Reviews for Nikon D50 6.1 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body Only

Great value and great allrounder with great lens...

Strengths: Very responsive, great low light performance, very small RAW files, good performance on auto for a SLR, good value and practical lens options, very sturdy and right size/weight for me

Weakness: Not all the bells and whistles, (especially prints > 14''). Metering/AF type only through menu. Continuos mode could be faster and (as all low cost SLRs) viewfinder could be larger.

I am not going to comment on image quality, check it out on e.g. dpreview.com, they are correct. The only thing I must mention is the great low-light performance, especially RAW, which is the biggest selling point for DSLRs for me (any new camera makes nice pictures in good light these days).

I have given it a good run in the last 3 month including bright landscapes, tough indoor settings like the casinos in AC (mostly no flash) and fast action like close-ups of mid-air birds at my bird feeder and amateur hockey games.

I have to point out a few very practical advantages, which are not that obvious in reviews.

First, it has turned me into a 90% RAW shooter. The 6MP images are well compressed and are almost always below a record 6MB, which results in 266 shots on a $110 2GB card and acceptable download times. Now my shots in somewhat dark hockey rings are usable many times more than without RAW. You will have to get a decent RAW (batch) converter and there is that encrypted white balance issue.

The other advantage is the choice of (value) lenses, aided by the low 1.5 crop factor. Given that I don't want f/3.5-5.6 lenses and usually carry no more than 2 lenses and do not want to spend more than $400, there are not many options. The 18-70mm is a nice and sturdy lens with a great range and a somewhat acceptable f/3.5-4.5 for $325 and reaches from 27-105mm (after crop). That means that you have a good value, decent lens all the way to where most tele-lenses start (70mm) (no gap or very limited choice with 55-200mm lenses).

In comparison Canon's lenses (and others) seem very impractical. The kit lens is only usable from 18-24/28mm and is a dog beyond that. That forces you to have 3 lenses all the way to 300mm (don't even touch the 18-200/300m ones) and the 17-85mm is just too expensive, way too slow and shows a lot of distortion (for the price). With the 1.6 crop factor you are not that wide either.

Also, my wife can use it thanks to a well working auto mode that is calibrated for no post processing shots (in contrast to the D70) and it survived 2 4-5 ft drops on a hardwood floor, which is very practical as well.

Bottom line for me is that there is a great value including decent lens choices having a practical (near perfect) zoom range, which will not have you change lenses all the time. A very efficient RAW implementation with record low file sizes makes RAW feasible and saves or improves many of those tough shots.

A package making sense for the money if you don’t need the bells and whistles more expensive cameras offer. Also great back-up for a "bigger" DSLR.

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Wonderful entry DSLR

Strengths: Works up to ISO 1600, Solid build quality, Fast continuous mode, Perfect size and weight, sharp results, great Nikon metering, huge lens selection, no major weaknesses.

Weakness: No LCD backlight, No second command dial, can only use remote shutter release from the front of the camera, 1.5x FOV crop makes wide angle photography expensive or impossible.

My previous camera was a Nikon FG-20 35mm SLR which I still like to use every once in a while. I also had a midrange zoom AF Nikkor lens that I thought would make a good starter for the D50. The camera began working just fine, but after I dropped $100 on a fast Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, I've had a hard time putting the camera down.

I'm a fan of using available light, so moving from 400 speed film up to a camera that can use the same speedy lens but also has the flexibility to go to ISO 1600 has been great for my photography. This is the perfect entry level DSLR for anyone interested in concert photography or anything else in low light. I'd also recommend buying the Nikkor 50mm AF lens. It forces you to move around your subject and think about composition much more and often results in better pictures.

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D50

Strengths: Cheaper and lighter than D70(s)

Weakness: o LCD monitor is still small. It is only 2.0" while 2.5" is already very popular. o There is no ISO 100

I have a N80 with two nikkor lens 24-85D and Nikkor 70-300 ED. Because I want to reuse my lens so I didn't think about any other DSLRs. Even though I was so hesitate to choose between D50 and D70s and eventually I bot D50 because of the price and the quality of jpeg format picture.

