So, I recently ordered a Nikon D80 from DigiCombos.com, a Brooklyn-based camera store (yes, we were wary of buying from there), and everything arrived intact and perfect, and very fast, too! We had ordered it two days before it arrived. I’m impressed with the company, and before I say anything about the camera I want to state that DigiCombos is a WONDERFUL place to buy a camera and has absolutely INSANE prices. So, this is what we got for about $1400:

- Nikon D80 (body)
- 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor
- 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom Nikkor (not as important as 18-70mm lens)
- Wide angle + macro attachment (macro!)
- Three lens filters
- Addon flash piece
- 1GB SD card (will replace soon with another 4GB)
- Tripod
- Mini tabletop tripod
- Hard carrying case
- Soft carrying case

Now, if I had just bought the camera body and the 18-70mm lens, that would have cost $1250 at B&H Photo, and then I’d still have to buy a case and such! So I’m really happy with the decision, and even more with the camera. So, for some test-shoot photos, have a look inside! (Yes, I am FINALLY also adding photos to the Freedom of the Seas post.)

I walked around with just the 18-70mm lens, because that’s the only lens that really matters to me until I need to shoot something very far away, in which case I will use the 70-300mm lens, and shot some photos of around my house and of the neighbors. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the quality of the images with literally NO programming on my part. In contrast, I had to program and force my old Sony digital (dinky little 5.1 MP Carl Zeiss all-in-one camera) to take decent shots, and most came out somehwta blurry. Obviously I’ve had soem great results with the Sony, but nothing ever came as easy as it did with the D80.

This photo was taken just outside my front door. It was slightly color corrected, but I could have set the camera to take a more vibrant photo. I did not, because I just wanted to shoot around.

These are just some flowers I decided to take a vertical shot of to see how the camera auto-focuses.

I wanted to test out the sports setting on the camera, and I saw my good friends the Tamburis out playing. Bobby has always loved to skateboard, and so he and his friends were boarding when I walked over. Lucky break! I tested the sport setting and got an action shot of Bobby attempting a 180. He didn’t land it, but the shot makes it look like he might have!

This is just a plain, ordinary knothole. However, the reason for this shot was to see how much detail the camera captured - and it got quite a bit. MUCH more impressive than the Sony. Obviously the photo is not zoomed in here, but it does get quite detailed and stay detailed all the way through.

Only the first photo had any mild color correction. One, the flowers, had a bit of exposure correction to make it brighter, but besides that, the rest are unedited. I’m very impressed, and very excited, and can’t wait to see if the macro extension piece is any useful or just a piece of junk - either way, the glass is shiny, so I’m satisfied!