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.