The
D50 is a fairly compact camera, slightly smaller than the D70/D70s,
but a little larger than some of its competitors from Pentax
and Canon. You can see the size difference in the D50/D70
photo: it’s not huge, but it’s there. Most of
the size difference is on the photographer’s left side
of the camera. If you hold the camera with your left hand underneath
the lens as is usually recommended, you’re not likely
to miss that extra material. Personally, I find the size comfortable
to use and wouldn’t want something smaller. A nice surprise
for me was how solid the camera felt in my hands. I expected
something toy-like at its price, but the D50 is every bit a
Nikon: solid and smooth handling.
In
terms of features, the D50 offers a very comprehensive
set, but as you would guess, a few features are missing
compared with its more expensive siblings.
On
the other hand, there are a few areas where the Nikon
D50 actually has enhanced features.
Because
many photographers will want to know how this body compares
with the Nikon D70 and D70s, I’ve focused the comparison
on those bodies. |
 |
Here are the key differences:
-
The Nikon D50 uses Secure Digital (SD) cards vs. the
Compact Flash (CF) cards used by the rest of Nikon’s DSLR
series. SD cards are slightly less expensive and physically
smaller than Compact Flash cards. More importantly, SD cards
are used in many recent point and shoots. Nikon is clearly appealing
to owners of those photographers by offering a camera that doesn’t
require the purchase of new cards. The smaller size of SD cards
helps save internal space in the camera, and this has helped
Nikon reduce the size of the camera. On the other hand, this
difference in storage media could be an issue for owners of
other Nikon DSLRs. The combined cost of the camera and new storage
cards moves is in the D70 realm, reducing the attractiveness
of the camera to those photographers.
-
No depth of field preview capability. This is a common
deletion in the lower priced camera bracket and most buyers
won’t miss it. Compared with a film camera, its absence
is less of an issue as results can be checked on the LCD display.
This isn’t quite as handy as a real depth of preview
capability, but it’s not unworkable.
-
The Nikon D50 has a slightly slower top shutter speed,
1/4000 second vs. 1/8000 second on the D70/D70s. Most owners
won’t miss this.
-
No sub-command dial for changing the aperture. Recent
Nikon bodies have two dials for changing shutter speed and
aperture: a command dial on the back of the camera that’s
operated with the photographer’s thumb and a sub-command
dial on the front of the camera that’s operated with
the middle finger. Normally, the command dial adjusts the
shutter speed and the sub-command dial adjusts the aperture.
The D50 diverges from this practice and has only one dial.
In aperture priority or shutter speed priority, the single
dial changes the aperture or shutter speed respectively. In
manual exposure mode, the dial changes shutter speed, and
aperture is altered by pressing a button on top of the camera
and then turning the dial. It’s not difficult to do,
but it’s not quite as quick or convenient as having
two dials.
-
Lower maximum frames per second (2.5 frames per second
vs. 3 frames per second on the D70/D70s). This isn’t
a big enough difference to worry about.
-
Fewer metering segments (420 vs. 1005). I don’t
view this is a big deal. It’s still a huge number of
segments compared with past cameras and metering performance
in the field was excellent.
-
No automatic bracketing. Frankly, I don’t use
this feature a lot anyway, so its deletion wasn’t a
concern for me.
-
Uncompressed NEF vs. compressed NEF file formats. Like
Nikon’s other “consumer” DSLRs, the Nikon
D70 and D70s, the Nikon D50 only offers the option of saving
RAW files with compression turned on (Nikon’s version
of RAW is called a NEF). There are pros and cons with compression.
Nikon uses a lossy compression scheme that looks visually lossless;
with more expensive digital bodies, you can choose between compressed
or uncompressed NEFs. The good thing about compression is that
it saves storage space: compressed RAW files are about 40% smaller
on average than uncompressed ones. The downside to compression
is that you theoretically lose a little detail in areas of the
image, primarily highlights. Most photographers find compression
is a positive thing or at least prefer the option of turning
it on or off.
On
the other hand, the Nikon D50 has a few new features
that aren’t present in other cameras:
-
New AF-A mode. In addition to the standard AF-S (single
servo) mode for stationary subjects and AF-C (continuous)
mode for moving subjects, the D50 also has a mode that automatically
detects motion and switches to continuous operation. I can
see many owners keeping the D50 permanently on this setting.
-
USB 2.0 vs. 1.1 Interface. If you download your images
by plugging the camera into the computer rather than using a
card reader, downloads will happen much quicker than with the
Nikon D70/D70s.
-
Slightly different defaults (Mode IIIa vs. Mode Ia).
The Nikon D70 and D70s default to the Mode Ia color space, which
is a lower contrast setting that’s best for portraits.
The Nikon D50 defaults to mode IIIa, which is a higher saturation
setting that produces images with greater punch. Think of this
as the difference between a low contrast portrait film and Velvia.
Most photographers will probably like Mode IIIa better, but
it’s easy to change this setting if you want less saturation.
From a marketing perspective, the default mode IIIa will result
in more people seeing “pleasing” results without
having to change settings; especially if they are trying out
the camera at their local electronics warehouse.