Although many people complain that unlike N80/D70 has two command dials, D50 only has one dial, this makes it difficult to handle. But to me, it is not a problem at all. You may simply push the menu button and easily select whatever you want to do from the menu.

When I use D50 with Nikkor 70-300 ED to shoot birds, I was so impressed. The pictures are vivid and sharp, even better than the pictures I took by with N80 (maybe because I am not good at scanning). I am very satisfied at this lovely D50.

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Fantastick DSLR

Strengths: Light yet solid Great Pictures (even in auto mode)

Weakness: No DOF preview No backlit LCD Lack of front command dial (makes manual mode difficult)

Been shooting with the D50 for about a week now, with a Tamron 24-135 and a Nikkor 50/1.8. Great camera for anyone looking for a DSLR. Auto mode on this body is great, but you can get even better shots fine tuning the 20 or so custom settings.

Good feel in hand, a little taller but not as wide as a F50, and slightly smaller than a D70. Solid construction and very high quality control, like most Nikon products. Already had 1 minor fall, about 2 feet to a hardwood floor, no scratches or any problems from that.

Overall, very nice DSLR, great for someone wanting to get into the SLR market, or a seasoned photographer.

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Cheap excelent performer

Strengths: Low price, Small size, fast turn on and shooting, Large LCD screen, Body design, finish and build quality

Weakness: No illumination on top LCD panel, No rear LCD cover like the D100 or D70

I am new to D-SLRs. My previous digital camera was a Sony cybershot point and shoot. When looking to move up to a D-SLR my needs were for it to be affordable, fast, reasonably sized, have a wide affordable selection of quality lenses, produce quality images right out the camera to reduce post processing and have good resolution and detail. These needs led me to the Cannon XT and the Nikon D50 and D70s. Of the three I loved the size of the D50 the most (the XT was too small and the D70s too bulky in my hands). Picture wise the images produced by the XT tened to look too "soft". I prefered the rich but sharp detail of the D50 or the sharp details of the D70s. I chose the D50 because it has the ability to change color space producing images similar to what the d70s does. It has not taken me very long to understand how the camera works and have already started producing some nice images. My advice stop thinking about it and buy the camera! the sooner you do the sooner you can get out there and enjoy shooting!

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I had the Lenses from my 6006 - so I got the D50!

Strengths: Great pictures, user friendly. Sharp lens. Quality and feel. Long battery life. Macro mode.

Weakness: Haven't figured out how to use LCD as viewfinder yet.

I haven't had my D50 for long but I've been playing with it a lot and I'm really impressed. I was originally aiming to buy the D70 because I read so many great things about it, and in the process of doing my research, stumbled upon the D50. Anyway, it's much like the D70 except for a few rather advanced options that unless you're a real stickler for these manual features, makes no difference at all. The picture quality is every bit as good as the D70- I know this by research and hands on experience-and costs less. The D50 offers so many features (to me, and I consider myself an advanced amateur, at least)that even though the pictures I've already taken without knowing all the features have turned out excellent, when I learn more about the camera, I may be even more pleased.

I'd go for it and doubt that anyone would regret it. Again, I'd only recommend purchasing the D70 if you like the very few options the D50 lacks, to be in your camera.

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Great DSLR with only a few flaws

Strengths: Cheap yet well-built, response is really fast, clear pictures even at high ISO.

Weakness: menu accessing is needed to change the metering model and bracketing. some important information like ISO rate is available neither in the viewfinder nor on the information LCD.

In my opinion, this camera body is clearly better built than the digital rebel xt. The grip is also more comfortable (you can put all the rest four fingers onto it instead of three). I have already used severral Nikkor and Sigma lens on this camera and the focusing is not only fast but also accurate. No focusing lost occurs as in Canon entry-level DSLRs. What is more important, the operation is more professional-like and definitely more convenient. For example, most of the digital settings like quality, white balance and ISO can be modified by the combination of one button with one dial.

