Takes my AF Nikkor lenses from my old film SLR. Great metering, great quality. Lightweight (compared to my film SLR).

Not as fast as some other digital SLRs (I think this one is around 2 FPS), but for what I do, I don't need that feature. I would have preferred a preview "zoom" rather than the way this camera allows you to zoom in on a preview image. It's more cumbersome, requiring 2 hands to crop/zoom.

I originally wanted the Nikon D70, but the D50 was more in my price range. I was not diappointed! I have no desire to upgrade to a D70, as the D50 does everything I need it to do.
The $599.00 price above reflects a "body only" purchase. Memory card is separate.
It did come with a nice Nikon strap and body cap.

Customer Service

I have never contacted Nikon customer service, so I really cannot rate them.

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I had a Sony CD400, not an SLR. Awful camera! Quality was "okay", but that thing was SOOOOOO SLOOOOW. It was digital.

I have a Nikon N70, and a Nikon F3 film cameras. I have also used/owned other Nikon and Pentax film cameras.

I am every bit as happy with my D50 as I was with my N70 and F3.

Quality of images Ease of use Nice range of lenses Price against competitors Well made

Would like a lower ISO Would prefer no auto pop up flash No memory card included

I had avoided going to an SLR so I had worked my way through some great Fuji's, 5200, 9000. When i went to the 9000 from the 5200 I was disappointed and thought 5.1mp to 9 would be better. The 5200 took better photos. Then I researched and decided to get the D50. This camera takes the best pictures of all. As soon as I picked it up it felt right. Fits the hand nicely and once you have read the book to find the basics, taken a few pictures you have a much better understanding of the camera. I had read the one dial adjustment was not the best but I like the feature. I found the menu easier to navigate than the S9000. The auto focus is quick and accurate and as I take train photos find the fastest shutter more than enough to freeze the subjects. I bought the body with an 18-55 and 70-300. I wanted the 18-70 but is a more expensive lens. I would recommend at least the 55-200 as an extra lens. I use a 2gb card and set at fine and large you get 568 images.

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Canon Rebel Fuji s9000 Fuji s5200

The D 50 is very fast (autofokus depending on the lens), has just the right dimension and weight, you can grow to digital expert with this camera and you can point and shot also, ergonomics are good to very good, it's sturdy

I miss the bracketing button (wish to trade it for the series buttonand the illumination of the upper display

Was torn between D 200 and D 50. My choice: D 50. The digital revolution will go on, in 3 years i will go for the D 300, up to this date my d50 will serve me well, it's really the best DSLR you can get for this amount of cash today. It bought it with the kit lens 18-55. I cant understand at all why people go for the 35-70 instead. I is darn to heavy for me, and -look in the charts - not at all optically better then his counterpart. Read about this lens (www.kenrockwell.com) and you will realise it's a winner.

Easy to use. Fast startup. Fast and silent AF with 18-70 lens. Fully featured with easy to use menu options. Amazing flash capability with the Nikon SB-600. Fantastic battery life from the EN-EL3a battery. No cable release but it works quite well with the ML-L3 remote. It's a NIKON!

No vertical grip. I picked up a Opteka battery grip on eBay and that gives the camera better ergonomics and extends the already long battery.

I purchased the Nikon D50 because it offered most of the D70s features but at a much better price. I purchased the body only and added the 18-70 lens after reading all the reviews and the 18-70 rated the better as the two. Now to the camera ... I own a bunch of Nikon lenses so choosing the D50 was a no brainer. I love the fast startup and AF. This camera is really easy is to use and can be customized to suit your needs or shooting preferences. It's ideal for the beginner and fully featured for the experienced photographer.

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Canon Digital Rebel Nikon CoolPix 5700

Feels really solid and easy to use. The body, as yet, I cannot fault.

Got it in a kit with the Nikkor 18-55mm lens included. I'd strongly suggest buying the body alone and getting a better nikkor or sigma lens. The lens supplied stinks. It has a very slow aperture range, especially considering its short focal length. It feels as light as if it is made of cardboard and actually rattles when you move it. It is slightly flexible in 2 separate areas. The one good point is that, although not a macro lens, it is capable of taking close up shots, but with a *razor thin* depth of field (presumably 'cos of the f-stops).

