Nikon D40 or D80?

[steve_malpass]

Hi. I?m another newbie to this forum and currently trying to decide between

the Nikon D40 and D80.

 

I currently have a Nikon F80 (aka N80) 35mm. I use a 28-100mm AF G zoom lens

with it, which is pretty slow but okay for everyday stuff. I intend keeping

this camera, as I love the colours you get from film.

 

I also have the 50mm f/1.8 AF-D lens, which is great for getting shallow d.o.f.

 

I?m currently leaning toward the D40 (with 18-55mm DX kit lens) but its

inability to autofocus the 50mm is holding me back. My question is this: if I

go for the D80 body only (my budget won?t stretch to include the 18-135 kit

lens), will it be okay with the 28-100mm G lens. Ideally, I?d go for a 18-55

or 18-70 DX lens but will I get noticeably better results over the 28-100 with

either of these?

 

Ideally, I?d go for the D40 & 18-55 but will having to focus the 50mm at f/1.8

manually really be a pain? I focus manually on the F80 quite a lot when the AF

can?t decide what it?s looking at but realise this has a better viewfinder

than a D40.

 

Crop factors aren?t a problem as I can work around this.

 

Any suggestions?

[simon_hickie1]

I suspect your 28-100 would not focus on the D40 either, but I might be wrong. I would be inclined to go for the D80 with the extra pixels and other features. It retains the gridlines you have with the F80. If you do flash, the D80 flash can act as a commander for a wireless remote SB600 / SB800. Focussing with non-AFS lenses is retained. You may find that you stop using 35mm film if you get the D80 & could sell your F80/28-100 to fund an 18-70 (probably the best value of the kit lenses). The IMHO the D40 is too restrictive in terms of lens choices & other missing features & I think you may want to upgrade sooner rather later. As the old saying goes, 'the poor person pays twice'!

[kayak203]

It sounds like you are happy with your present lenses, so I would buy the D80 body over the D40, and wait for a wider lens. Is it available with the 18-55mm kit? That might be a cost effective wide lens until you can find something you like better.

[jim_gifford]

<<I'd go for the D40 & 18-55 but will having to focus the 50mm at f/1.8 manually really be a pain?>>

 

Switch off the autofocus on your F80 body and spend an hour or two handling your normal photography tasks that way. You'll have your answer.

 

The viewfinder in the digital body may be a wee bit less conducive to manual focus than the one in your F80. But your film body is still a reasonable facsimile for this test. If you are like me, you will find the most significant difference about manual focusing is not the effort to see your subject come into focus in the viewfinder, it is the effort to focus and focus and refocus every time you frame a new subject. You're just holding the camera differently as a result... one hand on lens focusing ring, one hand on the body.

 

I have several manual focus Nikkor lenses and a couple of manual focus film bodies, plus autofocus lenses and (film and digital) autofocus bodies. They are all great fun to work with.

 

Autofocus is a fabulous improvement in 95 percent of the photographic situations I find myself in. If I were mostly a landscape photographer or a posed-portrait photographer that percentage would be much lower.

 

Most of the pictures I take are of kids and other family members. They move constantly, the little rascals. Autofocus helps me get better pictures by concentrating more on composition than on whether I have twisted the focus ring to the correct position.

 

Your mileage may vary, of course. Good luck in your decision. Both the D40 and D80 are delightful designs. Your 50mm lens is only a $100 investment in terms of gear the D40 will not fully utilize... hardly a deal-killer. The D80 is very nearly as capable as my D200, especially for folks who have all autofocus glass, and it costs significantly less than a D200 (which is why I bought a D80 for my brother who had no manual focus Nikkors lying around).

 

You'll enjoy whichever you get.

 

Be well,

[marike1]

Get the D80, but don't sell your F80, as you won't get anywhere near what it's worth and the

ability to put a roll of Velvia through it is reason enough to keep it, IMHO.

 

It's not that the 18-70 or 18-55 will be significantly better than your 28-100G (although I

suspect they could be sharper), it's that with the DX sensor of the D80, your 28mm at the

wide-end of your zoom acts as a 42mm focal length, no longer wide at all.

