Silhouette program was nice; Single Servo and Continuous Focus options are great; Autofocus does fine in my opinion.

Lots of weaknesses, but maybe I'm biased - This is my first autofocus, and I expected it to do everything manual can do along with the autofocus feature. Here's my gripes: Auto bracketing not included - bracketing manually on this model is a bit ackward. No depth of field preview, nice to have when you are doing tricky focusing. No double exposure capabilities, honestly have never used on other cameras, but would be nice to have in case. Most importantly, it will not push/pull film speeds, major dissapointment. Other problem with this camera is the program selection lcd - does not light up, making night pictures very hard to do - I cannot change settings in the dark with this, it would be nice if all information was lit up inside the viewfinder. Guess that another problem is the time setting, I hate to have to touch the shutter release button to end the exposure, I'll never be certain that I haven't moved the camera. Lack of a screw in cable release or a remote control option bothers me.

I needed autofocus because I've moved to korea, and want to take more pictures of people, which is tough with manual focus. Should have done my homework before buying this. However, in researching other Nikon SLR's, looks like what I need is an FM10 with autofocus. I can't find any low priced autofocus that will do what I need. So, dissapointed in the N50, but will keep it for the autofocus which I've been needing with shots of moving people, but for my scenics and architecture pics will still be using the old manual FM10.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

No other autofocus, been using Nikon FM10.

the only camera that doesn't use the stupid dial system.very user-friendly.

no film speed override.
relatively heavy.
auto focus ( well it's garbage anyway ) never does the trick except in ideal situations.excellent camera. too good to be continued the production of.
otherwise if u have 125 sync only a jerk would go for the f80.
heavy.

too good and user friendly to be produced anymore.

Similar Products Used:

None

I've had this camera for about 4 years now and use this as my "casual" second camera. My fixed-focus "serious" work is done with a Rolleiflex SL3003 35mm SLR and Carl Zeiss lenses, and of course one should not compare apples to oranges. With the N50 and a typical SLR zoom lens, you have to understand what to expect, exploit the capabilities, and you'll be very satisfied! For 'everyday' shooting, this is the camera I carry. I've used the AF 35-70 Nikkor in the past (not a D lens) and now am using the AF-D 28-105 Macro Nikkor which I picked up on eBay for about $265 incl. s/h. With this system, I can shoot literally from the hip with all the camera's readily accessible modes - my fingers are nimble so the little buttons are ergonomically just fine! Used the pop-up flash for macro photography with above-mentioned lens and was surprised how good the lighting was even at close focusing distance! Great kit for short vacations or outdoor trips, parties, or family photos when they can't stand waiting for you to change lenses and make all those careful adjustments on a more complicated camera! The N50 is an all round shooter that's better than the Leica C1 point-n-shoot which I've tried.

Flash photography doesn't use D-lens distance sensing attributes.

Compact, solid body with rigid metal lens mount.
Auto-modes and matrix-metering create great outdoor and travel pictures everytime.
Happy with ergonomics. If you're a beginner in SLR photography, or need a backup camera like me, pick one up on eBay at a great price!
In conclusion, the N50 provides excellent value for money, and it is unfairly underrated.

Customer Service

It's been very reliable with no hiccups at all for almost 4 years and 30+ rolls of film.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 4004
Nikon 6006

None

-Bulk
-Lacks lots of important functions

Every camera has a certain set of build-in functions. F50 lacks lots of them. Such as depth of field preview, fill flash, spot metering, informative viewfinder, etc. But at least what it has, you must be able to operate. F50 is horrible for operating! I was feeling great relief to switch to F70 after one year of struggling (this can be hardly called shooting). And F70 is not considered to the most easy-to-operate camera. Other than full-automatic mode F50 is impossible for operating. It has 5 buttons placed in one line. One is to increase the shutter speed, the other to decrease. The same about apperture. The most interesting is the button which is closest to your finger. Guess what? Self-timer. Once you occasionaly hit it, you must switch off the camera. I stopped shooting in manual mode and semi automatic was also kind of torture.

Bottom line: not only that F50 lacks many important functions, you can hardy operate those that do exist. I was lucky to sell the camera in time.

Similar Products Used:

F70
F80

Build quality,
Ease of use

Well it's a basic P&S camera that you can change the lenses on

It strong, stronger than the F80 my wife has. It's basic and lacks the newer tech of today.

