I got the Nikon D80 that I mentioned in my last entry, charged the battery and headed off to Springfield, MA for dinner with my brother and his family and my Aunt and Uncle. My nephew is 3, very cute and loves to make funny faces: a good subject for trying out the indoor performance of the camera. I had only the built-in flash.
First observation is that the focus assist beam is very noticeable. I kept worrying the people a few tables behind my subject when they'd notice this horizontal beam of light across their table. It did make for fast focusing in low light though.
I've heard reports that the automatic white balancing of most D-SLR's leaves something to be desired. In this case, the white balance with the flash was fine since the flash was providing much of the light for the main subject.
The 18mm-135mm f3.5-4.5 zoom that came in the kit (my compromise while trying to find an 18mm-200mm VR) actually performs great for my indoor needs. I'll want the extra telephoto range when I get outdoors.
As I mentioned in my last entry, I'm more interested in convenience than when I used to be willing to carry 5 or more lenses and 2 bodies to even the most casual occaision. The D80 does not dissappoint. With that 27mm - 205mm equivalent zoom range, solid built-in flash performance and alleged 2,700 shots per charge (without the flash, I'm sure), it can handle places I've settled for point and shoot digital as well as go places I was still bringing the whole 35mm film kit for lack of a better digital camera.
