I feel the same way when I first saw the D80. I'm still trying to decide on a DSLR. The placement seems better to me on the D80. I was wondering if Nikon was the only one who makes the dial close to the body or do most lense manufacturers do it that way too.

Hey guy,,I wouldn't try to save money on cheaper lenses because you will end up making low contrast less saturated color images with cheap lenses so why buy a good camera and put on junk lenses?? The lens is the very thing you should spend the big bucks on,,,and if you take care of them you can always get your money back. You buy cheap lenese and you might as well throw them away after a week or so cause nobody well buy them. Nikon lenses on the other hand might go up in price and the difference is like night and day. Take some pic's with aftermarket lenses and then Nikon in a camera store and take a look at the picture when you enlarge the image and you will see the difference.,,,,,,,,,,,Cheers,,,,,,,,Roy

Roy is right. If you're going to Chicago, you don't get off in Milwaukee. If you can't do it right, wait until you can or buy used gear.

Roy,

You're perspective on lens performance was true somewhat 15-20 years ago. But the leading independent lens makers like Sigma and Tamron use the same computer based optical design and computer controlled manufacturing as the prime camera brands today, and the differences in performance are very small if any at all. In fact some of the more common moderate priced prime camera lens products may very well be made in the same factories as make the independent brand lenses today.

I do school pictures with/for a local studio. The owner and I are using Fuji S2's. He is using a Nikon lens while I'm using a Tamron. We see no difference between our portraits. Of course he likes the Nikon because it is a 2.8 while the Tamron is a 3.5.

If deciding on a cheaper lens, my advice is to not purchase one with a plastic mount.

Q

I agree with David on this one. I still believe that even some Nikor lens are not the best. But many of todays aftermarkets are lenes are built better and one advantage is you can track down what types of Chromatic Arb's and known faults are found with them. I find even my Nikor 80-200mm 2.8 I have lens distortion and can see the difference when I edit the photo. I think its fair to say that companies that have been strong over the years have increased thier quality and coatings.
I remember reading that some of the Sigmonster 300-800 were being questioned cause the coating on the back of the glass was a supposed difference in the Film vs Digital. "At least that was one matter" So most encouraged not to buy from left over distribution, but to get it from Sigma and be sure you had the latest productions.
I use Tamrons 28-75 2.8 and 180 3.5 Macro "This one the HSM takes like 5 secs to refocus and noisy hence Manual or limit" but I have the Sigma 80-400 and Promaster lenses that are quite well. Grant it I would prefer the Nikor line overall but we sometimes settle for budgeting a bit.
Cheers!
NikonMeister