I love it - the Nikon N80

rickylc · Apr 11, 2023

I missed out in the days of $5 N80's, most listings now are $30-40 and up. But as evidenced here recently, if you are patient and bargain, $20 and under is still possible. I have another on the way that I paid $25 for. We'll see how the luck holds out.

I bought these for my boys, 10 and 12 y.o.

16 Y.O. daughter already has an N75

ic-racer · Apr 11, 2023

Prices are still good today and are less than when I got my first N75. I looked back and in 2012 I paid $90 for my first silver N75 with battery holder and silver 28-80G. It was essentially unused. In 2015, my second N75 was black and it had the black 28-80G and also battery holder and box. That one was $55. It looked unused also.

Huss · Apr 11, 2023

ic-racer said:
Prices are still good today and are less than when I got my first N75. I looked back and in 2012 I paid $90 for my first silver N75 with battery holder and silver 28-80G. It was essentially unused. In 2015, my second N75 was black and it had the black 28-80G and also battery holder and box. That one was $55. It looked unused also.

Reality is those prices are still excellent considering what you are getting.

Yashica · Apr 12, 2023

You can always get a F60 for (almost) nothing. Imagine, you can work with one dial, you don't need bells & whistles, only a very basic machine, which gets your film winded and the exposures right. I have two F80, but also two F100, and F60. For bad weather, unsecure locations, i always grab my F60. It's good enough, for real. Black body, of course.

Sirius Glass · Apr 12, 2023

I recently bought a Tamron SP 150mm to 600mm f/5-6.3 DI VC USD G2 AF lens, Tamron Tele Converter 2X TC-X20 for Nikon, Tamron TAP-in Console for Nikon lens. The lens works well and AF with the N75, N80 and F100 but the tele converter will not auto focus older film cameras.

rickylc · Apr 12, 2023

Second N80 arrived today. This one was also $20. I thought I had paid $20 for a spare door and battery cover for a while as the camera was totally unresponsive, only showing ERR. It would not even focus, I spun the focus ring on the lens wondering if the motor just had a dead spot, nope. Tried resetting, only got ERR and no reset. after messing with it for about 20 minutes I was resigned to having lost on this gamble.

So, I took the lens off, but forgot to turn off the camera first. When I did the shutter fired 3 or 4 times in a row. I fired the shutter a few more times and it worked. Put the lens back on, the focus motor is working now! Tried resetting and was able to reset all modes! fired the camera about a dozen more times to loosen things up a bit, put a roll of film in it and gave it to my 10 y.o. son to go give it a work out. I'll know how that went in a bit.

Moral to the story, never give up on an N80! LOL.

ic-racer · Apr 12, 2023

Great!
I believe the horizontal cloth shutter cameras get gummed up and stop working but the modern vertical shutter cameras can develop bad electrical contacts. Sometimes use can improve the situation.

Thought sometimes they do need to be opened up. Like this Nikon flash with a punched in rubber button:

Nikon SB-28 Speedlight Repair

I got a like-new Nikon SB-28 Speedlght from ebay. As is the case many times, the item has hidden faults. In this case, the mechanism to activate the 20mm and 18mm settings was faulty. To be more specific, when the diffusor screen is pulled out, the LCD screen should show 20mm or 18mm, but in...

www.photrio.com

KerrKid · Apr 12, 2023

I got the N80 body in today. Well....it was dirty and very sticky. It cleaned up nicely, though, and seems to work just fine. We'll see.

rickylc · Apr 12, 2023

Is there a good spot to spray a little CRC to clean up the contacts? though it seems to be working fine now. The 10 y.o. siad it was great! no problems and he loved shooting it.

I'll develop up the film tonight to see what he got.

Sirius Glass · Apr 12, 2023

rickylc said:
Second N80 arrived today. This one was also $20. I thought I had paid $20 for a spare door and battery cover for a while as the camera was totally unresponsive, only showing ERR. It would not even focus, I spun the focus ring on the lens wondering if the motor just had a dead spot, nope. Tried resetting, only got ERR and no reset. after messing with it for about 20 minutes I was resigned to having lost on this gamble.

So, I took the lens off, but forgot to turn off the camera first. When I did the shutter fired 3 or 4 times in a row. I fired the shutter a few more times and it worked. Put the lens back on, the focus motor is working now! Tried resetting and was able to reset all modes! fired the camera about a dozen more times to loosen things up a bit, put a roll of film in it and gave it to my 10 y.o. son to go give it a work out. I'll know how that went in a bit.

Moral to the story, never give up on an N80! LOL.

