My Nikon N80 story: an unwise investment

I bought my N80 body late 2001 or early 2002. Wrong expectation and bad timing add up to an unwise investment.

I vaguely remember that I read Phil Greenspun's article on building a 35mm SLR camera. Then I eagerly wanted to buy a SLR camera. It seems at that time, I believed deeply that once I own a SLR camera, I would begin to take professionally looked pictures. Like all eager newbies, I read many photography magazines and reviews on the web about SLR cameras. According to Phil, learning photography should start with a 50mm prime lens and Nikon makes the best 50mm 1.8 lens. This part is still true, I guess. So I decided that I wanted to buy a Nikon. Phil also said N80 is a good body. One reason is that it has two dials. To tell the truth, I didn't even know what that means except two is more than one.

So as a poor student by then, I spent quite a lot of money buying this N80 body with a 50mm f1.8 lens. The reality is that my photography skills did not improve with this N80 body. I believe I took less than 1000 photos with this N80, mostly "I've been here" type, then sold it at a low price after a couple of years of possession and switched to D50. Basically, I realized possessing a cool SLR camera does not mean learning photography.

Only after I bought the D50, I figured out that I can only improve by taking pictures. With film cameras, however, taking tens of thousands of pictures to learn photography is not really sustainable for a poor student. It seems right after or even before I bought this N80, people had already started switching to digital cameras. I just felt those digital cameras were like toys. I failed to foresee what was coming. Soon, we bought our own digital camera, which cost only half as much as the N80. Then I shoot less and less with the N80. The convenience of a digital camera is so overwhelming. I remember by the time I sold the N80, there was an unfinished roll of film in the body which must had been there for more than half a year. I never got that roll finished or developed.

There was nothing wrong with the N80. It was me not figuring out my specific needs.