Short Report: Nikon D80Small but powerful, the latest Nikon D-SLR offers a lot at an affordable price |
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| By Ibarionex R. Perello | |
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Much
of my photography involves walking the streets of Los Angeles, looking
at light, shapes and people, and searching for that special combination
of just the right elements that make a memorable photograph. Carrying a
huge pro-end D-SLR isn’t necessary, though it may do wonders for my
ego. Instead, a smaller camera with key features like those found in
the new Nikon D80 often provides just the tools I need.
More importantly, however, the D80 provides the features and controls that I really need to consistently produce sharp photographs with accurate exposures, even under the most demanding shooting conditions. Having shot with Nikon since the mid-’80s, I’ve come to appreciate its ergonomic designs. The various buttons and controls are easily accessible, whether I’m holding the camera vertically or horizontally. Frequently used controls for white balance, ISO, autofocus and exposure compensation are at my fingertips, eliminating the need to repeatedly return to the 2.5-inch LCD to make necessary changes to those all-important settings. The large viewfinder, which is similar to the one found in the D200, makes a huge difference for me when framing my shots, as compared to D-SLRs with much smaller viewfinders. As I try to achieve my final crop in-camera rather than later in Photoshop, the large screen is a welcome bonus. I’ve really come to trust the 3D Color Matrix II metering system found in Nikon cameras. It produces amazingly accurate results, even under the most complicated lighting situations. Nevertheless, it was still good to see the expanded histogram view during playback that allows me to review all three color channels. That gave me the security of knowing that I wasn’t clipping any of my highlights, a very important aspect of shooting digitally.
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