Nikon D50

[Suburbanmom]

I have the D50 AND the Tamron 70-300mm lens. I absolutely LOVE my D50. What a great camera. I have also been very happy with that lens. I've been taking action photos at my kids' football and cross-country events and am very happy with the results. You do need good lighting as the aperture is not very wide (f/4.0 at 70mm and f/5.6 at 300mm). I've tried a few things indoor with that lens, but have found that the shutter speed has to be set pretty low and the result is pretty blurry.

I've had my D50 since January 2007 and have not regretted the purchase once. I do prefer my 2 Nikkor lenses (18-55mm and 50mm) to the Tamron ones, but I know I also know that at the time, I couldn't have gotten a zoom lens except for the Tamron one. Overall, I have been happy with it.

I've included a few photos that I've taken with the Tamron 75-300mm that are just on my photobucket account. I could show you more action, but I'm on my laptop and don't have them uploaded here.

 

[ukcatfan]

I came very close to getting one and would have been very happy with it if I had. As long as it feels good in your hands and you get a good deal, you cannot go wrong with any DSLR. IMO it is better than the cameras that replaced it, the D40 and D40x.

Kevin

 

[Gdad]

It is a very nice camera- I have one myself. I'm sure you will be very happy with it.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Ahhhh a little relief. I have to say I didn't plan on buying a camera right away. I was going to wait until after the holidays when the prices came down and when we had a little more $$$ stocked away. We got the camera kit used, with small lens 18-55mm, straps, battery, charger, memory card (yup they threw in a memory card for me) and all the extras that come with the kit for $499 after the sale discount was added. Who knows I didnt do a lot of research so I may have been really wrong and I may have paid way too much. The store employee was excited that we were taking the camera. We were laughing because it was like he wanted it to have a happy home. He said it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. The camera looks like it has hardly been used. No scratches, no nicks etc. I was happy with the price. I have 15 days to return it to the camera store. I think I got a good deal and I am very happy but I was having a bit of buyers remorse. We were going out to look and to replace my lens cap today.....we came home with a camera kit and a zoom lens....very expensive lens cap..which we didnt even get because we have to get on on Kodak .com . Thank you so much for all the info. The photos are GREAT!!! I am only taking photos of my daughter's H.S. games and meets so I am sure the lens will be fine for me. I am excited to play around with the camera to get comfortable taking it off auto again...it has been a long time since I have done that. Thanks again. I am sure I will have more questions when I get it out and going...so far I have great photos of the cats and the kids sitting in the house.

 

[Master Mason]

You shoot Cannon, the OP may shoot Nikkon, and I shoot Penntax. :rotfl2

Yea yea.... so I can't spell or type...

 

[ukcatfan]

We got the camera kit used, with small lens 18-55mm, straps, battery, charger, memory card (yup they threw in a memory card for me) and all the extras that come with the kit for $499 after the sale discount was added.

Can you get a DSLR for cheaper... yes
Can you get a Nikon DSLR for cheaper... not really and it would likely be the crippled D40.

As you seem to be a Nikon fan, I think you did pretty well. The D50 is actually sort of in demand because of the D40 limitations.

I think that you should stop worrying about your purchase and go out to take some shots!!!

Welcome to the DSLR club!

Kevin

 

[ukcatfan]

Yea yea.... so I can't spell or type...

Don't worry. I rely on spell check at work. After all, English was my worstest subject.

Kevin

 

[Master Mason]

Don't worry. I rely on spell check at work. After all, English was my worstest subject.

Kevin

my too, everything is set to auto spell check so I don't forget

 

[Suburbanmom]

Glad you bought it!!!! As far as the price. I'll share that you paid less than I did last January. Good for you.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We have one and love it! In fact, dh has been looking to buy another D50 body; because we're always fighting over using the one we have!!!

 

[handicap18]

I have the Nikon D50 and LOVE IT!!!!! I've had it since January '06. I'm closing in on 8,000 shutter clicks. I first thought that I would go with the Nikon D70s. After much research I decided on the D50 and have NO regrets what so ever.

