should i or should i not!

[Erad]

so about a month ago i ordered a D80 then canceled it because of personal reasons, but ive been thinking of reordering it again but now im not sure. Will it be worth it? will i be gaining better quality images compared to my d50? should i hold off and wait til the D90 is released and invest my money on other necessary accessories for my existing camera?

i just want peoples opinions if i should upgrade to D80 or just wait months for the rumourd D90, D80s, D80x or watever its goin to be named.

Thanks,
Andy

[jcon]

What are your reasons for wanting to upgrade to a new body? The D80 is a great body, but so is the D50. I would suggest saving your money for much better glass, or save for a D300.

[K1W1]

Based on what seems to be happening with prices for new cameras the D80 replacement will probably be cheaper than the D80 or at least no more but will have extra features and at least some of the tricks that the D3 / D300 have.
Personally I would wait then you have the options of;
Pick up a Dxx for the same price as a current D80 but have some extra time to come up with the $.
Pick up a D80 reduced because it's an "old model"
Skip both and go for the D300 based on the new model not doing what you want.

[imagesbyjudd]

Something else to think about, there are some great buys to be had on the D200, I just saw a d200 with grip 2 batteries 3gig in cards and the 18-70 for 1100. Seller claimed less that 3000 clicks. Of course if you got the extra cash. I have to agree go for the 300.

I have the 200 and love mine. Although working on the wife now for the D3 but that will have to be sometime next year. By that time maybe Nikon will be getting ready for the d4 and I can get a deal :)

[ssil2000]

go for glass! build up your glass and worry about upgrading body once your d50 dies, from all reports the d50 is a great camera... glass lasts a lifetime bodies come and go... at least that is the philosophy i am adopting :)

i would build up your glass and other accessories and once you are satisfied you have everything you need, then worry about a new body!

good luck mate!

Sergio

[coldrain]

so about a month ago i ordered a D80 then canceled it because of personal reasons, but ive been thinking of reordering it again but now im not sure. Will it be worth it? will i be gaining better quality images compared to my d50?

Hmm, is there something in particular that bugs you about your D50?
Photos taken with either of them are very similar, the D80 obviously having a higher resolution. So... if you feel the need for higher resolution then maybe yes, a D80 might be nice. But what else? Do you feel restricted by the AF system? No? Both are about the same in speed too, and image settings are not all that different, except the WB fine tuning...

Size and weight are very similar too...

There are two different rumor threads going around. One says there will not be a D80 successor, but more a D40X successor that will sit between the D40 and the D300. The other says there will be a D80 successor in the D90 some time.

If right now you feel the D50 limits you in some way, then upgrade right now. If not, then why not enjoy your D50 for a while longer and see what will be coming? Any new Nikon DSLR probably will sport a CMOS rather than CCD sensor, and will give you live view then too. So that may definitely be worth the wait.

[rawpaw18]

With all the retail prices dropping on Nikon's
older cameras, a new lineup can not be far behind.
PMA is right around the corner, could be the time for
new announcements. Wait it out just a little while,
worse case scernario is the D80 gets cheaper.

[Rooz]

i agree. wait and see. i held off on buying the d40 for my wife to see what the replacement is like. if it's not much better, i'll pick up the d40 even cheaper.

[Erad]

thanks for all your opinions. my d50 has been superb, ive never had any problem with it. As far as features that the D80 over the D50 arent much, just a .5 higher fps, 10mp ccd sensor. i just been thinking that if im going to upgrade, i feel i want to upgrade to a camera body that has atleast 5fps or higher because i am gonna do sports.

the d300 is a great camera and i understand that, but maybe way out of my budget. now the d200 i can afford, but now is that camera worth getting now with the d300 released? you guys are right, the longer i wait the more the price on these bodies are going to drop, are we expecting the d200 to drop more as well?

another thing that catches my eye as well is the cmos sensor. i dont usually shoot at high ISO, but i will eventually start using high ISO because of the low noise capability on those cmos sensors. now maybe ill just wait a few months and see where the market hits with these bodies and decide then.

Thanks,
Andy

[Erad]

i also like the fact that the higher models have more optional accessories, especially the vertical battery grip. after holding a camera like the d2x and a d200 with battery grip, ive always wanted that extra grip it felt really good in my hand. i dont have that big of hand but that extra grip felt very comfortable.

is there any third party vertical battery grips available for the d50. ive seen one from jenis and it looks very rugged but cant be to sure.

andy

[WestCoast]

Based on what seems to be happening with prices for new cameras the D80 replacement will probably be cheaper than the D80 or at least no more but will have extra features and at least some of the tricks that the D3 / D300 have.

Why would Nikon sell their D80 replacement for less than the inferior D80? Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but I would think that they'd want to lower the price of the D80, since they'd be trying to get rid of them.

[tcadwall]

Why would Nikon sell their D80 replacement for less than the inferior D80? Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but I would think that they'd want to lower the price of the D80, since they'd be trying to get rid of them.
This is the typical Nikon fashion. The price will be less than the ORIGINAL price of the existing model that it replaces. The older model will drop some in price gradually and therefore the new model won't be cheaper than the current price of the one it replaces, does that make any sense, I feel blonde at the moment.

