So I got this refund check and I am going to blow it on a digital SLR, probably the Nikon D50. Anyone here ever use this camera? I also would like to know if I can use my old lens from a traditional SLR on a new digital body. The product lit. does not make it clear if can do so. Thanks.
Depends on the lens and the functions you are expecting. The Nikon D50 and 70 (I would get the D70 myself) can use the newer digital nikor lenses with full auto-focus etc. Same thing with the Canon Rebel XT...newer lenses it has full function more legacy lenses give it only manual focus.
goodluck with whatever you get...I am sure you will be happy with whatever you end up purchasing.
Why not go with the Canon? I believe Nikon uses Canon CMOS/ccd's as they dont have the capacity to manufacure thier own. At least they were with the 10d. Unless you already have a bunch of Nikon glass laying around.
Jasoncross is totally off the mark with his lense answer. if you have a recent FILM slr by either nikon or canon, those lenses will work with the respective nikon or canon DSLR body. autofocus and all.
if you have a manual focus lense, then you will need to go waaaay out of your way to buy an adapter for it to fit on a DSLR, usually show up on ebay from time to time, but there are metering issues that can arise, as well as the possible lack of focus-to-infinity.
but remember: DSLRs have a 1.6x factor. your 28-80 zoom is now a 45-128mm lens. get it? you have to go buy a new extremely wide lense to get a "Wide-angle" shot. not a problem for most, but i like wide angle shots a lot. canon's 10-22 (16-35.) ef-s is made just to accomodate for this.
so if you have a manual focus len collection, then you don't have to stick to nikon. you might also have a few issues with an older flash unit.
my two sense = get a rebel xt and the whole slew of canon ef AND ef-s lenses that go with it!
oh and if uncle sam didnt send you enough, wait the moth or two and save to get the better camera! when you already dropping 800, the extra 200 is worht the wait...
i've been looking into these myself...... aside from the higher resolution, what are the real advantages of Canon over Nikon? I haven't handled a D70, but i was not impressed with the Rebel XT. it seems most people i talk to prefer the Nikon over the Canon in terms of image quality.
phreak, i said exactly what you did. Newer DSLR lenses use auto focus and legacy manual lenses don't.
anyway, I personally like the D70 better than the Rebel XT mainly because of a slightly larger form factor...the Rebels are fairly small for my big mits...but both are great cameras.
plus I have seen D70 body's online for $500...not bad.
So I guess I can also look at other manufacturers as well. I have about 4 decent Nikon lens including a telephoto that I dropped some big cash for a few years ago which I would hate to see wasted. I think I am going to stick with Nikon but now I'm not sure if I should upgrade to the D70. Some of the reviews of both say that the new D50 has additional features for about 300-400 less then the D70.
jc: took me rereading your post a couple times to get your point. my bad. but you do keep calling them DSLR lenses, which is where i got confused. they are SLR lenses, and work on either Film or Digital. canon only has three digital only lenses (noted by "ef-s"), and they are relatively new to the market, so someone who had a rebel 2000 or a nikon s60 can still use their lenses on the new bodies. this is great news for people like JG, so the info is more for newb's than for you or me to read about...
i agree with you about the xt's form factor. it is a bit small. but the instant on and faster writing to CF make it worth the effort. anyway, how many peopel love tiny digicams, yet complain as soon as aDSLR isn't huge and therefor "professional looking?" i have a drebel, and my boss bought an xt. i didnt like it at all at first, but didnt even notice the size by the end of a full day of using it on site.
canon has some great "cheap" lenses:
$100 50mm f1.8
$400 tamron 28-75 f2.8 is a gorgeous lense
$600 10-22m ef-s is super-wide for a 1.6x dslr
and while not cheap ($1100 each), they do have 3 tilt-shift lenses for the architectural photogs to drool over!
if you think about it, the d70 was nikon's answer to the drebel. the rebel xt takes it to another level for the same price as a d70. at least new. a $500 d70 is hard to beat...
but bottom line is the person buying a dslr body needs to consider the lenses offered for that company, because you are investing in a system, and not just a one-time purchase.
pentax *ist ds is pretty sweet... and it can be used with 30 years of previous lenses... unlike most of the other cameras...
also it is the smallest dslr, and if you are confused about buying a 6 mega or 8 mega... there is not much of a difference,, slightly larger resolution...
it all depends on your needs and stuff that you already own that can be compatible.
