.
Just bought a new D80 ($538) + 50mm f/1.8 D ($109) from Adorama to use as
a second body, specializing in indoor low-light/tungsten fast-focusing kid shots.
Right off the bat, let me say I'm not going to the dark side - if I were, it wouldn't
be a D80, it would be a D90 or D300. This is 2nd-body material only, replacing
my K-M, which was small and terrific but didn't give me enough AF advantages
over the K20D.
So. Here are some observations gleaned so far from about 45 minutes of playing
and zero minutes of manual reading. (I usually don't RTFM until I satisfy my
"Must Play Now" urge.)
1) The K20D, (and K100DS & K-M for that matter) have better build quality than
the D80. If you tap the plastic of the D80, it sounds hollow and cheaper - the
Pentax bodies sound more solid. The SD card door and port door are flimsy
enough to worry me. The figures on the K20D top dial are in relief - on the
D80, the figures are painted on and the dial looks cheap.
2) The handling and grip-ability of the D80 is very good, and button placement
is intuitive.
3) Being able to dial-change in smaller stops is wonderful - want f/2.2 and ISO
250? It's immediate.
4) The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D is very cheap looking and feeling, but is a pretty good
lens optically. Not as good as the FA 50, maybe.
5) D80 tungsten WB is worse than the K20D and K-M, about as good as the K100DS.
6) Shake reduction has spoiled me and probably given me some bad habits -
with slow shutter speeds on the D80, I have to really try to remember - be still.
Be very still.
7) K20D has
much more detail at high-ISO - D80 noise reduction on 'normal'
setting seems very heavy-handed. (strangely enough, this is OK for what I
want it for - web albums and 4x6 prints for family members. Smaller prints look
good with this processing.)
8) AF speed - D80 wins hands down in low-light, almost never hunts with the
50 1.8 even wide-open, and is accurate - but I don't think it's quite as accurate
as the K20D. But jury's still out on that.
9) Image quality. Can't fully judge this yet, because I had no natural light to
shoot in, but very early impressions confirm that the K20D is, as I suspected,
something special. I don't think the D80 is going to match that.
I'll post more in this thread as I discover more, form opinions, and eventually,
read the manual.
Below are some very preliminary jpeg snaps showing some of what I'm talking
about, but keep in mind I haven't had this long, so nothing is very illustrative
yet.
(these are at ISO 800, f/2.8, EV -.7))
Above you can see the yellowish cast - WB not as perfect as K20D's. You can
also see the effects of NR - smeared/smooth look. But also, he was bobbing
around, and I'm positive my K20D wouldn't have locked focus at all - a lot of
hunting would have resulted, maybe would have captured one good shot.
Here are some close-ups, you can see the lack of SR in my technique:
wide-open, 1/15s, ISO 320
f/2.8, 1/13s, IS 500
You can see NR effects here, wide-open, 1/15s, ISO 800:
Here you can see the effects of no SR - with K20D/K100D/K-M, this would
have been razor sharp taken with the same care. If I'm more careful, this gets
razor sharp too, I just have to remember:
Last edited by jsherman999; 01-22-2009 at 10:01 PM.