Digital Photography Notes » Nikon D50

Nikon D40 vs Nikon D50

David Chin — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:39:09 +0000

When the Nikon D40 was first announced in November 2006, one of the topics most debated about was on the subject of the 6-Megapixel Nikon D40 compared with the Nikon D50 (also a 6 MP camera). It is only logical that this debate continued to rage on various online forums because the D40 is positioned as Nikon's new entry-level digital SLR camera, a position that was previously occupied by the D50.

Important note: It's not clear how much longer the D50 will be made available – click to view available Nikon D50 configurations.

Till today, comparisons are still made between the D40 and the D50 simply because despite having a slew of advantages, the D40 can't quite supplant the D50 in several key areas, and I'll attempt to list the pros and cons of each camera here and summarize the key attributes of each camera that makes it attractive to the target market.

Nikon D40 Pros

The first advantage of the Nikon D40 is its small size. Some may dismiss it as a disadvantage, but it is quite true that the large majority of customers in this market niche would prefer a smaller sized digital SLR camera in the form of the D40 than the rather large Nikon D50.

The best way for you to assess whether you prefer the size of the D40 or D50 is to try it out for yourself at the nearest camera store. I tried holding the Nikon D40 the other day at my favorite camera store and was quite pleasantly surprised how nice it felt in my hands – and I own the Nikon D70 myself.

The second benefit the D40 has over the D50 is the very large and slick rear LCD screen (some very nice examples are available on DPReview's Nikon D40 review page). It's not only the size that has been improved, but also the display, which has high resolution and a wide angle of view.

The colorful and bright D40 LCD displays most of the key camera settings at a glance, and this makes it easy to navigate to a particular setting screen and simply changing the value.

Additionally, the D40 has an additional programmable Fn (function) button near the popup flash which can be configured to allow you to quickly change Image Quality, ISO sensitivity of White Balance settings. These benefits go a long way to make the D40 a more enjoyable camera to use in day-to-day shooting compared to the D50.

You can view a comparison of the size of the Nikon D40 body vs the D50, and also see how their respective LCD screens compare – go to this site, and scroll until you reach near the bottom (here is a direct link to one of the comparison images in the series):

The third benefit with the D40 is that Nikon has tuned the camera to produce brighter, more colorful and punchier images with lower noise straight from the camera vs the D50. The D40 is also able to produce spectacular ISO3200 images, and it should be noted that ISO 3200 is not an option that is available on the D50, which goes only until ISO 1600.

On the subject of noise, "Lucky Pierre" has found the D40 to hold the advantage, where it's able to yield ISO 800 / 1600 JPG images with lower noise and better detail.

Still on the subject of ISO, like the D50, the D40 has an Auto ISO feature which allows the camera to automatically increase the ISO as light levels go down. What the D40 has in addition to that is it allows you to set the maximum ISO value the camera can automatically increase to – so, if you don't like your images to be captured at anything higher than ISO800, just set that in the menus and the D40 obeys your command. The D50, on the other hand, would go all the way to ISO1600 if it sees fit.

The D40 also has a range of in-camera image retouching tools, which allows you to conveniently edit images in the camera itself, without having to process the pictures via software such as Photoshop. For the full list of retouching options, see here. Of note are the Skylight, Warm Filter and Color Balance filters, which allow you to make your pictures more "cold", "warm" or to change the color balance entirely.

Nikon implements a version of retouching in the D40 that I prefer to other cameras – editing a picture does not override the original image, but instead produces a copy with the effects applied – nice. The D-Lighting filter is also a useful one, brightening up shadow or darker areas of an image with a choice of three levels of strength – this is a great feature to have if you've shot a portrait against a strong backlight and had forgotten to use the flash to fill (brighten) the face.

These tools are not available on the D50, and shouldn't be compared to professional image editing software such as Photoshop, but they are very handy to have.

In-camera image processing on the Nikon D40 seems to have been significantly improved vs the D50. What this means to you is that you'll be able to get better images from the D40. See an image quality comparison between these two cameras on this page of the Nikon D40 review at DPReview.com. Additionally, Phil Askey has also declared the Nikon D40 to have the best JPEG image quality of any of the current 6 Megapixel camera.

