F80 advice

Is the low light capability really that bad without the assist light?

Can that light be disabled or not, because then you cannot surprise

people.

 

I am going to shoot a lot of nature and wildlife, mountains and also

some sports.

So, will F80 do it for me, or would something else?

I own an F80 for approx. 1.5 years now and have found the AF quite good in low light as long as (a) you use the AF sensor in the centre and (b) point it at some edge or otherwise distinct shape where it can get a "grip". In particular much better than Canon EOS50 and probably EOS30/33. It's an excellent and lightweight allound camera that's well equipped for most amateurs' needs but certainly not an F100 or F5 when it comes to wheather sealing (wildlife,mountains) or AF speed (sports). Namely the off centre AF sensors are not reliable enough for somewhat more difficult tasks.

To answer your second question, the focus assist light can be turned off with one of the custom functions (I forget which).

To turn the AF assist light set custom function 18 to 1.

I meant to turn the AF assist light <i>off</i> set custom function 18 to 1.

"In particular much better than Canon EOS50 and probably EOS30/33. "<p>

N80's low light focusing is actually about the same as the older EOS50 (Elan II) with its CCD AF sensor, but is overwhelmingly better than the newer EOS33 (Elan 7) with its CMOS sensor.

You can also turn off the AF Illuminator Lamp by switching to Manual Focus. That is the method I usually use if I don't want the lamp to fire.

yes, from what i understand the N/F80 works better than its Canon counterpart i low light situations, but the Canon one has a faster AF.

 

but get the new Sony 717 digicam - it focuses in the dark :-)

I agree it is very good with the centre AF sensor, not the others (all with the lamp off)