Go for the D70 instead. You'll probably have to spend more money on a good lens though. The Nikon DSLRs have an effective 1.5x lens focal length increase not 1.6x. Their CCDs are manufactured by Sony and not by Canon as someone previously mentioned.
Get ready to spend more than your refund check
Other expenses aside from lenses you'll have to think about will be:
1. Software - Photoshop CS2, Nikon Capture, Canto Cumulus, Panoweaver etc.
2. Extra Lithium Batteries
3. Compact Flash Card and Card Reader
4. AC Adapter - You'll need this to clean the camera's CCD
5. Cleaning Supplies - http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/howto.html
6. Camera Bag
7. Tripod and Tripod Head
If you plan on buying online, be extremely carefull with attracive "too low" prices, there are a lot (if not most) of semi criminal businesses out there, especially in the DSLR market, if you see a price which sounds to good to be true, don,t even think about it, those guys all use classic bait and switch techniques, their prices are often without any accessories, not even the manufacturer standards like batteries, they just take them out of the box, then once you've ordered call you and try to sell you the same stuff for extreme prices. if you refuse, they say the camera is out of stock, you got to wait 4 weeks or more and probably you'll never get it and even have to pay very high "restocking" fees.... BEWARE!!!
I'd recommend bhphotovideo.com those prices are correct and you're sure to get what you want...
always check seller ratings (and beware of "good ratings" from the seller himself)
I work near B+H but there prices are too high. You are right about offers that seem to good. I found one on froogle.com for 500 bucks with the kit lens; that can't be legit. Thanks for the extra info remonlo, some of that stuf I have except for the flash cards and cleaning kits.
Digital SLR
So I got this refund check and I am going to blow it on a digital SLR, probably the Nikon D50. Anyone here ever use this camera? I also would like to know if I can use my old lens from a traditional SLR on a new digital body. The product lit. does not make it clear if can do so. Thanks.
Depends on the lens and the functions you are expecting. The Nikon D50 and 70 (I would get the D70 myself) can use the newer digital nikor lenses with full auto-focus etc. Same thing with the Canon Rebel XT...newer lenses it has full function more legacy lenses give it only manual focus.
goodluck with whatever you get...I am sure you will be happy with whatever you end up purchasing.
Thanks for the information, great site. I would like the D70 but the IRS was not that generous this year.
Why not go with the Canon? I believe Nikon uses Canon CMOS/ccd's as they dont have the capacity to manufacure thier own. At least they were with the 10d. Unless you already have a bunch of Nikon glass laying around.
Jasoncross is totally off the mark with his lense answer. if you have a recent FILM slr by either nikon or canon, those lenses will work with the respective nikon or canon DSLR body. autofocus and all.
if you have a manual focus lense, then you will need to go waaaay out of your way to buy an adapter for it to fit on a DSLR, usually show up on ebay from time to time, but there are metering issues that can arise, as well as the possible lack of focus-to-infinity.
but remember: DSLRs have a 1.6x factor. your 28-80 zoom is now a 45-128mm lens. get it? you have to go buy a new extremely wide lense to get a "Wide-angle" shot. not a problem for most, but i like wide angle shots a lot. canon's 10-22 (16-35.) ef-s is made just to accomodate for this.
so if you have a manual focus len collection, then you don't have to stick to nikon. you might also have a few issues with an older flash unit.
my two sense = get a rebel xt and the whole slew of canon ef AND ef-s lenses that go with it!
oh and if uncle sam didnt send you enough, wait the moth or two and save to get the better camera! when you already dropping 800, the extra 200 is worht the wait...
i've been looking into these myself...... aside from the higher resolution, what are the real advantages of Canon over Nikon? I haven't handled a D70, but i was not impressed with the Rebel XT. it seems most people i talk to prefer the Nikon over the Canon in terms of image quality.
really? i've heard the opposite. either way, both the xt and the d70 are great cameras (especially for the price).
phreak, i said exactly what you did. Newer DSLR lenses use auto focus and legacy manual lenses don't.
anyway, I personally like the D70 better than the Rebel XT mainly because of a slightly larger form factor...the Rebels are fairly small for my big mits...but both are great cameras.
plus I have seen D70 body's online for $500...not bad.
