Nikon F80s: A Comparison Review

Short summary: An excellent camera that not surprisingly greatly surpasses the F70 in almost every respect. The surprise is that it also stands well on its own when compared to the Nikon F5. In terms of features, it seems like a perfect match for black and white Zone System users like me.

Check out the table comparison for a side-by-side showdown of these three bodies.

(top to bottom) Goliath, David, and Ol' Uncle Shem.

I am ecstatic about the Nikon F80s. For six years prior to my upgrade, I had been using a Nikon F70D. I truly liked the F70. After hundreds of happy rolls (resulting in dozens of respectable shots) with it, I was confident that I had mastered the F70's quirks. I thought that its annoying design flaws were in no way holding me back; that people who whined about its clumsy interface and its lack of this or that feature were just finding a way to blame their inadequacies on an innocent piece of equipment.

After all, an expensive camera does not a good photographer make, correct?

The F80s is a prosumer camera targeted specifically at photographers like me--hardcore enthusiasts with neither an excuse nor the money to buy a Nikon F5 or an F100. The F80 is the direct successor to my F70. It sold for roughly the same price and occupied the exact same niche in the Nikon line. I expected that it would be slightly better; one new useful feature here, a dozen useless-modes-that-I'll-never-use there… you know, a typical techno-geek inspired upgrade!

Imagine my shock. Gone were all the "special" exposure modes. Perhaps more shocking was that gone were the endless litany of complaints I usually rattled off against the F70D. It has:

• depth-of-field preview;
• fast autofocus;
• true 1% spot meter;
• half stops;
• an AF-assist light;
• an exposure lock-button;
• standard mechanical cable release facility;
• simple controls that you can operate without looking, and;
• an on-demand LCD backlight!

Somebody pinch me, did someone at Nikon finally wake up? I would have been happy with all of these improvements. But I didn't say that I was happy with the F80s. I said I was ecstatic.

It's like Christmas for a six-year old! I got:

• G-lens compatibility;
• five AF points, all user selectable on the fly;
• closest-subject-priority dynamic AF;
• an amazingly balanced almost completely vibration-free shutter and mirror mechanism;
• 10-segment 3D matrix metering;
• multiple exposure capability;
• on-demand grid lines in the viewfinder;
• G series lens capability;
• optional vertical grip that uses standard AA batteries;
• shot data (shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation setting) imprint, and;
• the ability to change numerous settings!

What more could I ask for?

The smallish grip means that the fingers are bent more severely around the grip. The fact that my pinky hangs uselessly beyond the bottom of the body only adds to the strain.

There are a few things that the F70 has better. In all fairness to a camera that has served me well for over half a decade, I'll mention these advantages:

• Faster film advance / shooting rate - the F70D (with date imprint off) can pull 4 frames per second in continuous high-speed mode;
• Chunkier hand grip - the F70D feels nice and secure in my hand. The size of its hand grip meant that I could hold it lightly and never fear it slipping from my hand. The F80 by comparison has a very narrow grip which requires more of a crick in the fingers to hold properly. The fact that the F80 stands shorter means that I have, in effect, only two fingers holding on to the body (index on the shutter release, pinky hanging uselessly under the camera). Add a hefty piece of Nikon glass like a 80-200mm f/2.8 AF Zoom-Nikkor, and you're asking for major pain. Thankfully, adding the vertical grip / battery pack (MB-16) helps considerably in this regard.
• Slightly more powerful flash - the F70D's built-in Speedlight has a Guide Number of 14m (ASA100) vs. 12m (ASA100) with the F80s.
• Even finer spot metering area - the F70D's spot metering area is only 3mm in diameter, whereas the F80s' is 4mm. This beats even the F5's spot meter area.

That's about it. On with my gushing!

Despite those two minor gripes, I am utterly delighted with the F80s. But I didn't say that I was delighted with the F80s. I said that I was ECSTATIC. Yes, there is more.

By some quirk of fate, a few scant weeks after acquiring this new gem, I was able to buy for myself a pre-owned Nikon F5. It's when you compare it against.... It's when you compare it against the F5 that you really appreciate the F80. Let's go through the "advantages" of the F5:

• Mirror lockup - frankly, I've never needed it… and there are ways around it if you really need completely vibration-free long-exposures;

Speed: Hear the Difference For a complete multimedia web experience, check out the sound files (.wav or .mp3) that I've captured of each film body shooting 8 frames at its fastest film advance setting. F70D at 3.7fps: F80S at 2.5fps: F5 at 8fps: WAV-54kb | MP3-11kb WAV-76kb | MP3-15kb WAV-44kb | MP3-9kb

• insanely fast shooting speed - 8 frames per second… with a fresh set of batteries you could go through a 36 shot roll in less than 5 seconds. Unless you're doing sports or wildlife photography, I don't see why you'll need all that speed.
• One-third stops - ok. You got me there. There's no argument here.
• Even faster autofocus - fine, fine, fine… but without the AF-assist light, the F5 AF will still hunt when you really need the autofocus-in dim conditions.
• 1/8000 second fastest shutter speed - really now. When was the last time you needed to go that fast? It's only faster by one stop from the F80.
• 1/250 (1/300 for some speedlights) flash sync speed - again, we're only talking one stop faster than the F80's 1/125 second sync speed.
• 100% coverage of viewfinder - yeah, that helps… but it doesn't make THAT much of a difference.
• 1005 element Color 3D Matrix Meter - fine. It's still the finest in-camera light meter on the planet.
• Separate exposure lock and AF-on button - esoterica, really… but quite an advantage in many shooting situations.
• Replaceable focusing screens - that is if you can afford a new screen. The electronic screen (which allows full 3D Color Matrix metering) with grid lines costs US$140. That's half the value of an F80.
• More settings - more than the most expensive Nokia on the market;
• Built like a tank - it's weather-proofed to withstand the most rugged conditions;
• Self-diagnostic and self-calibrating shutter - you'll just have to feel comfortably with having to bring your F80 in every two years for a spot check;
• A few more technical esoteric details that most people will never notice...

