[Macpilot]

Hey folks.

I am not a professional at all, but I want to have more zoom control and speed in a camera. I understand the basics of shutter speed and aperture, but want something that has better optics than the typical point-and-shoot pocket camera.

I want to move up to either the D50 or the 8800. What I like about the D50 are the reviews, of course. Apparently it is 99% of the D70 but $200 cheaper, with a smaller, lighter weight body.

What I like about the 8800 is the fact that it has a 35 to 350mm lens built-in, so carrying around extra stuff would not be necessary.

As far as prices go, right now on Pricegrabber the D50 with two lenses, an 18-55 and a 55-200, goes for about $800.

An 8800 goes for about $900. So the price difference is marginal.

What do you guys think?

Are there any cameras in the $800 to $1000 range that you suggest?

[OreoCookie]

A real SLR is always morre powerful. The D50 got some excellent reviews, so you can't go wrong if you don't like a point-'n'-shoot camera. Plus, you can get 18-200 mm lenses (the equivalent of 28-300 mm), so if you don't want to carry lots of lenses, you can get a better zoom range even (you get a `real' wide-angle lense).

[Macpilot]

After reading some more on both cameras, I decided to go ahead and purchase the D50 with w/ 2 lens kit from an online store.

$800 shipped.

Now I just need to decide on a memory card. I think a 512 will be adequate, considering I am not a pro.

If I am not shooting a bunch of action shots, I suppose a regular speed SD card will be fine?

[tooki]

512 will be cramped. Remember that the Nikon D70/D50/D200 have phenomenal battery life, so you won't want to have your card run out mid-shoot.

That said, there's nothing wrong with just having more cards -- I happen to think that it's good (for reasons of theft, corruption, accidental formatting, etc) to use several cards, so just add them as you go. So get 512MB now and add more later.

But I wouldn't go with a slow one -- the price difference between slow and fast is so small that you should just get a fast one. I just bought an 80x professional Lexar CompactFlash card from Amazon for the same price (!) as a 12x card of the same size at Wal-Mart.

tooki

P.S. Sometime later this year, when the wait lists have been gone through, take a look at Nikon's new 18-200mm VR DX lens. It's equivalent to 27-300mm @35mm, and it's got image stabilization that reportedly works very well -- and it's just $700 for that lens.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by tooki

512 will be cramped. Remember that the Nikon D70/D50/D200 have phenomenal battery life, so you won't want to have your card run out mid-shoot.

That said, there's nothing wrong with just having more cards -- I happen to think that it's good (for reasons of theft, corruption, accidental formatting, etc) to use several cards, so just add them as you go. So get 512MB now and add more later.

But I wouldn't go with a slow one -- the price difference between slow and fast is so small that you should just get a fast one. I just bought an 80x professional Lexar CompactFlash card from Amazon for the same price (!) as a 12x card of the same size at Wal-Mart.

tooki

P.S. Sometime later this year, when the wait lists have been gone through, take a look at Nikon's new 18-200mm VR DX lens. It's equivalent to 27-300mm @35mm, and it's got image stabilization that reportedly works very well -- and it's just $700 for that lens.

This is all gold quality information. Having multiple memory cards can protect an event... it's just a little more hassle. I also agree that you should go for the faster card. If it were a cheap point and shoot, maybe it wouldn't make a difference, but it's a much higher end camera.

tooki: did you ever get around to buying the D70s?

[tooki]

Indeed. In fact, it arrived yesterday (on my birthday)! I also got an SB-800 flash unit, and I have a 1GB 80x Lexar Pro CompactFlash card on the way.

tooki

[OreoCookie]

Nice, congrats, tooki! What lenses do you use?

I'm also longing for a new camera, but I have problems finding one which satisfies all my boundary condition (basically large viewfinder, robust and not too expensive). I wish I could afford a D200 with two nice lenses (Tokina 4/12-24 mm and then maybe Tokina 2.8/28-80 mm), but I know I can't.

My E-20 has spoilt me in terms of the built quality (full metal body) and viewfinder, but the age definitely shows (comparatively small dynamic range, slow writes onto cf cards, mediocre af, lots of noise).

[mdc]

Nice one tooki, your post about the D70 helped me a lot.

I've been in the market for a new camera recently. I'm moving up from a FujiFilm s5100 (fixed lense, slr body) to a Nikon D50. I can't decide if I should get the body with two lenses or the body with one lense and then get a better zoom lense and a macro lense some other time.

[tooki]

Keep the 18-200mm vibration-reduction (image stabilizing) lens that Nikon has, but is currently back-ordered everywhere. It'll make an outstanding all-purpose lens. And at $700, it's not that big a hit on the wallet for a high-quality lens.

tooki

[the macimum]

Definatly Nikon D50!!!