
lenses.

> I am thinking of buying the D80, and would like to save some cash if
> possible by getting the body only.

As others have mentioned, the only difference between film and digital
is the field of view crop that you experience with regular lenses on
the D80. Have a look at this for a visual explanation:

http://jimdoty.com/Digital/fov_crop/fov_crop.html

All your lenses will seem longer, so you may want to consider a wider
lense at some point, depending on your needs. You can always get it
later if you're strapped for cash.

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mrb - 06 Dec 2006 22:52 GMT

>>I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
>> compatible with the new D80.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> lense at some point, depending on your needs. You can always get it
> later if you're strapped for cash.

Thanks for the info.

95% of the time I use a 28-70 zoom, mainly at 28mm, so I doubt it will wide
enough on the D80. I'll probably go for the kit with the 18-50 zoom - about
70GBP cheaper than the 18-70 kit.

Thanks again.

mrb.

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Bill - 07 Dec 2006 04:02 GMT

>> http://jimdoty.com/Digital/fov_crop/fov_crop.html
>>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> zoom - about
> 70GBP cheaper than the 18-70 kit.

If you mean the little 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 kit lense, I've used both it
and 18-70, and the 18-70 is worth the extra money. It has very good
optics (sharp enough to use wide open), good zoom range, fast
autofocus, non-rotating front element for certain filters, etc.

You may not find these advantageous and that's ok, the 18-55 is fine
if used within its limitations. But if you do like those features, the
lense is a great bargain - a gem in the Nikon family.

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mrb - 07 Dec 2006 19:47 GMT

>>> http://jimdoty.com/Digital/fov_crop/fov_crop.html
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> if used within its limitations. But if you do like those features, the
> lense is a great bargain - a gem in the Nikon family.

It's a Sigma 18-50mm f3.5-5.6 according to the Jessops website, but I may
take your advice in any case and go for the 18-70.
Along with my existing 75-300 I'd then have virtually the full range.

While I'm here, any advice on SD cards?
For any particular capacity there seems to be quite a range of prices. For
example, you can get 1GB for as little as £19, and also pay about £73
(SanDisk Extreme III). What is the difference?

Cheers

mrb
---

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nospam - 07 Dec 2006 20:19 GMT

> It's a Sigma 18-50mm f3.5-5.6 according to the Jessops website, but I may
> take your advice in any case and go for the 18-70.
> Along with my existing 75-300 I'd then have virtually the full range.

the nikon 18-70 would be a better choice.

> While I'm here, any advice on SD cards?
> For any particular capacity there seems to be quite a range of prices. For
> example, you can get 1GB for as little as £19, and also pay about £73
> (SanDisk Extreme III). What is the difference?

<http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8531>

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Bill - 08 Dec 2006 00:42 GMT

>>>> http://jimdoty.com/Digital/fov_crop/fov_crop.html
>>>>
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> Along with my existing 75-300 I'd then have virtually the full
> range.

Definitely go with the Nikon 18-70 then, it is better in every way
over the Sigma. Jessops would push the Sigma because it has a higher
markup than the Nikon (read: more money for Jessops).

> While I'm here, any advice on SD cards?
> For any particular capacity there seems to be quite a range of
> prices. For
> example, you can get 1GB for as little as £19, and also pay about
> £73
> (SanDisk Extreme III). What is the difference?

Speed.

I have the Sandisk Extreme III cards because they are noticeably
faster both in the camera and in the card reader. The Nikon D80 is a
very fast camera with a fast buffer for memory card reads/writes, so a
fast card makes a difference in the camera. I'm hoping Sandisk makes
an Extreme IV version too because I'm pretty sure the D80 will be even
faster with it, but I'll have to check that if/when it happens. And
the capacity for over 2GB would be nice too.

With my previous Canon Rebel XT/350D I used Ultra II cards because the
camera wasn't fast enough to take advantage of the faster cards, and
at the time I bought the first card for it I only had a USB1.1 port
available for a card reader, so I saved a few bucks with the Ultra II
version. When I bought a new computer last year with USB2 ports, I
noticed the speed difference with faster cards and started to migrate
to faster cards so I could download them to my computer faster.

Note that the D80 has a built-in USB2 port and it's very fast, so even
if you don't use a card reader, you'll want the faster cards in the
camera.

When I bought the D80, I switched from CF to SD cards, so I bought
fast cards from the start. This page has data on the speed of the D80
with various cards:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8531

Through the drop-down list at the top, you can make comparisons with
other cameras too.

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ink - 07 Dec 2006 08:22 GMT

>>>I have a selection of Nikon AF lenses for my F601 which I believe are
>>> compatible with the new D80.
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> about
> 70GBP cheaper than the 18-70 kit.

If I were you, I'd shell out the additional 70 quid - the 18-70 is
definitely worth it.

Cheers,
ink

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