Advice on repairs to Nikon D80 camera.

We're not sure if it's dead or just needs resuscitation.  Camera is more than 10 years old we're and thinking it might be a great backup camera or even an extra DSLR for me when the DW and I are out in the Nature.  She has a new D7200 and the lens are interchangeable.  We have two zooms and a fixed lens so if we can revive the D80 for a few bucks, why not?  So far one camera shop says it could be as simple as a $50.00 fix for an update to the Firmware.  On the other hand maybe $200+ for whatever.  Thoughts?????

If your implication of dead means that nothing happens when you turn it on even though the battery is properly installed and fully charged, then it could be corroded contacts, a loose connection or a failed microprocessor or anything in between, even something mechanically broken.

But since the camera shop can't give you an answer, I guess it means be prepared for a $200+ repair, while hoping it's cheaper, but the final answer has to depend on how valuable this is to you & DW, not something anyone else can answer for you. You certainly can't get anything else that nice for a couple of hundred dollars. And it IS nice to have a backup camera.

Personally I would not invest ten cents into a DSLR. They are dead, dinosaurs. Cell phones are what is being used. There are people who will argue this point with me but they all have a large financial investment into expensive camera set ups and refuse to open their eyes and see what is going on in this world. Smaller cameras are much better because they are always with you. You never miss a shot for lack of a camera.

Twenty years ago when digital first came out the "real photographers" all laughed at digital. I will never replace "real cameras". They don't have resolution or color gamut or whatever that can compete with film. Then slowly but surely over the next few years they all woke up and saw the incredible advantages of digital and switched over to digital. Then they could not figure out why their film cameras were worth absolutely nothing. They waited too long to sell them. Thrift stores refused to accept them as donations since they just took up shelf space and never sold. Every single one of these people had a large investment in film cameras so they did not want to see their equipment valued at zero.

Now we have the exact same thing going on with small cameras. People with a huge investment in big bulky cameras don't want to face the fact that they are going out of style because small cameras are so much better. They claim they don't have as good a resolution or color gamut or whatever and they will never compete with real cameras. So they stubbornly cling to the old way. And in a few years they too will wake up and start shooting with small cameras and then they will be so confused when they discover their $5000 "real camera" is worthless and can't be sold.

No technology lasts forever. 78s are worthless, just like Beta video tapes, black and white CRT TVs, ancient PCs and a whole host of other technologies that have been replaced by something that was smaller, cheaper and better. I can do lots of things with my cell phone that most DSLRs cannot do. Voice control. I can say "click" and my cell phone takes a photo. My photos get uploaded to the cloud automatically so the size of my SD card just simply doesn't matter. I can post my photos on Facebook in about one minute without having to transfer the photos to my computer first. In fact I never upload photos to my computer. There are a whole bunch of other advantages to cell phone photography which is why they are taking over.

I know a bunch of people are going to call me an idiot and hate me for what I am saying. And I don't care. I am right and I will be proven right. Just remember these words when you go to sell your DSLR in five years and no one wants it.  I was at the Grand Canyon last summer and as I was sitting at Lookout Studio I watched a steady progression of people walk up to the Kodak spot where everyone poses for a photo. About every 25th person would use a large camera, everyone else was using a cell phone. Concerts won't let you in the door with a large camera but a large percentage of the people there are snapping away with a cell phone. It is the future even if you don't like it.

Thanks Larry.  When the camera is turned on, an ERR message appears.  Thought it might be a bad battery so replaced with new.  No change.  Probably makes sense to repair.  Only consideration is if the price is considerably more than $200.00, I'd be inclined to buy a lesser, new Nikon.   

Gary

Good point Tom.  The wife has a Samsung Galaxie S5 and loves it.  She uses it often for pix and sometimes is the only camera she brings even though she has 4 others.  Still there's something about a 70-300 zoom that probably can't be duplicated by a cell phone, yet.  Beyond that, she has a Coolpix P610 which has an amazing 60 x zoom.  Although they're pretty hard to focus at the greatest range it's kind of fun seeing what's happening a mile away. 

It's interesting that the cellphone has become the accepted standard for technology.

People are willing to accept crappy VoIP audio quality, because that's what their cellphone sounds like.

Same with cellphone pictures. For taking selfies and such, okay. Otherwise, maybe not.

I wanted to send a fellow ham a photo of my home antenna installation last month. No problem, whip out the cellphone. No joy, couldn't zoom or focus. Pull out the DSLR, snap a couple of close-ups and away we go.

It is pretty cool that just about everyone carries a microcomputer and camera on their person. But the real things aren't going the way of the Dodo Bird anytime soon.

