Help needed, is Active D lighting a MUST have?

[tuumbaq]

Im fairly new to photography and Im about to go buy a Nikon D80.I had a D60 for a few weeks but didnt like it that much for several reasons and managed to sell it for price I had paid it.

Now, for me the Active D on the D60 really made a big difference and I know the D80 doesnt have that.Realistically I wish I could buy the D90 but its 500$ more than the D80 and I cant afford it.

Should I really pass on the D80 ( and hope to find a used D90 for a 1000$ which is unlikely to happen) or buy this brand new D80?

Thanks

[Franglais]

Active D lighting is doing something that you can reproduce in post-processing. It underexposes by about a stop and changes the tonal curve to lighten the mid-values. The overall result is that you have preserved the highlights and brought extra light into shadow areas in contrasty conditions. I quite often use the D-lighting option in NX2 to make a contrasty, backlit photo look the way it was to my eyes.

This is fine as long as:

1. You are shooting in RAW (you can do this sort of thing on JPG's but it quickly looks unnatural)
2. You have a decent RAW editor
3. You understood what I said in the first paragraph

If not - save up for the D90.

[Singletracklovr]

Brand new d90 bodies sell on eBay for $900 everyday.

The free software from nikons website CaptureNX offers 3 levels of d-light.
I use it sparingly with my d80 RAW files.

hth

[Photo-John]

I don't think D-Lighting is a necessity. I tested it on the D40x (before the "Active" version) and thought it was pretty impressive. But I do all of my own processing. Good exposure and post-processing are always the best bet, I think. Tools like Active D-Lighting make some image adjustment easier and more accessible. But you can do the same stuff in post-processing. And with a little practice you can do a much better job.

My question is, what's wrong with your D60? Why do you feel the need to buy a new camera? new cameras are fun. But for most of us, that's not the best place for us to invest our photo dollars.

[Franglais]

..
My question is, what's wrong with your D60? Why do you feel the need to buy a new camera? new cameras are fun. But for most of us, that's not the best place for us to invest our photo dollars.

The D60 has one huge advantage over the D80 - the sensor shaker + venturi that removes dust.

I took my D60 out on Sunday. I've been using the D200 and D300 all winter and I wanted to make sure I remembered how to use it because it's all I'm taking on holiday next week. Looked at the results in the evening - saw I'd picked up a large dust speck right in the middle of the frame. Blast. Next morning got out the sensor swabs, did a photo of empty sky before starting the operation - and the dust spot had disappeared. Very pleased about that.