Road to a D80IR

[JoePhoto]

Well - After debating between the D40x and a D80, I decided on the D80 because of the extra features including AF and internal wireless flash commander. I was recommended to Adorama by a DWF member where I purchased a refurbished D80 for $699 and it arrived today. The camera arrived in a different box than the ew models, but was spotless and minty fresh. According to Opanda it only had 369 releases on the shutter when it arrived so it's practically brand new! Everything seems to operate beautifully, focus is on and everything works as advertised.

If anyone of our Nikonians is in the market for a D80, deffinitely check out Adorama's refurbished ones. They come with a 90 day warranty from Nikon and you can buy the Mack warranty for up to 5 years I believe. Grab one HERE

Both my assistant and father own a D80 so I'm already very familiar with it. But it really is such a well designed little camera. *MUCH* better than the XTi I had previously. I'll likely add the grip sometime after the IR conversion.

Tomorrow it gets boxed back up and sent off to Lifepixel for IR conversion. Stay tuned!

PS - yes this means the D100IR will be on the sale block. I have someone interested locally, but if it falls through I'll let everyone know here.

[Emcam]

So ya think the D80 will make a better IR images than the D100?

[JoePhoto]

All in all, the D100IR has served me very well, but yes I believe the D80 will be an improvement in key areas. The extra resolution and cleaner files will come in handy for bigger prints, as the larger and faster image buffer will aide in shooting RAW (The D100's weakest point.) But image quality at modest print size (say 8x10) will be largely unaffected. IR seems to exhibit less noise at higher ISO's than visible light photography, likely because most of the image is generally on the high end scale of brightness and is typically very contrasty to boot. Consider of the age of the D100 and how long I was able to keep it viable when putting it's images next to those from cameras with twice the MP count! (Shooting RAW was key.)

[marokero]

What a coincidence Joe! I just sent my D200 to Lifepixel. I've finally took the plunge towards an IR camera! The D200 should have pretty much the same IR quality as the D80 I think. In the mean time I'm using my dad's old D70 as my second camera. And hopefully soon <cross fingers> I should receive my D3 as well. Happy days ahead! Congrats to us both!

[marokero]

One more thing, which filter did you choose for your D100IR previously? Was it the "normal" or the deep IR? I picked the deep IR for b&w right out of camera. Though making blue skies would've been nice, I think the effect would have worn off on me very quickly.

[JoePhoto]

Hey - congrats Alberto! You're gonna love it!

I did consider the B&W IR filter for quite a while though in the end I went with the standard color IR filter mainly because I'm used to it and I occasionally (ok, rarely) do a color IR... plus it's $50 cheaper and I need to buy the grip too. I've got a few killer Lightroom presets for handling the IR files and they are converted upon import so all I have to do is tweak. Plus the D80 has a very tweakable B&W mode built in that is pretty decent.

The D200, D80, & D40x all have the same sensor with slightly different processing associated with it. It's a good chip at ISO's under 400 and pretty decent up to 800. Though the D40x is clearly better than the D80, which has an edge on the D200 because of newer/better in-camera prcessing. But if you're shooting RAW they are more similar than different.

I found a used 5D $1,200 that I was gonna use but LP wants $500 for the conversion! Couple that with the Nikkor 18-70 DX being such a good lens for IR and you got yourself a no-brainer.

PS - If your D70 didn't come with an 18-70DX or you don't have one lying around, do your self a favor and buy one. That's the default calibration for LP with Nikon DSLR's anyway unless you paid for another lens to be used.

[JoePhoto]

I just saw you asked about the D100IR not the D80IR filter. The D100 IR was converted nearly two years ago now. At that time, there were no choices, just the standard color IR filter.

I was also thinking - we both probably chose this time of the year to send a camera in for the same reason - wedding season is coming to an end. Unfortunately the splendor of environmental IR photos is missed during the winter because of the lack of greenery. But you can still make some cool IR stuff in the winter.

I do have a few IR tips if you're interested - I made a thread in general photography. I'm sure you and Matt could add some stuff to it as well.

[marokero]

Yeah, wedding season is dying down, five more to go this year. But I will get a chance to shoot some nice green foliage when I go again to Brazil this winter I'm staying in the city, but will probably have time to swing around the beaches. I considered a used D80 as well, but that would've taken away from my D3 funds. I also didn't want to be stuck with only one color camera, so the right opportunities presented themselves: the D3 was announced, the wedding season is almost over, and my dad offered to lend me his D70 while I waited for the D3 :) He also had given me his 18-70 last year after getting himself the 18-200 VR, so I should be set when the D200IR arrives And thanks Joe, I'll look at that thread.