I took it to Disney in June of last year and took around 1,400 pics. It will go with me again this November. I've shot 2 weddings with it and taken litterally thousands of pictures of my kids with it.

It has EXCELLENT high ISO performance (one of Nikon's best!). Do not be affraid to bump it up to 1600 to get faster shutter speeds. Thus far it is the only Nikon dSLR that has not needed any firmware updates. Many Nikonians (a Nikon user web site and nickname for Nikon users) refer to it as the "perfect" dSLR. It doesn't have a whole lot of bells and whistles, it's fps is on the slow side and there are some other "minor" things, but all in all it is one of the better performers out there. Great image quality right out of the camera. Though it also allows for some tweeking to each users liking.

The Tamron lens you picked up is decent. I've used an older version of that with one of my older Nikon film SLR's. I'm currently using the Nikkor 70-300mm VR lens (which is AWESOME!!!). The Tamron lens will serve you well, especially for your outdoor stuff.

I'd recommend using Single Area Auto Focus. Personally I don't like the dynamic area auto focus as that one will find the closest part to focus on. With single area you put one of the 5 small rectangles on the area you want focused. Half pressing the shutter will lock the focus and you can move the camera slightly to get a better composition if you perfer.

Anyway, congradulations on the purchase. It is a WONDERFUL camera. Keep coming back here with questions if they come up. We'll be more than happy to help.

Also feel free to browse my pictures. You can find the links in my signature. 95% of the Misc Gallery is with the D50 and all the June '06 pics in the Disney gallery with the D50.

Enjoy!

 

[Gdad]

Price sounds in line- I got mine used without a lens and no memory card for $399.

 

[Groucho]

You shoot Cannon, the OP may shoot Nikkon, and I shoot Penntax.

Yea yea.... so I can't spell or type...

Don't feel bad, I think we have a few Olympuss and Sonny shooters around here, too. And my wife uses a Fuuji!

 

[Ratpack]

I love the look of the HDR photos I see on various websites so I thought I might try my hand at it. Can someone help me with how to do this with a D50? Also, will I need any other software other than Photoshop CS?

Thanks!

 

[ukcatfan]

Here is a how to, but I am pretty sure that you would need CS2 or other software. http://www.popphoto.com/howto/3038/how-to-create-high-dynamic-range-images.html

Kevin

 

[handicap18]

There are specific HDR software programs out there. You can do a google search or look on flickr and search for HDR photos, the groups there have some software listed.

Doesn't matter what camera you use, just need to have a tripod and take usually 3 (sometimes more, but 3 is usually the minimum) pictures using 3 different shutter speeds. Then let the HDR software combine them. You can make adjustments with the software before finializing the pic.

 

[bostran1]

I use photomatix pro. Do a web search for it. There is a trial version the website.

 

[senecabeach]

We Luv Disney has great HDR shots. You might want to ask him?
Here's his web site
http://www.pbase.com/catson/walt_disney_world_in_hdr

 

[boBQuincy]

A fair HDR simulation (and no, it's not true HDR) can be done by converting a RAW file with different exposure settings. Open the original RAW three times, optimizing each one for highlights, midtones, and shadows respectively. Drag two of the files onto the first one, select all three layers, and align them.

Then add masks to the top two layers and mask out the parts that are not optimized. The resulting file should contain well exposed highlights, midtones, and shadows without any blowing out or totally underexposed.

Of course what is really done here is more like enhanced burning and dodging than a true HDR, but for a scene that does not have a really wide range of brightness values the result can be very close to HDR. For a moving subject this is about the only way to go since HDR won't work in that case.

 

[the bubbas]

Hi! My kit lens to my D50 broke(don't ask) . I want a good multi purpose zoom lens that isn't going to break my budget. I have the 50mm f/1.8 for portraits and I love it! I didn't particularly like the kit lens anyway so I'm anxious to find a great new lens. I will mainly be photographing my 3 children. We leave for Disney in a week and a half.
Please give me your suggestions! Thanks so much!