According to the user manuals supplied with each camera, the battery on the Nikon D40, despite being smaller and lighter, has a longer-lasting life than that on the D50. This allows you to shoot more pictures with the D40 on a fully-charged battery vs the D50.

People who've done comparisons have also reported back that the D40 has a brighter viewfinder than the D50 – read their accounts here, here and here (yes, the D40's VF is brighter than even the D70's).

Nikon D50 Pros

The Nikon D50's main advantage over the the Nikon D40 is in the area of the number of lenses that it can autofocus with.

This factor cannot be emphasized strongly enough. The Nikon D40 does not have a built-in AF motor, so can only autofocus with lenses that have their own focusing motor. In Nikon lens terminology, this means that the D40 can only Autofocus with Nikon lenses that have AF-S in their lens designation, or Sigma's HSM lenses (see the complete list of Nikon Nikkor and Sigma lenses that will AF on the D40).

Which might not be a huge issue with certain photographers, but it also means that if owning a Nikon digital SLR camera that can autofocus with wonderful, "older" lenses such as the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF, Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D AF and the like is a high priority of yours (especially more so if you already have a collection of such lenses, or can borrow these lenses from friends or relatives), then it's best advised that you purchase the Nikon D50.

Some of these older (and relatively cheap) lenses are also firm favorites among photographers who like to shoot action or sports photography in low light, indoor basketball, for example. With the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D AF lenses, you can easily, on the D50, select an aperture of f/1.8 – this allows you to use a faster shutter speed and/or lower ISO compared to what the D40 photographer can obtain with the same amount of money spent.

Some may also prefer the Nikon D50's heftier body vs the D40's, but, as mentioned above, the only real way of knowing this is to try out both cameras for yourself at the store.

The Nikon D50 also has the benefit of 5 autofocus points, as opposed to the D40's three. For a subject in motion, this simply means the D50 gives you more options to compose while keeping the main subject in continuous focus (see this related Nikon D70 / D70s focusing article – the principles apply equally to the D50).

You also get to be a bit more creative and play around with the wireless iTTL flash capability on the D50. Pop up the internal flash, and you will be able to remotely control a compatible Nikon flash (such as the SB-800, SB-600 or SB-R200) – the internal flash communicates with the remote external flash units via series of light pulses. The Nikon D40 does not support this feature.
Thanks to Teun who, in the comments, pointed out my error – the Nikon D50 does NOT have a commander-capable internal pop-up flash.

Still on the subject of flash photography, you are able to lock the exposure of the flash (known as FV-lock, or Flash Value lock) if you want to. Not so for the D40.

For further reviews, user impressions and image samples, kindly head over to the Nikon D40 Resource List, The Giant List of Nikon D40 Links, or the Nikon D50 Resource List.

Update, 12-June-2007

LarryTusaz – a Nikon D50 owner and a vocal critic of the Nikon D40 for the longest time, is contemplating to keep his new D40 and sell of his much-loved D50.

To be fair to Larry, he was critical of Nikon's decision to reduce the features and hard buttons on the D40, and especially the removal of the in-camera auto-focus motor.

But his latest comments on the D40 now have the weight of ownership experience – for instance:

… Love that large 2½" LCD. The D50-s 2" is hardly puny, but love that large 2½ of the D40 …

… but the i-Button setup has not been as bad as I thought. I've found that ISO is what I most want instant access to, and the Func key provides it …

… and …

So far I'm loving it. The size is fine, and the INFO button setup, while not as good as hard buttons, is not as bad as I thought–and the ability to see ISO at all times without having to call it up sure helps. And yes, the viewfinder does seem a bit better than the D50.

Click here to view photos of Larry's baby daughter taken by manually focusing the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF lens, and other shots with the kit Nikon 18-55 II lens.

Thanks Larry, for a balanced user's perspective on the D40 and D50.

Nikon D50 Availability and Pricing

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:52:21 +0000

The Nikon D50 is no longer in production, but you could be able to find good deals from stores which still have a few units remaining in stock, or from the used market.

You might like to perform your Nikon D50 online shopping using the tools and sites below:

Amazon: This is a predefined link for Nikon D50 configurations on Amazon.

eBay: Browse the Nikon D50 offers and listings but don't forget to only purchase from reputable sellers.

