Old DSLR. How to give it a new life? Shoot RAW?

[KhaoHom]

I was gifted a Nikon D80 DSLR. Never learned to use it. I recall only 10 megapixels.

 

Is there anything I can do to make it worthy of use in 2025?

 

What about shooting RAW? 

 

Is converting to jpg as easy as saving as??

 

Thanks 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I have a Nikon D70 with 6.1 MP that I purchased in 2004 that still works just fine for casual photography. I have other, newer Nikon camera bodies that I use more frequently, but nothing wrong with the D70 for snaps. 

 

The lens is often more important than the number of pixels or age of the camera. What lens or lenses did you get with the D80?

 

If you plan to make adjustments to your images in photo editing software on your Mac or PC, then shooting RAW gives more flexibility. If you're not going to get that involved in photography, then just shooting jpeg is probably going to be sufficient. RAW files are much larger than jpegs, so if storage space is limited, jpegs may be better.

 

Photo editing software easily exports to jpeg from RAW. I do this after I've made adjustments to the original RAW image and want to use a jpeg to post online or keep as a smaller file.

 

The best camera in the world is the one you have with you, so carry the D80 around and enjoy taking photos.

[KhaoHom]

Hi thanks

 

We have a number of old cameras. Best now probably GoPro 5?7?. Wife's Cannon from like 2000 is compact always nice shots. Unused in a decsde. She uses her phone now. OnePlus 11 Hasselblad camera.

 

Had Olympus nothing but problems both land and underwater. Gave the half broken pen2 to Thai niece. Underwater camera was crap too. Both always breaking and neither cheap . Never again 

 

The lens is probably just standard. Dunno, was a gift. It's a nice middling lens as it zooms to 200mm I recall. No idea about wide. Yes, agreed so much is just the lens hence my OP.

 

TBH it's a lot too lug around even on a trip. I could have been a pro photographer and SEA and South Asia my oyster from 1990+ - but I loathe lugging stuff around. That especially includes camera gear. At one time I lost about five+ years travel photos. Era between slide film and digital. I wanted to experience the moments more instead of always needing to shoot.

 

Agreed on generally shooting jpgs for snaps, but if you'd humor me... Would it be worth shooting RAW if I wanted to say make some special shots of an indoor party or gathering and then simple Photoshop or even irfanview? The camera I recall 10mp... 

 

I find the controls tedious on the Nikon D80 TBH . I've never really dug in but not intuitive. 

 

What about movies? Looking at the wiki I don't see ability to shoot video? Odd . The camera was quite advanced for it's time. 

 

Thank you for your time and input

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_D80

[Peter Crow]

This   OP reads pretty disgusting...

 

[KhaoHom]

13 minutes ago, Peter Crow said:

This   OP reads pretty disgusting...

 

 

What??

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I've also found the D70 to be a bit bulky to carry around. My D40 and D3100 are much smaller and get used more often, especially when traveling. The camera body that I use the least is the D610 which is full frame. 

 

If you plan to use an image processing program like Photoshop to improve the appearance of your photos, then shooting in RAW would give more flexibility and wider range of modifications and possibly a better end product. This is true regardless of the number of pixels. 10 MP is adequate for most personal use purposes unless you plan to significantly enlarge or crop the photos.

 

 

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, KhaoHom said:

I was gifted a Nikon D80 DSLR. Never learned to use it. I recall only 10 megapixels.

 

Is there anything I can do to make it worthy of use in 2025?

 

What about shooting RAW? 

 

Is converting to jpg as easy as saving as??

 

Thanks 

That's coming up on 20 yr old tech, and sadly, doesn't even use a Sony sensor.  Better just to start fresh with new camera, unless having a few newer lens.

 

If happy with the snaps you're getting, no need to upgrade.   I stated with @6000, 2014 tech, but still a great camera 10 yrs later.

 

I'm a Sony mirrorless camera body fan, @6400 (APS-C / 24MP), excellent and all lens use E mount now, whether FE or APS-C body.

 

RAW files are overrated, and PIA to work with.   Huge, requiring lots of patience, large HDD and super fast laptop / computer to edit. 

 

I get decent results with my low budget kits:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56481061@N02/

 

 

 

[KhaoHom]

Thanks to you both.

 

Just trying to get some additional life out of the camera. It doesn't shoot video so maybe just trip to Europe for the nice lens and zoom and give to niece. 

 

Yeah, it's heavy. 

[Will B Good]

 

Bought a decent SLR years ago and was gutted at the quality of the photographs......(partly down to me)

 

If you are looking to generate nice images, 90% of it is down to post processing........I taught myself to use photoshop.....but i guess with AI you don't even need to do that anymore.

[impulse]

Download (or just watch) a couple of YouTubes for the D80.  They're great for knowing how to set up the camera for your skill level and what you want to do with it.  

 

I'm using a Nikon D5100 and now a D5600 and didn't know what most of the knobs and dials and menus are for.  I'm still learning since I don't use them too often, and I don't have a background in photography.  If I'm not getting the photos I want, it ain't the camera.  It's my settings

 

Keep in mind that Full HD (1920 x 1080) like you're probably looking at on your screen is just 2 MP.

 

[Will B Good]

 

 

 

I guess someone has already mentioned it.........but if you decide to lash out on extras, the real gold lies in the quality of the lens.

[Kinnock]

The D80 may be old, but it's still a very capable camera.  As others have said, the lens is often the main limitation, especially if ypur using the original kit zoom lens.

 

The limited mega pixels is not really an issue, as it's got enough for general use, and you'll probably reduce the image size for posting anyway.

 

Just get a sensor cleaning kit, and buy a good, used F mount lens .... there's loads of good lenses on the second hand market ..... a trip to Mega Plaza in Chinatown is worth trying.

 

I recommend a 50mm f1.8 prime or similar.

[KhaoHom]

13 hours ago, impulse said:

Download (or just watch) a couple of YouTubes for the D80.  They're great for knowing how to set up the camera for your skill level and what you want to do with it.  

 

I'm using a Nikon D5100 and now a D5600 and didn't know what most of the knobs and dials and menus are for.  I'm still learning since I don't use them too often, and I don't have a background in photography.  If I'm not getting the photos I want, it ain't the camera.  It's my settings

 

Keep in mind that Full HD (1920 x 1080) like you're probably looking at on your screen is just 2 MP.

 

 

Yeah, this is why I just can't bother especially as we have GoPro and wives Hasselblad camera on her 1+ 11

 

Olympus was just utter disappointment 

 

I really like Cannon but just don't use cameras enough anymore to warrant another purchase