Hi, I thought about buying a D50 for my vacation in December to Canun. I really don't want to take my more expensive cameras to the beach. I have heard a lot about the D50 and I know there are upgrades from it like the D60,D70, and so on. I have heard the D50 does actually handle noise quite well. Any thought on my idea? Thanks!!
Thought about buying the D50 for my vacation???
- Thread starter Debbie H
- Start date
A good P&S might be a better choice due to ease of carrying, but the D50 wouldn't be bad.
Alan I have thought about that also.
Something I didn't check out is the Megapixels of the D50. I saw some pics on the Cafe from the D60 and also the D70 are looked pretty darn good. If I'm going to buy another camera I might as well get a good one that can be used other than just a vacation camera. I know that everyone is talking about the DX lenses and the crop value, not quite sure I understand that fully. The lenses I have are { primes- 10.5 fisheye lens,35 2,
50 1.8, 85 1.8, Zooms- 17-55.28-70, and the 70-200 Vr. I'm thinking that the only one I would have an issure with would be the 17-55 but not sure. And I'm thinking that wouldn't be an issue unless I buy the D700 or D3. Please tell me if I'm wrong. Thanks!!
Hi Debbie , I have the D50 and it is my landscape camera - always has the sigma 10-20 on it and handles noise very well . The D40 with 18-55 lens is much smaller , more advanced and very light .... just doesn't have the focus drive for lenses that don't have built in motors. But if you get a D40 you would be happy with the 18-55 that comes with it anyway . D50 you would only get second hand .D50 is 6 meg , more than enough and images look sharper than the D200's .
Hmmm, Well I want more than 6 megs for sure!! I wondering about the D60 or D70 and how they handle noise. I would like around 10 megs.:smile:
Take a look at the just announced Casio EX-Z300. It will be available in Sep/Oct for just under $300.
I'd take this over a D50 for a "beach vacation". It also has HD video recording.
BTW, the D50 is betta than those cams you mentioned. :wink:
regards
JohnG
Take a look at the just announced Casio EX-Z300. It will be available in Sep/Oct for just under $300.
I'd take this over a D50 for a "beach vacation". It also has HD video recording.
BTW, the D50 is betta than those cams you mentioned. :wink:
regards
JohnG
Thanks for the advice John!! I will check out the Casio EX-Z also. :smile:
There are two sample pics and one video on this site:
http://dc.casio.jp/product/exilim/ex_z300/gallery.html
The IQ on those images and movie clip are very good. I've got a casio P&S and have been VERY happy with its "performance". That said, I'll be upgrading my P&S to the Z300 as soon as it's available.................. mostly for the HD movie capture.
regards
JohnG
D70 is also 6 meg and much worse noise than D50 . D40 has the best image quality of them all , D60 is 10 meg .
Have a look at the "megapixel myth" http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm
I took a picture with my D80 at 10 meg and at 2 meg and printed them both out at 8X12 and nobody can tell the difference .
When you get to compact cameras more megapixels just mean that detail is smeared at high iso's so the image quality is worse than a lower megapixel camera unless the light is good .
You can make a billboard with 4 meg .
If you have to have 10 meg the D60 does a good job .
I currently own a D50 and while I love this camera allot im starting to get to the point where I would rather have a D40. Im waiting for the D90 to come out before I make a decision on which camera I want next but I think for you wanting a cheaper camera to take to the beach, a D40 or D40x might be a great choice, there small and from what I have heard a great little camera. THe lack of focus motor doesn't seem to be a big issue anymore unless you have allot of older glass.
John Thanks!! Those are quite good! Gosh I don't know if I could actually pick up a P&S camera knowing that I couldn't totally control my exposure. Doesn't that sound crazy! But the video part of the camera would be nice. :smile:
C
ChrisA
Guest
The advantage of a P&S is that you can buy an inexpensive housing for the P&S. Even if you don't dive with the camera the housing makes it completely water proof and of course sand proof too. In fact I routinely clean my housed cameras by dunking them in a bucket. You can get some neat pictures too that you'd never get with an SLR because you'd never take the SLR into the pool or ocean.