Perhaps the lens aperture was not at the smallest opening.

rickylc · Apr 13, 2023

It was not, but that wasn't the issue. once it began working, I threw the lens back on (still not at lowest aperture) and it threw an F - - indicating such. prior it was unresponsive and throwing ERR.

Thesecondone · Apr 13, 2023

I bought a nikon dx af-s nikkor 18-55mm lens for this camera but im not sure if its compatible with it, can someone point me in the right direction?

ic-racer · Apr 13, 2023

If you crop to APS dimensions when you enlarge it will be like shooting APS with a 18mm to 55mm Zoom.
I have done similar with a VR lens.

Thesecondone · Apr 13, 2023

ic-racer said:
If you crop to APS dimensions when you enlarge it will be like shooting APS with a 18mm to 55mm Zoom.
I have done similar with a VR lens.

So this lens would work? Just the photo will have dark corners on it?

Bronson Dugnutt · Apr 13, 2023

Thesecondone said:
So this lens would work? Just the photo will have dark corners on it?

The lens should in theory mount & function but yes, it is only designed to cover a half-frame (DX) image circle. The amount of vignette will vary depending on the focal length.

Most of the discussion of using DX lenses on full-frame bodies is restricted to the digital realm, so please let us all know if that combo is workable with a film body.

Huss · Apr 13, 2023

Huss said:

Got my 35 f2 AF-D back from Dean today. One week turn around and the lens is like new. No more oily sticky blades! $100.

KerrKid · Apr 13, 2023

Great news for a great lens. I’d like one of those when I grow up.

Huss · Apr 13, 2023

The optics of that lens are superb, so it was well worth it to me to get it fixed.

madNbad · Apr 13, 2023

Huss said:
The optics of that lens are superb, so it was well worth it to me to get it fixed.

The original Nikkor O 35 2.0 was a good lens, the Ai-S was much better. This one was the next step and Nikon didn’t overwhelm it by adding autofocus.

KerrKid · Apr 14, 2023

On the subject of lenses. I just bought a black Nikkor 28-80mm lens for my N80's. It was $15 and $6.99 shipping. There is a N55 attached to it. I didn't need it, but for the money what the heck. At least I'll have a lens that matches the black body now. I can put one of my silver lenses on the N55.

Just goes to show that there are still "N" deals around.

Huss · Apr 14, 2023

KerrKid said:
On the subject of lenses. I just bought a black Nikkor 28-80mm lens for my N80's. It was $15 and $6.99 shipping. There is a N55 attached to it. I didn't need it, but for the money what the heck. At least I'll have a lens that matches the black body now. I can put one of my silver lenses on the N55.

Just goes to show that there are still "N" deals around.

Sweet! That's how you score a deal. The people who complain "no more deals left on ebay" etc are not willing to do the work and look for them.

Another reason why to shop ebay - I have already received the refund for that defective N80 I had to return. And did not even have to pay for return postage.

KerrKid · Apr 14, 2023

Huss said:
Sweet! That's how you score a deal. The people who complain "no more deals left on ebay" etc are not willing to do the work and look for them.

Another reason why to shop ebay - I have already received the refund for that defective N80 I had to return. And did not even have to pay for return postage.

Like you said, there are always deals on ebay if you're willing to be patient and do your homework. It does goes in cycles it seems. You see the same old stuff listed forever and not selling and then suddenly a deal shows up.

Glad you got your refund so quickly. ebay definitely favors the buyer over the seller.

Are you going to pull the trigger on another N80 if one shows up at a good price?

rickylc · Apr 14, 2023

clearly there are deals, evidence the two I got in the last week each for $20. On one I offered $20 on a $40 listed item, on the other the SELLER sent me an offer of $20 on a $30 listed item. I thought about counter offering that one, but in this case, I probably made the right choice of not being a jerk, lol.

Moose22 · Apr 14, 2023

Well, my N75 came last week. Just got home last night and it works.

That's a $60 with shipping deal to buy a lens that I can resell or likely a little more than $60 and a free body in the deal.

Used the N80 for a few rolls last week, while traveling. So light I had no problem hanging it over my shoulder while humping a MF camera out a trail to a viewpoint, and had it with me for other stuff... it really is a perfect size. The n75 is great, downright tiny, but the N80 with a 35mm (and an 85 in the bag for when I wanted longer) was perfect for a grab and go rig. And I think it fits my hands just a little better.

Sharktooth · Apr 14, 2023

I much prefer the F80, simply because it's a true F series camera, and a step above the crude "N" line. The F80 is like 80% of an F100, in both size and features. The N80 is just the the weakling little brother of the N90. Honestly, I'd be ashamed to own one.

I love it - the Nikon N80

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