[TNB]

Erad,

You want to shoot sports, but yet only appear to be considering upgrading from a D50 to a D80. I was in that situation and myself opted for the D200 over the D80 just after the D80 was released since the D200 is faster and for me, has a much better sense of balance when using something like the 70-200mm VR F/2.8 lens. However, prior to making that D200 jump I also purchased the Nikon 70-200mm VR F/2.8 lens.

Would I chose a Nikon D300 over the D200 "today"? Of course I would if I was still only shooting with my D50 (which I still own) since I have taken action shots at ISO 1600 with the D200, taken test shots with the D300 at ISO 3200, and already own the 70-200mm VR F/2.8 lens. However, just because the D300 has been released and can shoot at a higher ISO, doesn't mean that the D200 can't take action shots--that's almost like claiming the older D2H and/or D2X can't take action shots while the D300 can. For that matter, the D50 can take decent action shots with a good lens--it just requires a little better timing and the photo probably shouldn't be cropped as much as a camera that shoots with more mexapixels.

An important factor in of itself when shooting sports is the type of lens used. After all, a $5,000.00 camera is still going to take poor quality photos with a poor quality lens mounted on it even if shooting at a high ISO can produce a grainy photo. Granted, ISO 6400 will help a lot, but the ability to shoot at a high ISO is probably not better than having fast glass.

FYI, the 70-200mm VR F/2.8 went up in price while I sat around thinking about purchasing it and increased in price after I purchased it--Yes, I realize that you have since purchased the Sigma version. I also noticed that you purchased the SB600 over the SB800. My point is really that camera bodies on the other hand will probably go down in price just like any computer-chip/electronic based product. It just depends on if one wants to buy NOW and take photos NOW or wait and/or keep waiting for another product to influence the market. After all, one can always save up and wait to make a purchase.


This is the typical Nikon fashion. The price will be less than the ORIGINAL price of the existing model that it replaces. The older model will drop some in price gradually and therefore the new model won't be cheaper than the current price of the one it replaces, does that make any sense, I feel blonde at the moment.
Blonde moment? ;)

Example:

Nikon D2Xs was $5K, then dropped to around $4.5K since the D3 has a MSRP of $5K. If I recall correctly, there was also a $500 rebate for the D2Xs about 6 months after its release--(Ironically, the D2Xs now shows $4699.95 Camera body only at http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25414). The D200/D300 pattern appears to be the same though the MSRP only dropped about $100 on the D200 when the D300 was priced at NikonUSA. However, the D200 has dropped slightly again ($1,599.95 Camera body only at http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25235). Of course, I also ended up getting a $100 rebate when I originally purchased the D200. The D80 has also dropped ($899.95 Camera body only at http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25412 ).

[Rooz]

another thing that catches my eye as well is the cmos sensor. i dont usually shoot at high ISO, but i will eventually start using high ISO because of the low noise capability on those cmos sensors. now maybe ill just wait a few months and see where the market hits with these bodies and decide then.

Thanks,
Andy

another reason to wait a while. nikons iso perfromance has ben steadily improving and i suspect all new models will have much cleaner iso. in saying that, the d50 is a stellar iso performer actually. due to the 6mpvs10mp thing, it may actually be better than the d80 in iso from memory ??

[K1W1]

Why would Nikon sell their D80 replacement for less than the inferior D80? Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but I would think that they'd want to lower the price of the D80, since they'd be trying to get rid of them.

It's a fact of life at the moment for all things electronic. I am also referring to MSRP not street price because as others have pointed out Nikon are very successful at manipulating the market to ensure smooth transitions from one product to another.
I'm not sure what sort of world you live in but anybody with experience in electronics will see the simple reality in my statement and if you don't believe me I have a nice D50 here that I paid the same as what I can buy a D80 for today (probably a little more actually) so if you are willing to take it off my hands for what I paid for it I will gladly buy an inferior D80.

[WestCoast]

This is the typical Nikon fashion. The price will be less than the ORIGINAL price of the existing model that it replaces. The older model will drop some in price gradually and therefore the new model won't be cheaper than the current price of the one it replaces, does that make any sense, I feel blonde at the moment.

OK, THAT makes sense.


I'm not sure what sort of world you live in but anybody with experience in electronics will see the simple reality in my statement and if you don't believe me I have a nice D50 here that I paid the same as what I can buy a D80 for today (probably a little more actually) so if you are willing to take it off my hands for what I paid for it I will gladly buy an inferior D80.

I believe you when you say that the D80's replacement will cost less that what the D80 ORIGINALLY cost when it first came out. That's a pretty important distinction.

Certainly, I've seen this before when I paid $2,700 for a Dell desktop a decade ago whose equivalent replacement sells for under $1,000 right now.

[fionndruinne]

Yep, I'd wait for a sweet new Nikon CMOS sensor in the D80 or D40 replacement. High ISO seems to be so very much better that, if you do use it often, you'll probably regret being stuck with an older-generation CCD sensor a year or so from now.