Stuff - UK (2020-04)

DAY 01

TWO WEEKS WITH THE NIKON D780

£2199 (body only) / stuff.tv/D780

Despite the meteoric rise of the mirrorless, Nikon is still developing super-hard

DSLRs – so Natalya Paul heads to Iceland to test its latest in extreme conditions

Dragging a DSLR into the new
decade is a bit like trying to
convince everyone to start
buying CDs again instead of
streaming music. There are
some advantages, sure, but
when convenience is king you
may as well be extolling the
virtues of 44kHz quality to a
flock of puffins.
However, there remains a
place in our hearts for this still
extremely capable format, and

there are some areas in which

even a full-frame mirrorless

camera might not fit the bill.

For those times when you need

serious grunt in the battery

department, weather-beating

ruggedness, dual card slots

and (the clincher for some) an

optical viewfinder, a DSLR will

always do its duty.

Nikon’s D780 mixes a modern

imaging approach with traditional

DSLR form and function. Armed

with trusty Nikon ergonomics

and a vast selection of Nikkor F

lenses, it borrows a few tricks

from Nikon’s mirrorless Z series,

offering high-performance

live-view AF and 4K video.

It’s a marriage of mirrorless

technology and DSLR substance,

which means a camera with zero

compromises. It has a big battery

and two UHS-II card slots, and

is fully guarded against extreme

weather – which is why I’m

testing it in Iceland. The country,

not the high-street purveyor of

king prawn rings.

Coming to this Nikon from

a mirrorless camera, it feels

enormous – and it isn’t light at

840g. But being big has some

perks, like room to twiddle dials

and press buttons without the

risk of clumsy errors.

Most shooting controls are

positioned on the right, as well

as the ‘i’ button for accessing the

quick menu. There’s even room

for a top plate so you can see

things like ISO, shutter speed

and remaining shots on your card.

I’m expecting to find myself using

this a lot in a place like Iceland,

where conditions can change

in an instant, I’m bound to be

short on time and I’ll want to

reduce faff wherever possible.

Diamond geyser

This is a marriage of mirrorless tech

and DSLR substance, which means

a camera with zero compromises

Eye-Detection

AF lets you select

which eye to focus

on... but it can be

confused by

lashes.