Hands-on Experience: Nikon D80 and Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF Lens

The choice of camera-lens combination having been made, we purchased our Nikon D80 as a body-only, mainly because the dealer with the best body price could not provide the Nikkor lens we had selected. The lens, therefore, was purchased separately, and we also ordered a spare battery pack, two 1-GB SD high-speed flash memory cards, and a Kingston USB card reader that is also compatible with the CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards used with our Olympus cameras.

The Nikon D80, including the Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF lens, the Olympus MCON-35 macro adaptor, UV filter and Sigma ring flash adaptor ring.

Manufactured by Nikon in Japan, the Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF lens was produced by Nikon for about eight years and now, doubtless for some perverse marketing reason, has been discontinued without an equivalent replacement becoming available. Depending on whose review you read, this may be the best all-around lens ever produced by Nikon, and it's a pity that it has been discontinued. Fortunately for us, this particular Nikon lens was still readily available in mid-2007.

The Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF normal/macro lens – perhaps the
best all-around SLR lens ever made.

When mounted on the D80, this Nikkor lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 42 mm to 157.5 mm. The lens has a two-position "switch" that changes the lens from normal to macro mode; the lens focuses differently internally for each mode. This lens is "computerized" (note the "D" in the part number), does auto-focus ("AF"), and has internal mechanical focus ("IF"; the lens does not change length or rotate during focusing). It also supports all of the Nikon D80's various automatic modes. In this context, it should also be noted that the D80 in turn supports this lens's auto-focus mode. (It is important to note that some Nikon cameras, such as the D40, do not support a D-style lens's auto-focus mode, which requires a dedicated drive motor within the camera body.)

The Kingston FCR-HS215M multi-standard media card reader is a very convenient
accessory for those with several types of media cards in use.

The Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF lens, in combination with the Nikon D80 provides a minimum field of view of about 4.2 cm. An added bonus is that this lens-camera combination is also fully compatible with the Olympus MCON-35 macro extension lens, to achieve a minimum field of view of about 2.7 cm, providing amazingly good image quality for the very smallest live moths completely automatically.

• SLR with very bright pentaprism viewfinder, very good for low-light conditions
• Resolution up to 3872 x 2592 pixels, about 10.0 million pixels
• Exceptionally fast – time to first picture on turn-on, camera wake-up time, and interval between consecutive pictures – all essentially instantaneous
• Interchangeable lenses. Because of an image sensor size smaller than a frame of 35-mm film, 35-mm lenses mounted on the camera have an effective focal length of about 1.5 times the lens's 35-mm specification; e,g,, a 100-mm focal length 35-mm lens mounted on the D80 camera has the effective reach of a 150-mm lens mounted on a 35-mm film camera
• Automatic white balance.
• Automatic focus programmable as to modes, areas and locations, which in turn controls the lens's focus. The pinpoint accuracy and speed of focus is truly outstanding, even when chasing a tiny moth up a wall.
• Many light metering options
• Built-in flash
• Custom programming options
• LCD status display located on the top of the camera, in addition to a large rear display.

The D80 camera incorporates many of the features of Nikon's flagship SLR cameras, the D200 and D300, such as the many custom programming options, the bright pentaprism viewfinder and the superb auto-focus sensor module.

We especially appreciate the LCD status display on top of the camera, which even displays number of shots still remaining when the camera is switched off. Minimizing the use of the illuminated rear display helps to extend the exceptional battery life afforded by the single rechargeable lithium battery. However, we have also found the brief rear display of the shot just taken more useful than expected (this function is fully programmable), to know immediately whether an in-flight shot captured only half of a fast-flying moth!

The Nikon D80 digital camera combined with our Nikkor macro zoom lens allows us to photograph moths as small as 3 mm "nose to tail" with further improved quality, thanks to the more sophisticated camera design, an outstanding image sensor and outstanding lens optical design and implementation. At the same time, we can immediately turn the camera on a much larger subject without any manual manipulation or reprogramming required. For our night-time moth photography, we can generally achieve adequate photos of the smallest moths, but we continue to use the Olympus MCON-35 macro extension lens for close-up re-takes of the small specimens that we capture, many of which have rarely or never been illustrated as living moths.

This is not to say that the Nikon D80 doesn't have any aspects that we dislike or find annoying. Our first complaint regarding this camera is the poor quality of the provided documentation. The manual's indexing is less than complete. As well, the manual is printed on paper worthy of a public facility in the wilds of some primitive country, with horrible print-through. To make matters worse, some bright light at Nikon decided to print the manual in light-gray ink so that it's doubly hard to read! (Have we been spoiled by the well-indexed Olympus E-20 manual and the Sigma EM-140DG flash manual, each printed on high-quality clay-coated paper with very black ink, easy to read with no print-through?)

Another group of somewhat annoying problems probably relate to the very compact design and construction of the D80 body. The built-in flash, for example, isn't placed high enough to "reach over" many lenses to illuminate the center of the subject, unless one is so far away as to obviate the macro capabilities of the camera-lens combination. The choice of the small form-factor SD flash memory card instead of CompactFlash was probably driven by the desire for a compact body. The ergonomic design, constrained by the comparatively small size, makes the D80 uncomfortable to hold and operate one-handed for extended continuous shooting, especially with the added weight of lens and external flash; this is especially noticeable to anyone accustomed to working extensively with the Olympus E-20 with its exceptionally comfortable design.

In summary, the combination of Nikon D80 body and Nikkor AF28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF lens provides the full set of "must-have" features for our specialized application of moth and mineral photography, together with a full array of capabilities for high-quality "regular" photography. Detailed discussion of close-up lighting and specialized camera settings for our applications, as well as other relevant aspects, is provided on accompanying web pages (see Photography menu at top).

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Page last modified 1 March 2008
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