I've only just got this so can hardly comment on results, but the unit is easy to use, displays and controls all seem sensible. Main reason for reviewing early is to warn people off the lens!

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Nikon 35mm slr

Ease of use. Very intuitive. Fits large hands very well. Comfortable grip. Navigation easy.

SD card. I would have preferred to see this come with a compact flash slot as well.

After struggling with a PS for years, my enthusiasm for photography has been renewed with this purchase of the Nikon D50. From the get go, this caera has been easy to use. As soon as the box came in the mail, I charged the battery, put the lense on and started firing away. The picture quality is immediately apparent. I can only imagine what a better lense will do! The menu is easy to navigate. Selection of items is straight forward. programmed settings provide enough range that using them while you get used to the camera(coming from a PS background) is easy. Jump into the manual settings once you know the camera.

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Only held Canon's equivalent. Felt cheap in comparison.

Fit and finish.

SD door comes open too easily. No LCD protector

I'll compare this to the Canon Digital Rebel XT, its main competition. The Nikon has a very nice pebbled finish that makes the camera look and feel like a $1,000 camera. The Canon has a smooth matte plastic finish that looks and feels cheap. My hands are not large, but they feel cramped on the XT. The grip on the D50 is just right. The fonts and colors on the Canaon are terrible, they are very hard to read, and impossible to read outdoors. The Nikon menus/fonts are bright and large, and easy to see. The Nikon has a slightly larger LCD screen. Response time is excellent. The Nikon kit lense is on par with the Canon kit lens, i.e. cheaply built and Ok optically. I sold the kit lens on ebay and didn't lose money on it. I bought the Nikon 18-70 lens on ebay at a reasonable price. The 18-70 is a very nice lens, solid and well built, and the finish on the lens matches the D50. The 18-70 is twice as heavy as the 18-55 though.

Ease of use, good pictures out of the camera, competitive priced and a wide selection of Nikon and third party lenses.

No LCD protector, no DOF preview.

This is my first DSLR, before this camera I used an Olympus 3000z and before that a Praktika SLR. I was able to borrow a Canon Rebel 300 EOS and a Panasonic Fz5 for comparison before I purchased this camera. I fairly quickly decided I preferred the optical view finder and the speed of the Rebel over the Panasonic. Next I started to look at the different DSLR cameras; I considered the Rebel 300 and Rebel 350 xt from Canon, the Pentax ISD, the Olympus Evolt and the Nikon 50d. After reading all the reviews online about each camera I narrowed my choices down to the Rebel 350 and D50. I picked the Nikon over the Canon because of the following reasons: 1) The size of the camera, the Canon body is just too small for me. 2) The kit lens is slightly better on the Nikon (according to the reviews). 3) The Nikon has less noise at higher ISO numbers. 4) The D50 is less expensive. 5) The D50 is a newer camera, more modern technology. 6) The D50 battery allows up to 2000 pictures per charge, good for vacations. I think over-all either camera takes great pictures. I have had my D50 now for about 2 months and I have taken about 500 pictures. I use a 1GB SD card (Sandisk). I also bought a Sigma 55-200mm DC zoom lens. The kit lens seems to work very well; the range of 18 to 55mm is good giving me a slight wide angle to a slight zoom. The kit lens is quiet and focuses quickly. The build quality seems fine and the AF on/off switch on the lens is nice. I did find it strange it did not come with a lens hood. Pretty soon I felt the need for a more powerful zoom lens. The 55-200mm Sigma lens is a perfect companion for the kit lens. I chose if over the Nikon 55-200 lens because of it's price and also because it got slightly better reviews for optical quality on www.popphoto.com. The lens works well, the AF is louder then the AF of the kit lens and the build quality seems less. It has no AF on/off switch on the lens so you have to use the one on the body. It has a lens hood but it is hard to attach. I don't think this lens is mechanically very well built. The Nikon lens might have been a better choice. Neither lens supports macro, I did take some really nice "bug" pictures with the Sigma but the min. distance is 1 meter or more. Over-all the D50 has been performing very well for me. It is very fast, no shutter lag that I can find. Pictures are consistently sharp and exposed correctly. I have done very little tweaking of the pictures, they are generally good straight out of the camera. The D50 seems easy to use; the manual is OK, but not great. I still have to explore some of the manual settings of the camera. I did find that it occasionally hunts when trying to focus. This is definitely an issue trying to take picture of airplanes in a blue sky. Action shots turned out to be really good with this camera and in jpg mode I can take 10 pictures in a single burst, after that it will slow down some writing to the SD card. Shots at higher ISO numbers have very low noise, much lower then the Canon 300 Rebel when I compared the results. As the other reviewer noted a LCD protector is missing. I used a stick-on LCD protector (normally for a PDA) and it protects the LCD on the back. It does impact the usability of the LCD some if you want to take a detail look at a picture (not as sharp and crisp).