Personally I would not invest ten cents into a DSLR. They are dead, dinosaurs. Cell phones are what is being used.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree, Tom, and it has nothing to do with "have a large financial investment into expensive camera set ups" though I did just replace my Nikon D90 with a Nikon D7100. I did it with my eyes wide open, knowing EXACTLY what I can do with a phone vs a DSLR or even a pocket camera (many are preferable to the phone, for me). Granted that DSLRs are not for everyone, but then neither are cell phone cameras, especially if you don't have a top end i7 or Galaxy 7 or whatever.

I find cell phones hard to hold steady and awkward to use, neither of which helps get good pix. When not in bright sunlight, or when I want to zoom in on something (NOT digital zoom), a cell phone just doesn't hack it. I'm one of those who does NOT have a cell phone with me all the time. I despise looking at a screen held in front of my face at a distance in one or both hands and that is washed out by the sun so that I can't tell what's in the picture.

All the above isn't to say that you can't get many good pictures with the better cell phone cameras, because of course you can. And I occasionally do a little of that. But it doesn't replace a dedicated camera any more than (for me at least) it replaces a dedicated GPS or a dedicated computer or...

I'll stop here, but I suggest that you modify your statements to apply to you and others with your mindset, but not to everyone, as your statements would indicate.

HappyWanderer said:

It is pretty cool that just about everyone carries a microcomputer and camera on their person. But the real things aren't going the way of the Dodo Bird anytime soon.

Click to expand...

Then there's a few like me who still use a flip phone.    My microcomputer is a 27" iMac. 

"Same with cellphone pictures. For taking selfies and such, okay. Otherwise, maybe not."

I have to agree with Tom on this.  Despite having a fairly large investment in DSLR Cameras and lenses, If  I could take pictures like this one of Tom's from his publicly available site (see the first link in his signature block) then I would toss  most of it aside for the smaller format.  https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0ao638-TLoLjjDcNa_J6ZkyGMcH-NOPWQMqNhqf7nlUZyqGaIfNkm5TJL64-xf1SagN9YuablAe9BbM=w2058-h1158-no

I think Tom has proved that most of the talent is in the photographer, not the equipment.  Have a look as some more of his, mostly of late, taken with a cell phone camera.

Gord

I prefer a cellphone for GPS.  They never nag me to buy an update.

I use my cellphone to make calls within the reach of a good/fast wifi network.

I use my cellphone to send & receive emails.

I use my cellphone as a guitar tuner.

I use my cellphone as a (gasp) cellphone.

My cellphone is my last choice for taking pictures.

On the other hand when I was teaching college photography new students were required to build a pinhole camera out of an oatmeal box.  Just to hammer home the point you don't need a $10,000 Hasselblad to make good photographs.

Imagine a professional showing up with only a cellphone? 

When they build a cellphone camera better than a pro level SLR with an assortment of lenses, flashes and sync to drive studio lighting, tripod mount, etc. I'll think about it.  But truthfully that will never happen because the cameras are not sitting still either.  My latest camera has GPS, wifi, Geo tagging, selfie mode (useless), and more.  And it uses my existing canon USM lenses.  It doesn't make phone calls.  It's about half the size of my old SLR.  So maybe rather than the cellphone becoming a decent camera it will be the other way around.

I occasionally take a picture with the cell phone in a pinch but with a congenital tremor I have a very hard time holding it steady enough for a quality shot. Then there is the inability to zoom in or out. I have a Canon p&s which sees service but still prefer the versatility of the dslr.
Our old D60 has been a reasonably good camera in spite of some shutter issues that were finally fixed on warranty after 6 weeks of dualling with the service center but I sure wouldn't spend any money on it. There is so much better on the market for less than what I paid for it.

Since you wanted "Advice" I'll give you my 2? worth.

I would NOT spend any money on the old D80 UNLESS they could guarantee you it would be only $20 and work perfectly.
Everything is changing so fast that even if you do get it fixed, it will be worthless very soon if not already, IMO.

Take the money you were going to spend on the repair and get good point and shoot.
I know there are pros and cons to almost everything and rarely can one item do everything to everyone's satisfaction.
Cell phone vs. point and shoot.  Since I have never seen a cell phone with a 1" or larger lens I know that they can't have a
optical lens with a 20X zoom whereas many P&S cameras do.  But most P&S's don't make phone calls or go online.  So what do you want?
A do almost everything unit (cell Phone) or a single minded unit that gives better images most of the time.
Yes, under many conditions a cell phone can do a fine job - but not as well as most P&S's most of the time.
Then again - it does depend on who is behind either unit as to the results that are achieved.

