Camera Labs

Have been a little disappointed with the "out of the box/auto" saturation & sharp settings for the D80 - they look relatively flat and fuzzy. Not what I was expecting at all. I do not want to post process most of my pictures, so right first time is what I need.

Luckily I have been reading the manual backwards and forwards and found how to adjust the standard settings. Vivid sounds wrong to me, but the reality is it gives a picture much more like what I see with my eye. (The Vivid on my Canon Ixus is too much).

Another review site state "Default sharpness level perhaps still a little conservative". I would say that statement is itself conservative - default sharpening is soft. Watch out for this.

I guess they could change this in future with a firmware upgrade. The RAW comparisons I have seen show no difference between this and other 10MP SLR cameras.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

Hi Nick, don't forget DSLRs tend to apply much less sharpening and saturation than consumer compacts. So if you're used to a compact or a super-zoom all-in-one, you'll often find the output from a DSLR is quite subdued in comparison. The idea is most DSLR users will either tweak the settings or apply sharpening in Photoshop later.

It's interesting to see the new breed of consumer-friendly DSLRs like the D40 and D40x with their settings tuned like a compact though - the colours and sharpness really pop-out!

Gordon

I don't see Nikon changing this with their Bios update.
As you can adjust it permanently in the menu, there is no need...
And they certainly want to differentiate their D40(x) from the D80 and vice versa. So to compare both cameras on an equal footing you have to set the internal processing to the same level!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I have to say I find this all a bit odd.

To me sharpening is a process by which you take a picture that was slightly out of true focus and make it sharper by processing - useful fiddle but you usually pay a price somewhere.

What Nikon are doing (IMHO) is making their default setting "softening" because the result is less sharp than the RAW image. To me the RAW image is the reference - if it looks less sharp than this its softening, sharper than that this its sharpening.

I had read about this but took the advice of the reviewer (not Gordon) that I would probably not see the difference in reality. I clearly am more discerning than I thought.

I don't share the passion for post processing a large portion of my photos - I just don't have time for that and it seems pointless if you (or they) can set it to get it right first time even if you do have the time!!

Still the D80 can be adjusted for all the PASM modes with one set and forget change, so I will stop stressing about it soon!!! Although on a very quick check I thought that default saturation is too muted and +1 is too saturated by about the same degree. +0.5 would be my choice, if they had it. However, +1 sharpening gives me what looks like a crisp and natural look, but I may tinker with +2 as well.

So, a recomendation - as I have done, keep your new DSLR manual in the smallest room in the house and read from cover to cover and back again several times (not all at once of course!!!). You will discover things you didn't know that you needed (or thought you wanted) to know.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

I did actually compare my shots side by side with the actual scene of our garden and the default was definately less like reality - I did this because I wondered if I just preferred exagerated renditions.

I thought that the D40x would be differentiated from the D80 by having more customisation, better viewfinder, more robust build, better metering etc, not by deliberately slewing the basic settings as well.

Is there something perverse going on here that its considered a slightly fuzzy edge is more analogue, more like film?

One thing for sure, I was right to get into this some months before some potential travelling because there will be other suprises in store for me I am sure.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

A Post Script:-

The D80 Manual is pretty good and you can quite quickly understand all its functions and features, despite being quite a long book.

Top marks for the manual.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR