Thinking of buying nikon D80

Hello,

Im thinking of buying a used Nikon D80. My question is whats a low number of actuations thats acceptable? I

believe actuations means the total number of pictures taken with the camera. Correct me if im wrong.. :p

 

Any help would be great, thanks!

You are correct in your definition. However, it may be difficult to tell how many pictures the camera has taken as there

is no "counter." I would be hesitant of anyone who says that their camera has taken X pictures unless they're a serious

pro or its new and they recently upgraded to something else. Outside of knowing when it was purchased, one can

merely guess. There is the slight chance that you can go by the picture number. For example, I believe the D80 starts

with image 0001 and counts up from there - naming the images by number, rolling over when it gets to 9999. However,

still be very cautious.

 

Aside from the above, the D80 is a great camera, but find out how old the camera is (get a copy of a receipt) and find out

if a warranty can be transferred to you. Also, what lenses come with it, any?

 

What price are you paying for it? Keep in mind that a new D80 can probably be found for around $700 +/- (body only).

Personally, I'm nervous about buying used camera equipment only because you really don't know how it was cared for

before you. And without a warranty (most likely) you're really stuck if it's been used hard (i.e. banged around, traveled,

etc.)

 

Again, great camera - I started with a D80 when I moved into digital from film. Loved it.

Wait a month or two and you will be able to buy a new one with a warranty for less money due to the D90 going on sale soon, and the used ones should also drop in price. Calculate your savings and apply this to a new lens. If you can get one with less than 10,000 actuations that would be low mileage. With the new D90 replacement my guess there will be some nice cameras coming on the market. I would buy from KEH.com or B&H.com and talk to a salesman, ask them to tell you what the actuations are on the camera you are interested in. Alan, What do you shoot now and what lenses do you have in your bag?

I just saw a thread in DPReview where Thom Hogan comments on the price change for the D80:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=29151024

 

The D90 is supposed to be available in a couple of weeks. Even though you are aiming for a used D80, used prices will likely come down accordingly when new prices come down. You may be able to save $100 or so. However, if you are going for a new one, you might not want to wait too long. I would imagine that Nikon had already stopped producing the D80 a few months back. There should not be a whole lot of remaining inventory left.

As far as finding out the actual # of actuations, you can ask whomever is selling the camera to email you an unedited pic of something. I asked everyone to email me a pic of something specific when buying my D200. That way I knew the pic they were sending was up to date, and I used CS3 to find out the actuations. There are other programs like irfanview or opanda that will also tell you the # of actuations. As far as what is a good # to help you decide when buying your camera, I'd say it depends on the price of the camera, and your shooting style.

 

Some will say 10k or less, others will say 25k, etc. I chose a D200 with 24k because the price was right, $700 with a 50mm 1.8 as opposed to the offers of $800+ with no lens for around 10k actuations. Also because I don't shoot machine gun style any more and the remaining 75k of shutter life could easily last me years. So it depends on how often you shoot and how good a deal the camera is compared to others.

 

I too would recommend KEH as I've had some great luck with their used lenses. Dunno how the market will react as far as prices go for D80's but they aren't too bad brand new, I'd do like Tim suggested and wait just a little while longer and see if the new ones drop any further. Good luck.

Josh... the number of shutter clicks is available in the EXIF data of a JPEG. Opanda and Photome are two free programs that will read EXIF for you.

Alan, unless you can get a used D80 real cheap, I suggest to add a bit more and get a use D200 instead. Much more solid camera.

>> Alan, unless you can get a used D80 real cheap, I suggest to add a bit more and get a use D200 instead. Much more

solid camera.

 

True; but the D80 isn't an especially flimsy camera. Very similar to the D70 and D100, in fact, and no-one reckoned they

were flimsy. And of course the D80 is smaller and lighter, which many people would think of as good things.

 

The D80 is a fine camera for an 'ordinary amateur' - like me, in fact.

A great price for something may not always make it a good buy. Potential D80 buyers may want to look at comments provided by this thread, especially noting the opinions noted at the bottom:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=29151082

Alan, I would say anything under 10,000 "actuations" (not the same thing as images taken) would be very acceptable. If more than that number, think about the price. The D200 should also be considered and with the D200 I would say it could have double or treble the number of "actuations" for the same "reliability". I believe Nikon estimate D200 shutters are good for about 100,000 "actuations".

 

The D80 is a relatively small camera so try to handle some before you buy. The more plastic feel to the D80 (compared to teh D200) may or may not be to your taste. The opinion in that dpreview thread about the D80 is a little strange, the D80 is well recognised as being very usable at high ISO.

Hey, thanks for all the help guys. I was thinking of getting this D80 in 2 months anyway. Im not going on another trip until then. From what you guys are saying, thats a good choice. I wouldnt mind saving some money.

 

As to your question Tim Knight, I have a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and a Nikon 50 f1.8.

Alan I have the same two lenses along with a slightly used Nikon 18-70 and the 70-300VR. If I were to buy another lens right now it would be the 85/1.8. Once you get the taste for a fast lense it is hard to even look at the 2.8 primes. I do prefer my Tamron 17-50/2.8 zoom over the 18-70. I still have the D50 but looking at the D90 sometime in the future.

"I would buy from KEH.com or B&H.com and talk to a salesman, ask them to tell you what the actuations are on the camera you are interested in."

 

KEH told me they do not check how many actuations are on their items for sale. They seemed singularly unaware of OPANDA. Perhaps this has changed, since last year. They DO however, offer a fine return policy, so perhaps you should download OPANDA (or similar utility) and check whatever you buy, returning something with, say, 50,000 actuations...