Loren Pechtel

My Nikon D80 is sick. Nikon wants about as much to repair it as the current used value of a excellent-condition D80.

Any thoughts on what the right course of action is?

LufthansaFlyer

depending what your budget is, but you could look at something like a d7200? double your MP and other improvements? A refurbed body on amazon showing for 810.00, or cross over to the dark side and go to FX?

sama

d7500 was just released, so I´m guessing small drop on other d7xxx models

WilcoRoger

I recently upgraded/traded in my D80 for a used D7000 body for 150€ - well worth the money. If you were happy with the D80, I'd look at good condition, lowish shutter count (<50k) used D90 (a noticable upgrade and should be available cheap) or something in the D7xxx range (even larger leap forward, the earlier models should be available at an attractive price)

The D90 has the advantage over the D7xxx that all your batteries & charger are compatible with that of the D80.

dascc

I wouldn't pay to repair an 11 year old body...

I agree with this. depending on your budget I'd go with a Factory Refurbed D7100 or 7200. It will be lightyears ahead of your D80 body.

Loren Pechtel

Yeah, if I decide to upgrade that's what I was looking at.

sea_jeff

If I had a nice collection of Nikon glass I wouldn't need much of an excuse to upgrade to a D500.

Loren Pechtel

Nice, but I can't see the D500 being that much better than the D7500 to be worth the price jump.

sea_jeff

Probably true - but that AF is insane.

If you get 10 years out of each body...

Peoriaman1

Lots of advancements over the years between D80 - D90 - D7000 - D7100 etc. Heck even the D80 is a big improvement handling-wise over the earlier D70 if you ever get a chance to use them back to back.

My D80 is a workhorse and has been a great camera, but my newer D7000 and D750 cameras will shoot rings around the D80 with their faster "motor drive", larger buffer, live view, built-in horizontal level, front and rear IR receivers, user-customizable presets, better high-ISO performance and much, MUCH better long exposure performance. In short, upgrade to at least a D7000 or newer.

Boraxo

Similar question - I have an old Nikon D50 which gave me almost a decade of good use but has been gathering dust for the last few years due to the advent of iphone convenience.

I miss the whole photography experience and am considering an upgrade to a Nikon D7500 prior to a trip to Italy. Is it worth it??? Especially interested in video as well as ease of upload to social media.

ebuck

D7500 is a huge leap from your old D50. It borrows some of its technology from the D500, which is probably the best DX camera Nikon has produced. And with the Nikon sale going on right now, it's a good time to buy. You won't regret it at all! (You'll wonder how you even kept the D50 for that long!). And with SnapBridge, you'll be able to transfer photos wirelessly to your phone and post immediately on social media.

klevin99

Just finished a trip to Scotland with a Canon 70D and a Pixel 3 phone, shooting raw+jpg. Took a number of pics with both to compare. The picture quality from the Pixel compared well with the 70D when comparing raw similarly developed (Pixel jpg were interesting - lots o snap but on close inspection (300% mag in Lightroom) you could see over-sharpening and too much saturation boost.) Movie quality between the two was also similar.

The big difference, obviously, is that you don't get the flexibility interchangable and zoom lenses allow. You only get a constant wide angle. It's also hard to use polarizers, ND or deliberate long exposures with a phone camera.

chipmaster

Moores law has moved things a ton, almost any DSLR you buy will yield image that will blow your D80 away, if you are a cheapskate by last years' model and save even more buying from those that must have the newest, technology advancement has really slowed and you pay a lot for very little incremental. Since you are coming from d D80, a D3200, D5000, or D7000 offer more than enough eye popping improvement. Ergo and settings / handling may be more important for you, want two dials and convenience may make you go up in price. More often than not menus and dials have me cursing my camera more than its sensor size/# pixels, ISO, or focus speed/#.

I find as much as like like my high end gear ( I always buy used last generation ), actually after the the advancements from three years ago, the improvements while real are more GAS then anything else. If you can't get the picture done with last generation model the expensive new D850, D7500, Z7/Z6 ain't going to fix it.

You likely will find that for more than not your smartphone for most pictures will beat it for convenience and sharing, for the peepers of course you need a DSLR and all those big lens, LOL

chipmaster

Of course sensor size matters but how many photos does one look at 300%, LOL. FOV and zoom are almost the only reason and low-light action for carrying anything but a phone for 99% of people looking to capture "kodak" moments. BTW how often do you share and view your pictures and what is easier to share? I find when I shoot with DSLR your workflow and speed to share becomes a limiter.

Recently shot a few dance/ballet competitions, of course I had the best shots D5 70-200 2.8, D810 200F2 Df 24-70 2.8, but guess who posted and shared pictures to the mass first from during, and afterwards. Of course my shots were the ones that got used later for a few publicity but for most candids and other those taken with the smartphones were widely shared and pretty much anything after from a journalistic and event documentation was "old news" Make sure to take and peep for your own pleasure as for today's generation is about sharing and immediate trumps quality.