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Auto Mode (8.0)
The heading in the Nikon D80’s manual for the full auto mode is “Point and Shoot Photography.” That about sums it up: the D80 selects ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, focus mode and focus point. It automatically activates the flash in low light, which is an advantage over competing cameras – for example, the Sony alpha A100 doesn’t use flash unless it is manually activated.
Custom Image Presets (7.5)
The Nikon D80 has 6 custom presets, each of which is programmed to set various parameters the way an experienced photographer would to get a given effect. Though many compact cameras offer as many as 20 or 30 presets, most entry-level DSLRs offer a handful of basic ones, just as the D80 does. The D80’s presets work. Beginners who need them will be happy with their results.
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Preset
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Portrait
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Sharpens less than normal, favors skin tones and minimizes depth of field
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Landscape
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Sharpens image, boosts saturation, shuts off flash and auto focus assist light
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Close Up
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Uses center focus point, doesn’t use flash and boosts saturation
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Sports
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Maximizes shutter speed, shuts off flash. Nikon says it’s best for shots “in which the main subject stands out clearly.”
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Night Landscape
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Long exposures without flash
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Night Portrait
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Uses flash with a long exposure to balance foreground and background, and freeze the portrait subject
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Drive / Burst Mode (5.75)
Nikon specs the D80 with a 3 frames-per-second burst mode, but it shot 2.8 fps in our tests. On the positive side, it shot 100 of its best JPEGs at that rate before having to rest. It managed 15 RAW shots at that clip, and cleared its buffer in about 5 seconds.
The Nikon D200 shoots 5 frames a second. Sports and action shooters will notice the difference. Among DSLRs around $1000, the D80’s performance is on the better side of average – just slightly better than its competition.
Playback Mode (8.0)
The Nikon D80 can show 4 or 9 thumbnail images at a time, and can magnify large images up to 25x. It can show RGB and luminance histograms, EXIF shooting data and highlights. The user can delete single, multiple or all images, or protect images from deletion. The D80 allows images to be hidden on the SD card as well.
The slide show option shows the snapshot aspect of the D80: it’s both ambitious and goofy. The D80 offers plain slide shows, showing all the images in a folder, or up to 50 selected ones. It also offers Pictmotion slide shows with a range of transitions, panning and zooming, and music. The melodies offered are “Pachelbel’s Canon,” “Scarborough Fair,” “Pomp and Circumstance,” “Turkish March” and “Grandfather’s Clock.” This Pictmotion mode with its interesting transitions and in-camera music is adapted from Nikon's much more compact Coolpix digital cameras.
Movie Mode (0.0)
Because the Nikon D80 does not create a live view from its image sensor, it cannot have a movie mode.
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