Unfortunately, metering model is not one of them. To change the metering model, you have to go inside the cameras menu. Such inconvenient and stupid design is rare even in today's consumer digital cameras.
The present ISO can not be found anywhere on the camera (unless you hold the ISO button down while looking for it intendedly at the small LCD). I went to the Rose Parade in Pasadena yesterday, the camera with a Nikkor 135mm f2.0 lens worked fine even under the heavy rain. However, it is terrible to find out that I used ISO800 by mistake for all the shootings only after I came back...

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Nikon D50

Strengths: Solid construction, ultra-fast responsiveness.

Weakness: Focus can be difficult to gauge in viewfinder.

Outstanding value and performance. I did not use the kit lens, instead I picked up the Nikon 50 mm f/1.8 lens - extraordinary value at $100 and delivers low light performance that exceeds or competes with virtually the entire Nikon lineup. I think being able to shoot without flash is one of the unique advantages of dSLR over regular digicams, so I highly recommend this lens.

Also note that the D50 uses SD memory, which was a selling point for me - my laptop, PDA, and digicam all use SD.

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Wonderful Camera

Strengths: Easy to use basic features. Great price.

Weakness: Lots of features that take time to learn.

I searched around a great deal before purchasing this camera. It takes wonderfully clear pictures. From all of the retailers that we contacted, everyone of the suggested this camera. Most even suggested it over its counterpart the D70.

Overall, it is a very easy camera to use. It takes great pictures. We wanted to get a camera that performed well in lower light situations, and so far we have not been let down.

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Excellent camera

Strengths: Excellent quality photo, no shutter lag, easy to use, long battery life.

Weakness: Macro function on my Sigma AF D lenses are not working

I have been using Nikon N80 with 2 sigma zoom lenses with Macro. I also have a 5MP compact digital camera. I could not tolerate the shutter lag when I took photo for little boy. Would like to use my sigma lenses and dislike shutter lag on compact digial camera are the two main reason to chose Nikon D50. D50 is a great camera. I love it since I got it. Excellent image quality. I enlarged several photos to 8"x12". I could not tell if the photos are from film or digital camera. Actually, I felt like those photo has better quality than film enlargement. I think this might due to that the film enlargement quality is operator dependent.

The camera is very easy to use. I only spent about 30 minutes to read the manual before I operate the camera. And there is not shutter lag!!! I shot about 400+ pictures some of them with build in speed light with one battery charge. It is still going without any sign of low battery.

My sigma AF D zoom lenses from my Nikon N80 match well with D50. AF is faster and accurate. However, the macro function is not working at AF mode. I have to use it at Manual mode.

LCD is big and clear.

I strongly recommend this camera.

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A great camera for an SLR beginner!!

Strengths: Very easy to use. Not so many options that the camera is overwhelming

Weakness: None so far!

I am very pleased with this camera! I am a beginner with digital SLR and the ease of use is amazing. I was very intimidated by SLR photography, but this camera is so easy to use! My pictures from our recent Christmas celebration were amazing! I would highly recommend this camera to anyone wanting to begin digital SLR photography.

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Excellent In Every Way

Strengths: Image quality, build quality, ergonomics, vast range of settings, spot meter, long battery life. Kit lens is above-average build and image quality. Colors and lighting are accurate.

Weakness: None.

This camera is by far the best value for the money. Nearly professional if not so. The build quality and feel is perfect, as in you know it's there and you won't be afraid to be a little rough with and actually use it. Can't say that about the Rebel XTi.

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Nikon D50

Testseek.com has collected 53 expert reviews for Nikon D50 and the average expert rating is 84 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Nikon D50

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DCRP Review: Nikon D50

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Nikon D50

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Nikon D50 Digital Camera Review

The Nikon D50 is a solid contender among entry level DSLRs, providing users with a 6 megapixel APS-format sensor, 2.5 frames-per-second burst mode, vibrant color rendition, and excellent noise performance. Available at an MSRP of $899.95 and selling for around $700 or even below online, the D50 falls into an increasingly crowded segment of the DSLR realm. Supplying a 2-inch, 130,000 pixel LCD and...

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