I've recently bought a D80 with the 18-200mm lens and am extremely pleased with both. I've been into photography for many years and have had a Canon EOS 5 film SLR which I've wanted to replace with a digital SLR for a long time. I've used a few digital compacts by Nikon and Sony however, I've been frustrated by the lack of creative control that these cameras give you. The D80 is an ideal compliment to my digital compacts. Now when I want to be more creative and take photos where I have control over the exposure settings etc now I can. The picture below was taken at the weekend and has not been retouched in any way apart from being resized.
This was the very first shot I took with my D80...
I've taken nearly 100 shots with the D80 in the week that I've had it and am impressed by the handling of the camera in all respects. I've tried shooting in both JPEG and RAW however, tend to have it set to fine JPEG as the default.
The camera allows you to choose from a range of pre-defined programs eg sports, landscape where the camera takes care of the appropriate shutter and aperture settings. You do however, have full control by being able to set shutter speeds and aperture settings in additional modes if you so wish in addition to having a full manual mode where you can set both yourself.
Menu system is very intuitive and allows you to get on with the job of taking photos very quickly without having to spend too much time trying to figure out what everything does.
The 18-200 VR lens is very very good. I've tried it using VR for a few shots and it makes a difference especially at the 200mm focal length and in low light.
One thing to note however, is that this combination of camera and lens is heavy. Not too much of a problem but if you weight is a concern I would suggest going to a retailers and comparing the weight of the D80 with this lens and others to see what you think.
If you buy it you will not be disappointed.
