Nikon D50

Digital SLR's are quickly becoming the fastest moving segment of the digital camera market, this means more new digital SLR's, more competition and lower prices. The Nikon D50 is introduced as a more affordable and easier to use version of the D70 which was released just under fifteen months ago. Anyone who has seen or handled the D70 will immediately see a strong resemblance in the D50, it's only when you start to examine the camera in a little more detail that you notice the differences (we've detailed them below). Clearly the D50 is designed to compete with other affordable digital SLR's such as the Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT), Pentax *ist DS and Olympus E-300.

Differences between D50 and D70/D70s

Although quite similar in use and appearance there are some noteworthy differences between the D50 and D70, we have detailed all of the feature / specification differences in the table below. To summarize the most important; the D50 has improved auto focus especially in the area of motion tracking, it has a new auto AF mode (which automatically switches between single and continuous AF depending on the subject), it has a lower resolution metering sensor but that sensor is a newer generation than the one used in the D70 (and D70s) - spot metering circle is also larger, the maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 sec, continuous shooting is 2.5 fps, it has a better viewfinder eyecup, the LCD monitor has increased to 2.0" in size, the D50 takes SD cards (not CF), it's slightly smaller and lighter than the D70 and several features have been removed or simplified to make the camera easier to use.

Two new AF-S DX lenses

In addition to the D50 Nikon has also announced two new AF-S DX lenses, the 18-55 mm will become the 'Kit lens' (adding just $100 to the price of the camera) and the 55-200 mm offers a lightweight and affordable 'big zoom' addition which when combined with the Kit lens will provide a 27-300 mm equiv. FOV coverage. In comparison to the Canon equivalent lenses these two both feature Silent Wave Motor (SWM) technology which means faster focusing and near silent operation. Click here for an image of the D50 with the 18-55 mm lens mounted. (Canon do a version of the EF-S 18-55 mm with a USM motor but only standard in Asia).