[iancoxleigh]

If a D80 is really pushing your budget, consider a D50 or D70s. Both have slightly worse viewfinders, but otherwise are comparable with the D40 and will autofocus with your lenses. They should still be available new at some stores that haven't shifted all their inventory and are also available used now.

[Jerry_]

The D40 is 'limited' to AF-S lenses. I'm not sure if a Ai or Ais Nikkor (manual focus) will work at all...you'd have to read the instruction booklet.

 

 

 

The D80, with manual focus, will work with a Ai or Ais Nikkor, or any AF Nikkor lens (save the F4 auto-focus lenses that are not commonly found.)

[ShunCheung]

Any manual-focus AI/AI-S lenses will work with either the D40 or D80 with the same limitations: no metering and of course no auto focus. Otherwise, you can manual focus the lens and estimate exposure to shoot images. In fact, those limitations are the same for all Nikon DSLRs with the D model range from 40 to 100.

 

For manual focusing, the viewfinder on the D80 is somewhat better than the one on the D40.

 

Steve, on any DX sensor DSLR such as the D40 or D80, you'll need a zoom that start from around 18mm. You'll likely find the 28-100mm zoom not wide enough on the short end.

[photo5]

I've heard great things about the D40, but would get the D80 if your budget allows it. I've been really impressed with the images from my D80 and have absolutely no regrets at all spending the money over the D70s, which I sold shortly after buying my D80. The difference between the two cameras is a lot more than people will admit. I've had both, and the difference is pretty huge in my opinion.

 

Dave

[brendan_mckinney]

Hi Steve, I'm new here as well.

You've gotten a lot of interesting responses already and I just wanted to contribute a few

points:

First, I find the focusing ring on the 50mm 1.8 too thin and loose to be used comfortably

all the time. Manually focusing with this lens on a D40 is a skill you could probably

acquire with practice, but given the small viewfinder, and the plasticky ring, I myself would

find it more of a frustration than a pleasant challenge.

Second, I don't know whether this would matter to you, but consider the lack of a second

command dial and a second status screen on the D40 as well. Having one dial for the

aperture and one for the shutter speed (as on the D80 and D70) may seem like a small

bonus, but in the field, it means making adjustments is quick and reflexive. With the D40,

unless you shoot on Auto all the time (which is really what the D40 is designed for), you

would probably find yourself having to slow down.

I usually advocate buying the cheapest possible camera and spending money on lenses

instead. But in this case, due to the exceptional (by Nikon standards) limitations on the

D40, I'd suggest the D80.

Best,

Brendan

[steve_malpass]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I went into my local Jessops on the weekend, biased toward the D80 but though I?d try out both the D80 and D40 anyway. I found the D40 to be a little more lacking and that that the D80 compared more directly to my F80, especially with the second command dial for controlling aperture. As I shoot in aperture priority mode most of the time I think something seemingly so small as swapping from the front dial to the back dial on the D40 would be too irksome as I still intend using my F80 a lot. The D80 would operate in the same way as my F80.

 

Another small point, but the diopter control range on the D40 is not as wide is either the F80 or the D80, which meant the viewfinder display was slightly blurred for my poor eyes.

 

So in the end these seemingly two very small differences between the two cameras mean I am now the proud owner of a D80. I?ve taken a couple of hundred photos with it already am really thankful I went for it. AF is so quick and smooth with it using the 50mm. I tried using MF fir a number of shots and it?s too slow hit and miss. I know back in the day MF is all we had, but once you?re used to AF, it?s difficult to go back ? try going back to dial-up after having broadband ? a poor analogy, but I?m sure you get my point.

 

And my 28-100mm also gives much better results than I expected.

 

Another factor was the d.o.f. preview, as I use this a lot with the F80. Ironically, I didn?t use it once when shooting with the D80, as I just shot a bunch of shots at different apertures and kept whichever I preferred. Purely a luxury of shooting digital. Obviously, with the expense of shooting with film, it?s more important to get it right first time, so the d.o.f. preview is really only essential on a film SLR. Digital really makes me a lazy photographer!

 

I think I will be fine with my two lenses for the time being. I rarely shot at 28mm anyway, as my favourite wide angle is 35mm. 1.5x crop factor means the 29-100 is still wide enough for me most of the time.

 

So, thanks again for all your help!