I love it - the Nikon N80

mtnbkr · Jan 17, 2023

Huss said:
The beautiful thing about 'cheap' cameras is you use them w/o thinking this thing is so expensive I better not walk along the surf. I shielded the camera when I wasn't using it, whipped it out and snapped a shot when I saw the opportunity, then shielded it again.

Back when my N80 was my main "daily driver", we were at the beach, OBX if I recall, with me trying to get a good picture of my wife and daughter. Daughter was about 3 at the time and decided to grab a handful of dry sand and throw it at me. Needless to say it went all over my camera. I shook and/or blew it off and it was fine from that point on. It was a bit more puckering at the time as that was not a cheap camera at the time.

Huss said:
exposure/metering works with manual focus lenses if those lenses are chipped. Like the Nikon AI-P lenses, Voigtlander and Zeiss SlI and Zf.2

There was, at least when I had mine, a few folks who could install chips in unchipped lenses to give you full metering with the older lenses. I have no idea if they're around anymore though. It wasn't a terribly expensive job, but still only worth doing to special lenses. I never got around to trying it for myself though.

Chris

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

Helge said:
For absolute speed internal focus motors might be best, but often absolute speed is not that important. The lenses also seemed to unnecessarily balloon in size with the biggerism going on through the nineties to today. Not helped by all the electronics crammed into them.

yeah my 50 1.8G is much bigger (but lighter) than my 50 1.4D. The D lens is also noisier and spins the focus ring when used, so you need to make sure you are not touching it.
As for speed of focus? Seems about the same. The D seems to hunt a tiny bit more on the F80 but I'm not 100% sure as focus is achieved so quickly.

1.8 vs 1.4

And here with the big mama - the Sigma Art 50. Interestingly the Sigma lens focuses quicker than the G or D on the F80. But not what I'd described as a well balanced package...

madNbad · Jan 17, 2023

Not to get you started but aren’t the D lenses hanging out in the bargain basement?

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

madNbad said:
Not to get you started but aren’t the D lenses hanging out in the bargain basement?

Yah. I think the problem w D lenses is if you are using the Nikon Z system, the FTZ adapter does not allow for the autofocus to work. AF works with the G lenses w the FTZ adapter.

Currently I have my 50 1.4D, 35 2.0 D and 24 2.8 D on craigslist, but nary a sniff. I have G or Art versions of those, so they are redundant.

Sirius Glass · Jan 17, 2023

madNbad said:
Not to get you started but aren’t the D lenses hanging out in the bargain basement?

I perfer the D lenses for my N75 and F100, so please leave them for me.

madNbad · Jan 17, 2023

When I owned a Df, I mostly used it with chipped Ai-S lenses but decided to try at least one autofocus lens. I order what was supposed to be the special edition 50 1.8 G that was paired with the Df from KEH but ended up with a regular run 50. It was fun to use, fast focus and didn't weigh a ton. Good match for the N80.

Roger Thoms · Jan 17, 2023

I’ve got my F80 paired up with a Nikkor AF 85mm f1.4D lens, which is a nice combo. The lens is surprisingly light

Roger

Moose22 · Jan 17, 2023

Huss said:
exposure/metering works with manual focus lenses if those lenses are chipped. Like the Nikon AI-P lenses, Voigtlander and Zeiss SlI and Zf.2

I have an old 18mm that I chipped so it would work on modern cameras. If you have a dslr to do the programming it isn't hard at all and now it meters right everywhere.

So, technically, it is a limitation but not one that I'm super worried about.

Helge · Jan 17, 2023

Daniela said:
I'm all ears!

Keep off eBay or places that might be “inspired” by eBay prices. The scourge of the used marked is people treating eBay as a price catalog.
It’s not!
Local thrift stores, flea markets, asking around when people discuss cameras, small photo stores, sometimes local classifieds.
It was quite a popular camera, and for good reason, so it pops up quite a bit.
People also, rightly, assume that the customer will be turned off my the almost universal sticky issue. And the price often reflects that.

madNbad said:
Not to get you started but aren’t the D lenses hanging out in the bargain basement?

I don’t know about that, but if so it certainly fits with the bargain bin camera.
The construction of AF-D lenses is very good, and they also work perfectly well on MF bodies.
Nothing wrong with them at all.
But please do spread that notion.

Moose22 · Jan 17, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
I perfer the D lenses for my N75 and F100, so please leave them for me.

I'm surprised you don't already have one of each, two of your favorite. N75 + AF50 is a super, inexpensive, lightweight camera.

Sirius Glass · Jan 17, 2023

Moose22 said:
I'm surprised you don't already have one of each, two of your favorite. N75 + AF50 is a super, inexpensive, lightweight camera.

The two have gotten along well for years and they share and exchange lenses frequently.

KerrKid · Jan 17, 2023

Huss said:
Just shot a roll of HP5 this morning walking along the beach. The last of the major storms had passed through so now we have clean air and big waves.
Again using the grid lines all the time to make sure the horizontals and verticals stay as such!