Yes they make dive housings for SLRs too but they typically cost more than the SLR body. But there is an exception. Ewa Marine make a kind of vinyl bag enclosure that makes an SLR water proof to just a few feet. They are not good for diving but will protect an SLR if dropped in the pool. B&H and others sell these
http://www.ewa-marine.de/index.php?id=17&L=0
I just did a shoot were the family requested 3 of the prints as 16x20 stretched canvas. They look great. 6mp is all you need assuming you don't crop the picture to zoom in, that's what lenses are for. Since you have older primes I would recommend the D50 over the D40. I like have more AF points to chose from. Also, since you have a D200 you are already use to the crop factor. Its the same (1.5x) for every Nikon CCD camera made. D700 and D3 being CMOS and FF. Can't remember if the D300 is CMOS or not.
C
ChrisA
Guest
The D80's few extra megapixels will allow you to make prints that are 1.23 times larger, if you hold the DPI constant. That means 12 inches wide for the D80 vs 10 inches for the D50 (if we assume 300dpi) You can buy a D50 for about $350 unlessyou really need those extra two inches.
My opinion is that if you already have a Nikon dSLR don't buy another one. They are all to much alike. Buy something that compliments the dSLR that you already have. What about a film body? You can get a good SLR for $100 and a film can have the image quality of a D700 or better. If $100 is to much, I've had a lot of fun using a Holga. They are so cheap I don't care what happens to them.
I bought a Fuji p&s for a vacation in the spring and it was a mistake. I'm too spoiled by the image quality of dslr's. After the vacation, I ended up buying a D40 w/kit lens to use as my p&s. Yes, it's slightly bigger than a p&s, but still smaller than my D300 and larger glass. The D40 does have some limitations, but all in all it is a great little camera.
Some noise examples (caution: two large files)
Debbie -
I've attached thre D50 photos. None have had noise reduction applied.
The first is a normal 900pixel downsize as used here on the cafe, or roughly a 6" x 9". The second is a picture taken a second later, same settings (and both had a modest crop) but this one is blown up to 3600pixels. Both were NEFs and had D-Lighting applied after shooting, which increases noise. So you can consider this second pic a worst case ISO 800 scenario. Note that at normal picture size (pic #1) you don't see noise at all.
Regular pic size: D50 w/Sigma 70-300 APO Super 300mm macro. 1/400, f/13, ISO 800.
Full size: Identical to above, but blown up to 3600pixels on long side.
Picture #3 is the same camera/lens combo taken a year ago, but with no d-lighting applied and shot JPEG. Again I've blown it up to show you that at ISO 800 (I believe) in this case there was no noise whatsoever.
Full Size: D50 w/Sigma 70-300 APO, 300mm Macro. 1/800, f/13, ISO not recorded but believe was ISO 800 or thereabouts.
Hope this helps. The D50 has good noise performance up to 800, and fair at 1600. It's JPEG output is superb looking. It's NEF files are of decent size. It's controls have a nice balance between adjustability and simplicity. My only complaint is the lack of a second wheel.
Debbie -
I've attached thre D50 photos. None have had noise reduction applied.
The first is a normal 900pixel downsize as used here on the cafe, or roughly a 6" x 9". The second is a picture taken a second later, same settings (and both had a modest crop) but this one is blown up to 3600pixels. Both were NEFs and had D-Lighting applied after shooting, which increases noise. So you can consider this second pic a worst case ISO 800 scenario. Note that at normal picture size (pic #1) you don't see noise at all.
Regular pic size: D50 w/Sigma 70-300 APO Super 300mm macro. 1/400, f/13, ISO 800.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Full size: Identical to above, but blown up to 3600pixels on long side.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Picture #3 is the same camera/lens combo taken a year ago, but with no d-lighting applied and shot JPEG. Again I've blown it up to show you that at ISO 800 (I believe) in this case there was no noise whatsoever.
Full Size: D50 w/Sigma 70-300 APO, 300mm Macro. 1/800, f/13, ISO not recorded but believe was ISO 800 or thereabouts.
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Hope this helps. The D50 has good noise performance up to 800, and fair at 1600. It's JPEG output is superb looking. It's NEF files are of decent size. It's controls have a nice balance between adjustability and simplicity. My only complaint is the lack of a second wheel.
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The Z300 has full manual control for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.
Unless you're into portraits where you need shallow DOF, these little P&S cams offer a lot of functionality for 'travel/vacation cams'.
Although I always take my D50 and my P&S when on holiday, I find that the P&S is often more "handy" than even the smallish D50 because I can always carry it (the P&S) in a small pocket. The video capability is the deal closer in a lot of situations.
Regards
JohnG
I got my D50 for that purpose, vacations, It is a very nice little camera, got a 18-70mm for it, and it is a nice small packe that serves me well, and probably would serve you as well...
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