Trick with DOF preview. It doesn't have one but if you slowly unscrew a lens it will close down as you unscrew it. It's the way I have used DOF with this camera for years.

Customer Service

Never needed. I have had this camera for around 5 years and shoot something like 100-150 rolls in it and never had a problem

Similar Products Used:

F80, F4s

Feels solid, accurate metering, good ergonomic design

noisy and slow film advance, no depth-of-field preview, slightly fidgety to override all automatic settings and use manually

When I bought my Nikon F-50 4 years ago, it seemed one of the best buys in the budget to intermediately priced SLR market, sporting accurate metering, albeit only centre-weighted, and an excellent backup of Nikon lenses.

I was a relative beginner at photography when I got it, and as such, I found it rather excellent. My pictures, most of which were taken with the AF-Nikkor 50mm f1.8 came out clear and sharp.

Once I learned more about photography - equipment as well as techniques - I found that it was lacking some functions that I'd wish to have in an all-purpose SLR: Depth-of-field preview, easier manual override of exposure settings, and a quieter film advance.

Since then I've got a Leica M6 for manual work, a Nikon F-80 for macro, telezooms and situations requiring fast photography, and an Olympus Mju-II for travelling light and rainy days.

I no longer use the Nikon F-50, but it is still a capable camera for the advanced beginner, with few things besides photographic creativty on part of the photographer.

Customer Service

None needed yet

Similar Products Used:

Nikon F-80, Leica M6, Olympus Mju-II

Affordable second-hand camera for beginners even in Hungary. Solid little camera for casual photography. I especially liked the wide grip.

Poor ergonomics, especially the unlit LCD which is a huge drawback at low light; functions can only be accessed from the menu - slow setting of parameters; parameters in the viewfinder are black w/ yellow background - annoying at night; cannot choose metering mode + no spot metering

It' an entry level camera so don't expect too much. Good camera for casual photgraphy, though. Good first camera. However, if you want to get serious about taking photos, it's cheaper to go straight for a better camera. Unpleasant handling which peaks at night.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta Dynax 8000i
Nikon F80

cheap, all the essential functions, flash

ergonomics, everyone thinks You are a beginner

This is a very good thing for the money, especially when You use it as second camera. You can take excellent pictures, but I dont think that this is a camera for the beginner: Ergonomics are too bad and You will never really learn much about photography, because the automatic mode is so convenient; I use it for my "point&shoot" purposes and the results are just great, especially the built in flash is often very useful. If You dont care a lot of technics and photographic knowledge, but want just good pictures, this is a rather nice thing. Pleas visit my homepage: www.troeszter.com

Similar Products Used:

Nikon FE 2, Nikon FM2, Nikon F3

Built quality, Very reliable meterring, Prism viewfinder, metal mount for entry-level camera, Good looking.

I am very adaptive animal but no remote control, NO DOF, No mirror lock up, No 3D multi balanced built in flash. Battery consumption(no envision for other type of battery use) was bugging me 6 years ago. But not any more.

Very well made camera after 7years of abusing still every function works. I think this is for the camera casual beginer not for serious beginer. Now I am using this camera as a backup camera.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

nothing was similar

Well built, comfortable to use, rugged and reliable, great beginners camera, very forgiving.

Gotta keep the manual close and you don't ever want to take the thing out of the preset modes, only one picture per second is it's fastest speed. batteries can be hard to find

The N50 is a gem, allows even a complete beginner to get good to great pictures, Darn near Idiot Proof in Simple modes

Customer Service

I'm a sportswriter for many magazines covering the sport of paintball. (It's that game where people are actually shooting at each other with pellets traveling up to two hundred miles per hour.) And to cover the action, even with a 200mm lens, I have to be on the field. My Nikon N50 has taken loads of abuse, (over 30 direct hits) and never stopped working. I just cleaned it off and went back to taking pictures. Over 300 of them have been published and my editor says that the only reason I don't have a cover in my portfolio is that the magazine requires medium format for that. After 6 hard years of use, over 100 rolls a year, I finally upgraded to a N90s, but the N50 stays close as my backup and still able to do the job.

I started as a complete beginner, and wholeheartedly recommend the N50 or F50 to any other beginning photographer.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon N90s, Rebel EOS, and loads of point and clicks