Jo’s become increasingly interested in animal photography and because of the restrictions which her Fuji camera have imposed, she’s been using my D70 with a telephoto lens. Sadly, whilst we were out at the animal park in Bern this past weekend, the Fuji gave up the ghost altogether. So, time for an upgrade. After much to-ing and fro-ing, and reading many reviews online, I opted for a new Nikon D80. This allows Jo to take on the D70 which has served me very well since 2005 and which, as the classifieds say, is in perfect working order but which shows signs of use.
By comparing the D80, D200 and D300, I found that the D80 was the best option for me. While the D300 is the best camera, it’s just too expensive for hobby use. The D80 is the least expensive option, with 10.2 megapixels (2 megapixels less than the D300, but half the price), and which allows an ISO setting of 100 instead of ISO 200, thereby increasing the quality of detailed photos.
This photo is the fifth frame taken with the new camera (softening added post-processing in Photoshop) and, in the original size, is breathtakingly detailed. While it’s going to be fantastic for landscape photographs and detailed scenes, it’s actually too detailed – too honest – for close-up portrait photography. It reminds me of the new HD television and filming equipment which has caused a large number of problems for makeup artists and studios: images are of such high resolution, that they actually have to be reduced in technical detail before publication.
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