PHYSICAL TOUR
Front (Advantage: Nikon D80)
All three cameras feature a rubberized grip on the left with contours to improve handling. The D80 is taller than the others, and so has a longer grip, which many users will find more comfortable. The cameras have lens release buttons on the right sides of their mounts. The Alpha and D80 have depth of field previews on the left, and the XTi has one on the right. The Alpha and the XTi have infrared sensor on their grips, and the D80 has one on its right side. The D80's flash mode and flash compensation buttons are on the left side of the lens mount. The XTi's flash button is also on the left. The Alpha's flash is activated by pulling it up into position. The D80 has a customizable function button between the grip and the lens mount, a convenient feature it shares with Nikon's more expensive DSLRs.
Back (Advantage: Nikon D80)
All of the cameras have buttons on the back to activate menus, change the LCD display, and provide camera controls. The Sony Alpha A100 is unusual for having its power switch on the back, at the upper left. It also has a jack for a remote control on the back, at lower right, near the switch for the Super Steady Shot system, which provides image stabilization by moving the image sensor.
Each camera has a 4-way controller, but they differ significantly. The Canon XTi's is a set of five distinct buttons, one in the center and four that curve around it. Each of the buttons brings up a major shooting function – ISO, autofocus mode, white balance, metering mode and picture style. The Sony Alpha A100's would more properly be called an 8-way controller. It's a solid ring with a button at the center, but the ring has detents not only at up, down, right and left, but between those positions, which allows the user to jump directly to any of the nine autofocus points. Pressing the top of the ring in playback mode brings up the histogram display, and pressing the bottom rotates the image. The Nikon 4-way controller is a small dish, which switches autofocus points in shooting mode, navigates through menus, and controls image display and information in playback mode. The Nikon controller does not provide direct access to any other parameters.
The Nikon D80 is unique in having two control dials, one on the front of the grip and one in back, cutting down on the number of operations needed to adjust the aperture and set or fine-tune white balance.
Sides (Advantage: Canon XTi)
The right sides of each camera have memory card doors in them. The Nikon D80 door is small, because the camera uses SD cards, while the Sony Alpha A100 and Canon Rebel XTi have doors that take up most of their sides, to accommodate the larger Compact Flash cards those cameras accept. The Sony Alpha A100's video out jack is also under its memory card door – an odd choice, because it means that the large and delicate door will have to stay open when it's in use. The Canon Rebel XTi and Nikon D80 have video out and remote control jacks on the left side. The Alpha and the D80 have DC power input on the left, and the XTi has it on the right. The XTi's strap lugs are set flush, the D80's poke out. The Alpha's left lug pokes out and its right one is flush. None of the lugs get in the way of a comfortable grip.
Top (Advantage: Nikon D80)
The tops of the cameras are more distinctive than the other views. The Nikon D80 has a large monochrome LCD on the right side, which acts as the control panel, a job both done by the color LCD on both other cameras. It shows exposure settings, exposure modes, focus modes, meter modes, white balance, burst mode, battery and memory status, and some miscellaneous stuff.
The Sony Alpha A100 has two large dials on the top deck. The one on the right is the standard mode dial, similar to the one on the XTi and the D80, which sets manual or automatic shooting modes. The one on the left accesses metering pattern, flash mode, focus mode, ISO, white balance, dynamic range and Color/DEC, which is Sony's name for picture styles. The Alpha's extra dial is cumbersome – to access these controls, the user must turn the dial, then press a button in its center to see the control menu displayed on the LCD.
Both the Canon Rebel XTi and the Sony Alpha A100 have their single control dials mounted vertically, near their shutter releases. The Nikon D80's is horizontal, on the front of the grip.
Bottom (Advantage: Nikon D80)
All three cameras feature a metal tripod socket centered under their optical axes. The D80's socket is surrounded by a textured area that might grip the top of a tripod better than a smooth surface, but really, it's there because it's less upsetting when that gets scratched by a tripod stud than some other surface. Both the Rebel XTi and the Sony Alpha A100 have some other surface around their sockets, with manufacturing data printed on something smooth. The battery doors on all three are under their grips. They are large, with fairly sturdy latches.
DESIGN
Model Design (Advantage: Nikon D80)
The Nikon D80 is larger and more solid than the Sony Alpha A100 or the Canon Rebel XTi. The size difference isn't large, but we think it will be significant to users with large hands. Conversely, the D80 isn't too big for any adult to handle. We are disappointed with the construction of both the XTi and the Alpha. Their body plastic seems thin – the cameras creak a bit when they're squeezed, they rattle when shaken, and their parts don't fit together with the precision we see in the D80, or in more advanced Canons. It's annoying to see a product that costs hundreds of dollars with flaws like these. More importantly, the gaps we see in the cameras will let dust and dirt into the cameras, which in turn will shorten their functional life.
Handling (Advantage: Nikon D80)
The Nikon D80 has a few big advantages in handling. It has two control dials, which speeds up manual operation of not only exposure controls, but also white balance and other parameters. It offers direct access to the most important controls – so does the XTi, but the Alpha has that clumsy and unfortunate parameter control dial at top left. The D80 has the easiest autofocus to use – the sites are well-placed and easy to navigate to. This won't be true for everyone, but we found the D80’s slightly larger frame offered an advantage in handling over the other two, smaller bodies.