You may have already made up your mind as to what you are going to do - so this may be worthless - not even worth 2?

Let us know which way you went after you have come to a decision.  ;D

Gord Nelson said:

"Same with cellphone pictures. For taking selfies and such, okay. Otherwise, maybe not."

I have to agree with Tom on this.  Despite having a fairly large investment in DSLR Cameras and lenses, If  I could take pictures like this one of Tom's from his publicly available site (see the first link in his signature block) then I would toss  most of it aside for the smaller format.  https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0ao638-TLoLjjDcNa_J6ZkyGMcH-NOPWQMqNhqf7nlUZyqGaIfNkm5TJL64-xf1SagN9YuablAe9BbM=w2058-h1158-no

I think Tom has proved that most of the talent is in the photographer, not the equipment.  Have a look as some more of his, mostly of late, taken with a cell phone camera.

Gord

Click to expand...

Gord, it's been acknowledged for a long, long time that the photographer is a MAJOR factor in getting good pix, but if the photographer were the only item in the equation we could still be using box cameras. Yes, Tom takes excellent pix, no matter what he's using, but he has to avoid some situations where the phone just can't hack it. He used to use telephoto lenses, for example, for a lot of his bird pix. But now he has to be closer. Sure, he gets great shots, but he misses some possibilities, too.

What equipment a particular person needs is generally dictated by the task, for example, I couldn't take a useable shot of an aircraft at altitude, or even just a mile away down low, with a phone. I'll stop now.

Larry N. said:

I have to disagree, Tom, and it has nothing to do with "have a large financial investment into expensive camera set ups" though I did just replace my Nikon D90 with a Nikon D7100. I did it with my eyes wide open, knowing EXACTLY what I can do with a phone vs a DSLR or even a pocket camera (many are preferable to the phone, for me). Granted that DSLRs are not for everyone, but then neither are cell phone cameras, especially if you don't have a top end i7 or Galaxy 7 or whatever.

I find cell phones hard to hold steady and awkward to use, neither of which helps get good pix. When not in bright sunlight, or when I want to zoom in on something (NOT digital zoom), a cell phone just doesn't hack it. I'm one of those who does NOT have a cell phone with me all the time. I despise looking at a screen held in front of my face at a distance in one or both hands and that is washed out by the sun so that I can't tell what's in the picture.

All the above isn't to say that you can't get many good pictures with the better cell phone cameras, because of course you can. And I occasionally do a little of that. But it doesn't replace a dedicated camera any more than (for me at least) it replaces a dedicated GPS or a dedicated computer or...

I'll stop here, but I suggest that you modify your statements to apply to you and others with your mindset, but not to everyone, as your statements would indicate.

Click to expand...

X 100

Larry N. said:

Gord, it's been acknowledged for a long, long time that the photographer is a MAJOR factor in getting good pix, but if the photographer were the only item in the equation we could still be using box cameras. Yes, Tom takes excellent pix, no matter what he's using, but he has to avoid some situations where the phone just can't hack it. He used to use telephoto lenses, for example, for a lot of his bird pix. But now he has to be closer. Sure, he gets great shots, but he misses some possibilities, too.

What equipment a particular person needs is generally dictated by the task, for example, I couldn't take a useable shot of an aircraft at altitude, or even just a mile away down low, with a phone. I'll stop now.

Click to expand...

I totally agree.  I can't imagine using my cell phone (that has a great camera) in lieu of my DSLR for professional portraits. 

This thread brings back memories of high school math class, back when calculators first appeared on the market. A classmate asked the teacher why it was necessary to memorize stuff when it was so much easier to use a calculator. The teacher's response, "So you think that you'll always have a calculator with you?"

Okay, back to cameras...

HappyWanderer said:

This thread brings back memories of high school math class, back when calculators first appeared on the market. A classmate asked the teacher why it was necessary to memorize stuff when it was so much easier to use a calculator. The teacher's response, "So you think that you'll always have a calculator with you?"

Okay, back to cameras...

Click to expand...

My calculator of preference is an HP12C.

No, don't fix.

https://www.keh.com/shop/nikon-d80-10-2-megapixel-digital-slr-camera-body-only.html

markbarendt said:

No, don't fix.

https://www.keh.com/shop/nikon-d80-10-2-megapixel-digital-slr-camera-body-only.html

Click to expand...

Mark, I'm a Canon shooter but your post seems straight to the OP's question.

Yep, repairs to a pro camera that gets 6000 shots a month, sure; to consumer cameras not so much.