On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:45:00 +0000, Shankar Bhattacharyya wrote:

Nikon has a new camera coming out soon, called the D80. Does anyone know
enough about this to understand whether the sensor will be any better
suited for astrophotography than the D70? As a fellow interested in
going digital for terrestrial purposes in the near term, I am fairly
curious.

My basic interest is in understanding whether the camera will store
actual raw files without having to crash the camera and whether the
noise performance is likely to be more like the Canon DSLRs.

I don't know enough about this to be sure that I am asking sensible
questions or whether this is even preliminarily addressable without a
camera in hand.

- Shankar

It appears to be based on the D200, so should be a lot better regarding
noise than the D70. Keep an eye on http://www.dpreview.com/
as their tests are very good.
Currently there is a preview on the site
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond80/

Phil