The size/feature set of this camera is just perfect. The N75 is very nice, but a tiny bit too small. The N80 has a noticeably smoother/quieter shutter, bigger vf, you can set ISO, you can set metering pattern w/o needing to set a custom function for it and it just fits in my hand better. The build is also a step up. But they are the same money on ebay!

The beautiful thing about 'cheap' cameras is you use them w/o thinking this thing is so expensive I better not walk along the surf. I shielded the camera when I wasn't using it, whipped it out and snapped a shot when I saw the opportunity, then shielded it again.

As cameras like this are so quick to use, this is easy. Checked the camera when I got home - was completely fine w/ no spray/dust/sand etc on it. Developing this roll now.

I was hoping you'd touch on the differences between the N75 and N80. Thanks. I have fairly large hands and the N75 is a bit small, but that's kind of what I like about it. Besides, it's huge compared to my XA2 and various Konica and Ricoh rangefinders. I have four N75's so I can't justify (ahem) buying an N80. Yet. But I'm really liking all the info on them. They are still easy to find and the "expensive" ones aren't all that expensive. Plus they're black instead of the somewhat cheesy silver and black color of the N75's that I have. Yeh, I'm that shallow, too.

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

Fun:

Not fun:

Taken with the fun package:

ic-racer · Jan 17, 2023

Mine came today. The glue is drying on the latch replacement. For the N80, the metal latch machining (for the F100) does not make a perfect fit on the N80, so some additional trimming needs to be undertaken. Either the metal latch can be filed, or, more easily, additional plastic can be removed from the camera back.

Pictures to follow.

madNbad · Jan 17, 2023

Which mode are you using? Shutter priority or something else?

madNbad · Jan 17, 2023

Helge said:
Keep off eBay or places that might be “inspired” by eBay prices. The scourge of the used marked is people treating eBay as a price catalog.
It’s not!
Local thrift stores, flea markets, asking around when people discuss cameras, small photo stores, sometimes local classifieds.
It was quite a popular camera, and for good reason, so it pops up quite a bit.
People also, rightly, assume that the customer will be turned off my the almost universal sticky issue. And the price often reflects that.

I don’t know about that, but if so it certainly fits with the bargain bin camera.
The construction of AF-D lenses is very good, and they also work perfectly well on MF bodies.
Nothing wrong with them at all.
But please do spread that notion.

I was thinking of price, not construction.

ic-racer · Jan 17, 2023

These are the "before" images. Latch is broken and it is quite sticky.

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

Helge said:
Keep off eBay or places that might be “inspired” by eBay prices. The scourge of the used marked is people treating eBay as a price catalog.
It’s not!
Local thrift stores, flea markets, asking around when people discuss cameras, small photo stores, sometimes local classifieds.
It was quite a popular camera, and for good reason, so it pops up quite a bit.
People also, rightly, assume that the customer will be turned off my the almost universal sticky issue. And the price often reflects that.

I don’t know about that, but if so it certainly fits with the bargain bin camera.
The construction of AF-D lenses is very good, and they also work perfectly well on MF bodies.
Nothing wrong with them at all.
But please do spread that notion.

I bought mine off ebay. $30 w lens. Of course there were people asking $100 and up but I just ignore those.

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

ic-racer said:
These are the "before" images. Latch is broken and it is quite sticky. View attachment 326973 View attachment 326972 View attachment 326971

Yup, mine was sticky like that. 15 minutes w a cloth and isopropyl alcohol got ride of the sticky.

Bwbuff · Jan 17, 2023

Now I want one too, I will buy one very very soon. I have a question , if I get the camera with the MB-16, is that mean I can just use 4 AA instead of the 2 CR123 batteries ? Please advise. Thank you.

Cholentpot · Jan 17, 2023

Bwbuff said:
Now I want one too, I will buy one very very soon. I have a question , if I get the camera with the MB-16, is that mean I can just use 4 AA instead of the 2 CR123 batteries ? Please advise. Thank you.

Yep. Confirmed.

jimjm · Jan 17, 2023

Bwbuff said:
Now I want one too, I will buy one very very soon. I have a question , if I get the camera with the MB-16, is that mean I can just use 4 AA instead of the 2 CR123 batteries ? Please advise. Thank you.

Yep, the MB-16 inserts in the battery chamber where the CR123 batteries usually go. It only uses four AA batteries, so it doesn't add a lot of weight. I believe it does increase the camera's roll capacity but not advance speed.

Bwbuff · Jan 17, 2023

Thank you both for your replies. Much appreciated.

Cholentpot · Jan 17, 2023

Bwbuff said:
Thank you both for your replies. Much appreciated.

Pulling out the plastic camera cover from the body of the camera gives me nightmares though.

Huss · Jan 17, 2023

I love it - the Nikon N80

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