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Picture Quality / Size Options (8.5)
The Nikon D80 records RAW files, and JPEGs at three levels of compression called Fine, Normal and Basic. File size is cut in half by each step down in quality, with a comparable loss of visible quality. The D80 allows the user to choose three different resolutions for JPEG files. Large is 10 megapixels, Medium is 5.6 megapixels, and Small is 2.5 megapixels. The D80 can shoot JPEGs simultaneously with RAW files.
The only real advantage of shooting the smaller file sizes is to conserve storage space. More images fit on an SD card, and, significantly more fit on a hard drive, CD-ROM or DVD. The files are still too big for web use or PowerPoint. Given how cheap storage is, for most uses, it’s wise to shoot big files and downsize copies of them in post-production.
Picture Effects Mode (9.5)
Picture effects modes usually refer to settings that affect images as they are shot. It’s less common for cameras to have extensive features for changing images after they are shot. The Nikon D80 has both. Its Optimize Image settings change sharpness, contrast, saturation, color mode and hue. The presets include Normal, Softer, Vivid, More Vivid, Portrait and Black and White. The presets do essentially what their names suggest. We found them of limited use. The vivid settings oversaturated colors. Softer reduces saturation and sharpening, which is appropriate for images that will be retouched on a computer, but shooting RAW is a better choice for that. It’s possible to create a custom setting, or to adjust the presets, in each parameter. The black and white mode allows the user to set the camera to render images as if it were shooting with color filters. The choices are yellow, orange, red and green. The colors influence the contrast and tonal rendering in black and white images.
The D80’s Retouch menu allows users to modify images in the playback mode. All the Retouch options create new copies of the image affected, leaving the original intact. The first option is D-lighting, which works to recover underexposed or backlit images. The user can control the amount of change performed. Photoshop users will get the sense that the D80 has worked with curves or levels to adjust the images. Whether it’s done in the camera with D-lighting or on the computer, these adjustments tend to accentuate noise. Red-eye correction is available in Retouch, as are cropping and resizing. There is also a color-correction tool, which offers a “skylight” filter to cool colors and a warming filter. There’s a more ambitious Color Balance setting, which allows the user to shift the balance on green-magenta and red-blue axes. The monochrome tool converts the image to black and white, and can leave the image neutral, or tint it sepia or blue. The filter effects available in shooting aren’t available in post-processing. Finally, the D80 can save very small copies of images, for PowerPoint, the web or email. The D80 also offers Image Overlay, which combines two RAW frames into a single image.
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