Nikon D50: Should I Buy It?

Posted January 26, 2007 * Comments(3)

I have a Canon Powershot S500 as my small carry-around camera, but I’m thinking of buying a nicer/bigger camera for occasions where size and weight don’t matter. A friend of mine has a Nikon D50 with the standard kit that he’s willing to sell. Digital Photography Review gives it a Highly Recommended, which indicates this is a great camera, but I thought I’d ask for some advice here (I know some of the readers are photography-type people, you know who you are).

This would be my first DSLR. I’m not much of a photographer, but I’ve read a few how-to’s here and there. Most of my shots will still be point and shoot, but I am looking to get better shots and do a bit more experimentation.

What do you think? Should I go for the Nikon D50?

3 Comments so far

  1. deebohdee on January 27th, 2007

    Well Mr Darugar i’m a canon guy, but apples to apples Nikon makes awesome gear. If you can get a good deal (I know you can) then you can’t go wrong. I haven’t heard of any recalls or gotcha’s with the camera. No post production glitches that they’ll fix with the next body. I’d ask your buddy why he’s willing to part with his beloved SLR. If its because he needs the cash to upgrade to the next model then gently ask why. If he says anything about bad pixels or shake or shutter lifetime then bolt. If its simply because he/she wants 6 to 10Megapixels then take him for what its worth.
    If/when you decide to upgrade your kit lense, look for a good 5.6L
    28-300 35mm or for a pure DSLR 18-200 lens so you won’t have to change lenses. That Lens is kinda pricey but you’ll love the results. Its compact and fast.

    The one thing i’ve learned is that auto on these camera’s is the enemy (at least with canon), I can’t trust the auto-focus mechanism to focus on the part of the image I want it to. So I mostly shoot on manual settings. I’ve heard Nikon is much better on auto than canon so again you can’t go wrong with the D50.
    That will be a very nice camera for chasing to boys around.

    Have fun

  2. Parand Darugar on January 27th, 2007

    Thanks Curtis. The reason he’s selling is that he ended up getting a fatwallet deal and he felt the deal was so good he bought 2. He’s keeping one, selling the other. He was going to be put it on ebay/craigslist, but I thought I’d help him out and get it for less than he’d be able to sell it elsewhere ;-)

    The reviews say the auto-settings on this camera actually work pretty well, which is another reason I’m interested in it.

  3. deebohdee on February 3rd, 2007

    Ah Hell dude, Hook it up! That would be an awesome gift to yourself for the new addition. until you get a good wide-zoom lens you’ll get a lot of exercise jockeying for good positioning of your shots.

    whichever way you go, just have fun. But you’ll have more fun with the camera.

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