It's not as if the F80 takes all this lying down. It has a few real advantages of its own:

• Light and svelte - the F5 is a tank. It weighs a ton compared to the F80s. And you can't even remove the vertical grip… without the vertical grip, the F80 is little larger than an opened-up SB-28 speedlight.
• Three-stop range in the electronic analog meter display - the F5 displays only two stops up or down from dead center. More on this later…
• It has a 1% coverage for the spot meter - the F5 only manages 1.5% coverage. In fact, the F70's spot meter is even finer.
• Built-in diopter adjustment - really helpful since my right eye is graded at right about 150. While you can buy diopter attachments for the F5, they're not exactly cheap, and they are a bit difficult to find in the Philippines.
• On-demand gridlines - no need to swap $140 screens. Just set the custom function and it's on.
• Better focus-area indicator - in the F80, it's clearly evident which AF sensor you're on. In dark conditions, it even flashes bright red. Good luck with the F5.
• Built-in AF assist light and flash - while the presence of these items screams 'non-pro' they are seriously convenient to have on board.

And let's not forget: the F80 (no S) retails for only ONE-SIXTH the price of an F5!! I'm comparing list prices here. And if you go to Quiapo, you're likely to get the F80 (standard edition, no S, or D) for less than 19,000 pesos. For the curious, the s-version will only set you back only a few additional thousands.

Let's talk about the "S" designation. There are three versions of the F80. The plain vanilla F80 has two variants--silver and black. There is also the F80d, which has the quartz data imprinting back panel; it also comes in a silver and black variant. Lastly, there is the F80s.

If you've been researching about the F80 on the 'Net, you probably know that there is relatively little mention about the F80s. The reason is that most of the talk revolves around the US-market versions of the camera--the N80. For some strange reason, the Nikon USA does not offer the "s" version. It offers only an N80 and an N80D (date-imprinting back).

The "S" is actually on the back of the unit: a special data imprinting back.

The data-imprinting feature is quite nifty and lets you print three bits of exposure information on the space between frames--the aperture setting, shutter speed, and exposure compensation applied to the particular frame. Like the "d" version, the F80s can also add a date stamp on the lower right hand quadrant of your photo. The system is designed to work with ASA ratings between 25 and 3200.

There is one caveat. Activating this feature slows down your film advance speed. The effect is more pronounced in colder climates (the system uses liquid crystal illumination, which is affected by ambient temperature) and when using slow films.

Data imprinting is not built-in on the F5 by the way. You'll have to acquire the optional multi-control back. While it does add quite a few features in addition to data-imprinting, the back itself costs more than the F80s. Which does make me wonder sometimes...

In any case, the data-imprinting feature takes a lot tediousness out of the note-taking process required in any disciplined attempt to hone one's photography skills. When on the F80s, I need only note down the special conditions of each scene or subject that I take. The camera takes care of the rest. Since I am prone to bracket, or take variations of exposure settings, this saves me a lot of time. More so, since I am constantly using b/w film and the Zone System.

(top to bottom) The viewfinder LCD displays of the F5, F80s, and the F70d. The electronic analog exposure display has been tinted olive to highlight them. All three displays show a reading that is 2 EVs over-exposed.

Here's one last bit of ecstasy for me. This camera is well suited for b/w and the Zone System... even more so than the F5! If you're not too familiar with the Zone System, you can go to my external links section and read up on it. Otherwise, you can skip this section and not worry about it.

Here are reasons why I specifically prefer the F80s over my F5 when shooting black and white using the Zone System:

• As previously noted, it has a much smaller spot-metering area comprising 1% of the total frame as opposed to the F5's 1.5%;
• In essence, I'm not "wasting" the F5's RGB meter, which I would be doing if I were using b/w film with the intent on manipulating tone values creatively.
• It's electronic analog meter display shows 3 stops on either side of Zone V. This means that without having to manipulate apertures or film speeds, I can easily and quickly meter different parts of the scene through the lens, and quickly know when an area exceeds the film's textural range. Metering an entire scene is quite effortless.
• The data-imprinting feature makes mincemeat out the tedious note-taking that is required in using the Zone System… a skill that I am still trying to master.

All this in a light and unobtrusive package that costs considerably LESS than my F5. If anything, buying the F5 made me appreciate the F80s more.

While the Nikon F80s is lighter, cheaper, and provides unheard of bang-for-the-buck... the Nikon F5 still looks cooler. :)

It's a great camera that should keep any amateur happy for years. It's got all the important capabilities you could want, and throws a few bonuses in for good measure. It beats the living crud out of its progenitor, the F70D, in almost every respect. In fact, it beats the F90x on quite a number of areas as well. It also won't break the bank like an F5 or an F100 (or even an F90x) would.

Unless, you absolutely need a feature that is available on the pro-level cameras (or need the robustness due to the conditions in which you shoot), why spend so much on a pro-level camera.

In fact, I'm still asking myself that question.

Of course, we all know the answer to that. The F5 looks cooler.

This document was last updated on 13 July 2003.