So I guess I can also look at other manufacturers as well. I have about 4 decent Nikon lens including a telephoto that I dropped some big cash for a few years ago which I would hate to see wasted. I think I am going to stick with Nikon but now I'm not sure if I should upgrade to the D70. Some of the reviews of both say that the new D50 has additional features for about 300-400 less then the D70.
jc: took me rereading your post a couple times to get your point. my bad. but you do keep calling them DSLR lenses, which is where i got confused. they are SLR lenses, and work on either Film or Digital. canon only has three digital only lenses (noted by "ef-s"), and they are relatively new to the market, so someone who had a rebel 2000 or a nikon s60 can still use their lenses on the new bodies. this is great news for people like JG, so the info is more for newb's than for you or me to read about...
i agree with you about the xt's form factor. it is a bit small. but the instant on and faster writing to CF make it worth the effort. anyway, how many peopel love tiny digicams, yet complain as soon as aDSLR isn't huge and therefor "professional looking?" i have a drebel, and my boss bought an xt. i didnt like it at all at first, but didnt even notice the size by the end of a full day of using it on site.
canon has some great "cheap" lenses:
$100 50mm f1.8
$400 tamron 28-75 f2.8 is a gorgeous lense
$600 10-22m ef-s is super-wide for a 1.6x dslr
and while not cheap ($1100 each), they do have 3 tilt-shift lenses for the architectural photogs to drool over!
if you think about it, the d70 was nikon's answer to the drebel. the rebel xt takes it to another level for the same price as a d70. at least new. a $500 d70 is hard to beat...
but bottom line is the person buying a dslr body needs to consider the lenses offered for that company, because you are investing in a system, and not just a one-time purchase.
n60, not s60... but y'all get the point.
pentax *ist ds is pretty sweet... and it can be used with 30 years of previous lenses... unlike most of the other cameras...
also it is the smallest dslr, and if you are confused about buying a 6 mega or 8 mega... there is not much of a difference,, slightly larger resolution...
it all depends on your needs and stuff that you already own that can be compatible.
Go for the D70 instead. You'll probably have to spend more money on a good lens though. The Nikon DSLRs have an effective 1.5x lens focal length increase not 1.6x. Their CCDs are manufactured by Sony and not by Canon as someone previously mentioned.
Check out this site for more Nikon specific info and reviews: http://www.bythom.com
Get ready to spend more than your refund check
Other expenses aside from lenses you'll have to think about will be:
1. Software - Photoshop CS2, Nikon Capture, Canto Cumulus, Panoweaver etc.
2. Extra Lithium Batteries
3. Compact Flash Card and Card Reader
4. AC Adapter - You'll need this to clean the camera's CCD
5. Cleaning Supplies - http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/howto.html
6. Camera Bag
7. Tripod and Tripod Head
If you plan on buying online, be extremely carefull with attracive "too low" prices, there are a lot (if not most) of semi criminal businesses out there, especially in the DSLR market, if you see a price which sounds to good to be true, don,t even think about it, those guys all use classic bait and switch techniques, their prices are often without any accessories, not even the manufacturer standards like batteries, they just take them out of the box, then once you've ordered call you and try to sell you the same stuff for extreme prices. if you refuse, they say the camera is out of stock, you got to wait 4 weeks or more and probably you'll never get it and even have to pay very high "restocking" fees.... BEWARE!!!
I'd recommend bhphotovideo.com those prices are correct and you're sure to get what you want...
always check seller ratings (and beware of "good ratings" from the seller himself)
I work near B+H but there prices are too high. You are right about offers that seem to good. I found one on froogle.com for 500 bucks with the kit lens; that can't be legit. Thanks for the extra info remonlo, some of that stuf I have except for the flash cards and cleaning kits.
if a lens is cheap, there is a reason for it.
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