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Nikon D50

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By Aimee Baldridge
Apr 21, 2005

Entering Nikon's digital SLR lineup at the low end, the Nikon D50 will compete against the most affordable models from other manufacturers, including the Canon EOS 350D, the Olympus E-300, and the Pentax *ist DS. Nikon designed this 6-megapixel SLR to be a family camera, making it very compact and lightweight and endowing it with a range of automatic shooting modes and features. Yes, there's even a Child mode for new-parent photographers.

Upside: Nikon balances the D50's seven automatic-shooting modes with a good basic set of manual controls. For dSLR neophytes, there's on-camera help that you can access on the D50's big, 2-inch LCD. Despite its mainstream consumer focus, the D50 still offers some more sophisticated features, including iTTL external flash support, custom settings, and a raw-plus-JPEG mode. Nikon is promising outstanding battery life and lightning-fast shooting, including a 2.5fps JPEG burst mode that will capture as many as 137 photos before taking a breath. The company is also touting the exposure and color accuracy of its 3D Color Matrix Metering II system.

Downside: Advanced photographers will have to purchase Nikon's Capture 4.0 raw-file-processing software separately, although the company includes PictureProject, a more mainstream image-editing, -organizing, and -sharing program.

Outlook: The Nikon D50 will hit store shelves in June 2005 at a street price of US$900 (S$1,482) with an AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18mm-to-55mm F3.5 to F5.6G ED lens. That's a little more than the price tags on the competing models mentioned above, but it's also a little less than the current price on another model from which it may distract some buyers: the Canon EOS 350D.

 
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