OK i have a Nikon D80 and i have a couple questions if you guys can answer them.
1) How do I set it to no flash but have the shutter open and close as quick as it would with flash on? (ex. Picture of christmas tree with lights off in room and no flash, but the shutter open for too long and causing it to blur)
2) How do i set it to burst shot?
3) What type of photo should i set it to (RAW? JPEG?)
1) You can use "Shutter priority" (S on the command dial) if you want a specific shutter speed and to have the camera figure out the aperture, you can use Aperture priority (A) to do the opposite, or (M) to set both the aperture and shutter independently- however you're not likely to get a good exposure of the tree and the lights both without a long exposure on a tripod or stable surface because the tree in the dark room is going to be underexposed if you meter for the lights, and the lights will be overexposed if you meter for the tree. That's why you got the suggestion to expose the tree properly and turn the lights on for the last bit of the exposure- that's only easy to do if you get a multi-second exposure though.
Without the flash's light, if you set the camera the same as you would if you have flash, you're likely to end up with a mostly black picture.
2) Just in case you don't realize it, you have to hold the shutter button down in burst mode to get multiple exposures.
3) If you've got the space on your memory card, you can shoot raw+jpeg with one of the differing JPEG quality levels.
If you can't find your manual, you can get a copy online at:
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/noprint/D80_noprint.pdf
Digital Skunk said:
You won't be able to take 3 bursts in a row if you can't get focus to lock. It also won't be able to do bursts if the shutter speed is slower than the lag between the shots.
Unless you're in continuous focus mode (AF-C) mode which doesn't have focus lock requirements.
That's another part of what steered me away from the D80, I like that the flash on my camera stays down unless I release it my self. There's no setting to change, it's just that way all the time.
SLC
According to page 40 of the D80 manual, you only get pop-up flash in full-auto, portrait, close-up and night portrait modes. Since those are basically all point and shoot modes I'd expect anyone who didn't want that behavior would simply use Program, Manual, Aperture-priority or Shutter-priority modes like all the other Nikon DSLRs with built-in flash or without the P&S modes.
Basically, Nikon took the P&S "beginner" settings of the D40 and the P/S/A/M "Normal" modes that Nikon's had since at least the early 90's on all their SLR cameras and put them all on the D80's function wheel. Presumably under the assumption that they'd be selling lots of D80's to first-time dSLR users or D40 users upgrading, both categories of users who might be at the "big point and shoot" skillset level. If you want "big P&S w/o the automatic flash" mode, it's P on the command dial.
). Well I tried the Nikons out and was wholly unimpressed by both, they just seemed to lack anything to make them stand out compared to the other options I had. Then the camera salesman pointed out the K10D to me and upon shooting a few frames with it, and feeling it in our hands we both decided that this was the better camera for us. I've since been able to sell most of my Nikon glass (I've kept 2 lenses for use with an old F2 that I've still got), and now have some very nice Pentax gear. I've never been more happy with any of my other cameras, not even close, and this would be considered to be just a midlevel camera.