Customer Service

Not used

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Canon rebel 300

Great entry level DSLR

The D70 or D70s is just more camera a price that's too close.

A few folks have complained about the focus of my reviews, so let me explain this one. Most folks looking at the D50 will almost certainly be looking at the D70s as well. My review is aimed at that majority. I bought a D50 for a cousin as a gift and had the chance to test it against my “old” D70 using a 50mm 1.8 and Tokina 12-24mm. 1st, let me say that the rating is a bit low because I think the D70 or D70s offers more value. On it's OWN, this is a ***** great camera, targeted at the less experienced shooter. With that said, this remains a VERY expandable system. In spite of some folks claiming the D70 has the less processed image (allowing for more control in PP) I really can’t say that it should make much difference. I tended to prefer the images from the D70 using my current curve, but I doubt I’d really know the difference if someone swapped the camera internals on me. Noise levels on the D50 were better, but looked more processed for it. I think the D70 can match it at ISO 1000 after processing, but I rarely shoot above 500, so I can’t see much advantage. In the end image quality was very close, but the D50 DOES blow highlights. I do think this is fixable problem; I just didn’t have time to tweak it. In the end, I agree with reviews that claim the D50 gives you a bit less to work with, but it's a VERY small issue overall. There has been some debate about focusing speeds and I’m 100% certain the D70 has better AF. With the Tokina 12-24 the D50 hunted for focus where the D70 did not. I loaned my 28-200G to a friend using the D50 and he complained that it hunted, while it almost never does on the D70. Most of the time the D50 focused fine. Again...small differences. Ergonomically I can’t say that I like the D50 as much as the D70. The single command dial is a huge step backward. Sure, you can get used to it, but it’s just not as smooth in real world use and it never will be. Indoors, the lack of the top LCD light was a real drag. I was forced to use the back LCD at times. I can’t imagine why Nikon omitted this rather important detail. The lack of LCD protector is also missed. Lack of wireless commander mode, preview button, slower FPS, and a small list of other missing items combined with the above makes the D70 and D70s still the better buy, by a very small margin. If wireless flash is something you want, the D70 makes much more sense. In the end I liked the D50 just fine and in real world use, it’s 95% of what the D70 is. It’s smaller grip might work better for women and those with smaller hands. I think for the photographer who plans to get "serious" down the road, the D70 is the go-to camera for the moment. At this stage, if I didn't have a DSLR, I'd probably take a smart chance and wait for the next crop of cameras...the D80 and D200 or something like that are due soon! The D50 will be stationed at the bottom rung of Nikon's ladder and I expect the new models to really shake things up. After using the D50 and owning a D70 for 6 months, both cameras are virtually interchangeable in most situations. But if you are among the more capable shooters who can't spring for a D2X, the D70 will still make for a better platform as it's aimed at the more advanced photograher. Even on the D70, a pro lens like my Nikkor 70-200 VR can be quite unbalanced. On the D50 it's much worse. I've added a Harbortronics battery grip to my D70 and that has mostly fixed the problem. Those who plan to use big glass may seek the same fix for the D50 if it becomes available. Don't let money determine your pick. If you don't care about the small advantages of the D70 or the D50s better (possibly native) noise levels, get the D70 or D70s. If you want a camera to give you better shots with less post processing work, then the D50 may be your better pick. My guess is that you'll be pretty thrilled with either. Good luck!

Customer Service

No comment thus far

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D70, D50, D2H