Nikon D80 Revealed

Just a few months after getting my D70s, Nikon’s wrapped up their 20-day teaser campaign by introducing the Nikon D80. Overall, it looks really good — the only thing I see that doesn’t really excite me is that the D80 uses SD rather than Compact Flash (which was one of the reasons I chose the CF-based D70s rather than the SD-based D50), but it makes sense given SD’s dominance of the small camera market.

Brief specs on the D80 (vs D70s):

  • 10 megapixel (6 mp)
  • 3 frames per second, 23 continuous shots (3 FPS, 12 continuous)
  • SD (CF)
  • 11 area AF system (5 area)
  • ISO 100-1600 (200-1600)
  • Upgraded commander mode on the built-in flash
  • Larger, brighter, D200-style viewfinder
  • 2.5″, 230k pixel LCD (2.0″, 130k pixel LCD)
  • EN-EL3e battery (EN-EL3a)
  • MB-D80 battery/portrait grip
  • In-camera retouching (D-lighting, cropping, redeye fix, color).

Looks really, really nice. Given the switch to SD, when it comes time for me to upgrade in a few years I’ll likely be looking at the D200 (or whatever the current camera at that point in Nikon’s lineup is at the time) so I can stick with the CF cards I have now, but the D80 will definitely be fun to play with when it shows up at work. Theoretically, the D80 should be available for sale in September…we’ll see how quickly Nikon can actually get these on to the shelves (the D200, announced in Nov. 2005, has just started showing up regularly on store shelves).

More detailed looks at the D80 are at DP Review, Rob Galbraith DPI and Let’s Go Digital.

Also announced were the AF-S DX 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED (the kit lens for the D80) and the AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED.

iTunesMANYMEN ARE ZOMBIES” by Jadmix from the album jadmix@gmail.com (5:15).

FD’s Flickr Widget

One of the newer (newest?) additions to FD’s Flickr Toys is this cute lil’ banner image. Your choice of recent images, recent ‘interesting’ images, random images, or random ‘interesting’ images from your photostream. Slick and easy to set up — here’s the generator.

djwudi. Get yours at flagrantdisregard.com/flickr

As may be obvious by the photos shown in the banner, I’ve been working on playing catch up with my photos off and on over the past few days. Fourth of July photos are coming soon (gee, what, two weeks late?)….

iTunesWell-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude #17 in A-flat” by Gulda, Friedrich from the album Bach for Book Lovers (1997, 1:38).

The M&M Army

The two best forms of candy in the world (or, at least, in my world) are candy corn and M&Ms. Candy Corn is more often becoming available year-round, with the addition of various holiday themes other than Halloween (Reindeer Corn for Christmas, Cupid Corn for Valentine’s Day, and Bunny Corn for Easter), but they’re still primarily a holiday treat, lacking the year-round goodness of M&Ms.

Not long after we started dating, Prairie picked up on my M&Ms fixation, and got me a silly little M&Ms character. Since then, we’ve gotten into the habit of keeping an eye out for cute M&M goodies, from the seasonal figures to plush toys to…well, whatever looks fun. I’ve been meaning to document the growing collection for some time now, and finally got around to it today, after spending a few minutes and fifty cents assembling a DIY lightbox (inspired by this post on Strobist).

Click on this lil’ guy to see the M&M Army as it stands to date.

Green Christmas

I’m really impressed with how well the lightbox setup works. It’s incredibly simple: just a cardboard box with three sides cut out and covered with white tissue paper. Slip posterboard into the box for a backdrop, set a flash unit (or lamps of some sort) outside the sides of the box, and fire away. Simple, effective — and at $0.50 for the posterboard, with the rest of the supplies scrounged from around the house, much more cost effective than a pre-assembled $100 kit that does the same thing!

iTunesRules” by K.M.F.D.M. from the album XTORT (1996, 4:07).