Announced in April of 2005, the D50 is Nikon's entry level digital SLR. It's in the same family as the D70s and D200. Included are a 6.1 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD sensor and the next generation of in-camera processing including seven digital scene modes. It's designed to be easy to use and easy to hold with a lightweight body. Included is a large 2.0-inch LCD inch screen, a refined 5-area auto focus system, continuous 2.5 frames per second frame-rate, and Nikon's 3D Color Matrix Metering II. All of this comes in at a fantastic street price of $509.95, for body only.
Price: $509.95 US
Nikon D50 Pros and Cons
Pros
Long battery life
Nikon consistent 1.5x digital crop factor
Impressive focusing with an improved AF algorithm
On camera scene mode assistance
Fast startup
Flash sync to 1/500th of a second
Cons
Uses Secure Digital (SD) memory cards
Only one control for both aperture and shutter speed
Introduction After recently reviewing the Nikon D70s, and many point-and-shoot digital cameras, I was interested in testing the D50. The manual and Nikon's marketing material indicates that this camera is designed for the beginning photographer and who wants a simple camera that can deliver superb results. The Nikon D50 digital SLR may just be the best value in its class. The goal of this review is to confirm or deny whether the D50 lives up to the hype and the Nikon name.
Nikon D50 Design
The moment I picked up the camera I noticed the solid feel. Even though the outer body is mostly made of a plastic, there are key areas in the grip and eyecup that are made of rubber. These provide comfortable and secure contact points to the camera. The eyecup and viewfinder provide a bright and comfortable view. The monitor is bright and very crisp with good contrast. Nikon's display is easily viewed in daylight and the especially large text makes for easy menu navigation. When you turn on the camera it's ready to go without delay. Even functions like image playback and viewing are quick. As you take photographs you will enjoy 2.5 frames per second up to a total of 137 frames. All of the controls are in typical Nikon format and easily reached by small and large hands alike.
The D50 is quite easy to use and the design is fantastic. A photographer can choose from Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Child, Close up, Sports, or Night Portrait scene modes (called Digital Vari-Programs by Nikon). If you don't know what a particular scene mode is for, you can press the question mark button on the back of the camera and a description of that scene mode will be displayed on the D50's LCD. Having on-camera scene mode assistance is important since this camera relies heavily on these modes. One of the scene modes I really liked was the Child program. It's set up to capture photos of children with just the right amount of saturation and color. The Nikon D50's scene modes are really a menu of common photo subjects that many people want to photograph. Programming the camera settings to emulate certain photo styles allows the photographer to concentrate on the moment and just take photographs.
As mentioned in my Nikon D70s review, the Nikon flash system is one of my favorite things about using Nikon SLRs. You can use iTTL flash controls in combination with the kit lenses and the SB-600 or SB-800 Speedlights. With other flashes, manual flash exposure is necessary. If you upgrade to a non-kit Nikkor lens, then you can use iTTL flash with most of the Nikon flash system. The flash button near the pop-up flash quickly changes the flash mode. Options are normal sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction with slow sync, slow sync, and rear-curtain sync. Even with the entry-level target market, the Nikon D50 has top quality flash control.
There are a couple of D50 design decisions that I don't understand - the minimum ISO speed and the SD memory card slot. Allowing only SD memory cards is confusing. They are standard in most compact digital cameras. So it helps photographers who are upgrading. But most digital SLRs use CompactFlash cards. A photographer using the D50 will have to buy new memory cards if they upgrade to a Nikon D70s or D200.
Regarding the D50's minimum sensitivity, I am baffled that Nikon chose ISO 200 as the lowest available sensitivity setting. For my main subjects - landscape and portrait photography - I really need the low noise performance of ISO 100. The ISO 200 minimum is probably to prevent photos lost to camera shake. By raising the sensitivity, Nikon ensures a higher percentage of "keepers" for less experienced photographers. As with the camera's scene modes, Nikon is taking away the need to think technically and allowing the user to concentrate on the subject. It would be nice if the D50 offered ISO 100 in manual, aperture, and shutter priority exposure modes and only had the ISO 200 minimum in the program modes.
Nikon D50 playback display, with histogram
Nikon D50 main menu
Nikon D50 detailed playback display
Nikon D50 Playback display
Camera Experience For a camera that costs barely over $500 dollars, the D50 is a great performer. Auto focus is fast and accurate, allowing for great impromptu photographs. I cannot say enough about Nikon's ergonomics and how well the controls are laid out. When I turn on camera it's ready to shoot, focus, and capture an image. Having a rubber grip on the camera makes the Nikon D50 feel like it's stuck to your hand. The camera's minimal weight and a super-long lasting battery made shooting all day fun and trouble-free.
The D50 lacks some of the controls of the D70s and other higher-end digital SLRs, such as white balance fine-tuning and separate shutter speed and aperture controls. Sensitivity can only be adjusted by full stops compared to 1/3 stop adjustments on the D70s. There's also no Auto Exposure Bracketing button - standard on most Nikon digital SLRs. Even so, the improved 3D Matrix Metering II, improved image processing, and AF algorithm provides excellent and reliable results. Automatic white balance was actually better than the D70s, so the need to fine tune isn't needed. Overall the D50 is a great performer that helps make photography fun.
Image Quality One word: "wow!" When I compared images from the D70s and the D50 the D50 photos were cleaner and had less noise. Even at ISO 1600 images were very acceptable. Nikon used to have a problem with high-ISO noise, but it looks like that is behind them now.
Shadow detail is excellent and provides detail in both highlights and shadows. In Carmel I took a couple of images of a brightly lit alley with dark shadows. Shadow detail was good, straight from the camera.
With my Canon digital cameras, I had to do a lot of color correction when I downloaded from the camera. The images I downloaded from the D50 were spot on and had very accurate color. It was nice to see images come straight from the camera with color that was very close to the original scene.
Click on thumbnails to view sample photos.
Click on thumbnails to view sample photos.
Conclusion The Nikon D50 lives up to its promises and is a quality camera inside and out.
I am a control freak and giving up some control for the sake of automation had me worried. Needless to say, the results speak for themselves and I am very impressed. There is little sacrifice to be made with the D50. I made a big decision after reviewing this camera. When I realized how much fun it was to use the Nikon D50, I sold all of my Canon gear and switched back to Nikon. The D50 and the D70s performed so well for me, I felt completely comfortable making the switch. I recently bought an F6 and a D200. And I wouldn't hesitate to buy the D50 for a travel or vacation camera.
Who Should Buy The Nikon D50 If you are just stepping into the digital SLR arena and haven't invested in any lenses yet, then the Nikon D50 may be the camera for you. Anybody who enjoys taking photographs and doesn't want the shutter-lag typical of a point-and-shoot digital will enjoy this camera. I told my mom to buy a D50 and I would recommend it to anybody.
The only question is whether you should invest a little more to buy the Nikon D70s or a Canon Rebel XT. If the Nikon D50 fits your needs and price range, buy it. The D50 has something to offer almost anyone.
Sample Images
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