Exquisite photo of his daughter with the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:55:54 +0000

Mmasiewicz shoots a truly wonderful portrait image of his daughter with his newly-acquired Nikon D50. Image was shot at 1/1000 sec @ f/1.8 using the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D AF lens.

Click the screenshot thumbnail below to see a larger version of the image:

Visit Mmasiewicz's site for more pictures

I really like shallow-DOF portraits like these.

How many shots has my D50 fired?

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:47:43 +0000

You might be interested to know that within each Nikon DSLR image file, the shutter count that took that shot is recorded.

This value is incremented with each shutter activation and can be viewed using Dr Chung's free program called the Preview Extractor.

I'd already posted about this software, so head over there for more information.

Airshow pics with the Nikon 75-300mm lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:40:56 +0000

Kevin 'TheronFamily' shoots 12 images of great-looking planes with the Nikkor 75-300mm lens.

Click on the links below for more information:

Large version of the images
Shooting technique: Sun behind his back, shot JPG, previewed highlights to avoid overxposure, with exposure compensation around -0.7
Equipment: Nikon D50, Nikkor 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF lens (this lens is out of production – read Ken Rockwell's review and a description at mir.com.my).
How to create the cool-looking border around the pictures
Visit Kevin's site for more pics

Gorgeous evening shots at Jericho Pier, Vancouver

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:34:51 +0000

Wayne_N shows us how it's done with these fantastic pictures taken with the Nikkor 28-200mm lens.

Large version of the images, together with links to the EXIF data
Equipment used: Nikon D50, Nikkor 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF lens
Wayne's comments about the attributes, performance and value of the lens
Wayne's site
The Nikkor 28-200mm G lens happens to be one of my most favourite lenses :> read my write-up about it.

Portraits at a train track and on a train

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:57:56 +0000

Enjoy two very creative black-and-white images taken by Phuddle.

Links to:

» Larger image of lady portrait, and forum post. A preference for a slightly non-level composition. An SB-800 flash on a bracket was used for lighting.

» Larger view of flower portrait, and forum post. Photo was taken in Aperture priority mode, f/5.6 and under natural lighting.

Equipment used: Nikon D50, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX kit lens, and Nikon SB-800 flash.

The Nikkor 18-55mm Is Not "Just A Kit Lens"

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:58:53 +0000

Melyssa contemplated the purchase of a Nikon D50 kit that comes with the Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX lens as a standard and requested for samples of images taken with this setup. What resulted was an avalanche of awesome pics from owners of this kit.

The start of the thread is here, but I've taken the liberty to link to, and thumbnail those images which I personally found to be, in a word, fantastic.

Links

Three landscape images
Dragonfly closeup
Girl with black cat. You'll get a good idea of the D50's ability to render pleasing skin tones from this picture.
Picture of horses on an outing to Cades Cove in the Smokies; the image won Picture-Of-The-Day
Engine #1. Engine #2
Nineteen beach pics. You can grab shots like these when it's sunny.
Fantastic landscape shot from Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park. See more of Vostok1's nature pics here.
Breathtaking castle pics by Tehmac
Night photography by Luc De Jaeger. Outstanding is an understatement for these two images (Night photo #1 of the Ghent Festivities (Gentse Feesten); Night photo #2, evening at Gent, Belgium) with absolutely no postprocessing.

It looks like the Nikkor 18-55mm (plus the requisite photographic skills) performs at a level well above its asking price.

Shooting an NFL Carolina Panthers Game

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:46:10 +0000

Great sports photography by Phuddle, with some truly convincing action-stopping frames.

The game was played under cloud cover, so the wide-open aperture of f/2.8 on the Sigma 70-200 lens helped in keeping shutter speeds high. It also didn't hurt to have the Hyper-Sonic Motor (HSM) built into the lens to help with fast and silent autofocusing.

Links

Larger view of the images
All shots were handheld, with typical shutter speeds of 1/180 to 1/1000 sec
The D50 was in Aperture priority mode; this setting gave the desired (shallow) depth-of-field
Phuddle feels that for sports photography, the Sigma 70-200mm is not handicapped by the lack of VR (vibration reduction) as a high shutter speed is needed to freeze action anyway. For additional stability, he kneels and rests his elbow on the knee
Preferably, you'd need to be on the sidelines to get close enough with a lens having a maximum focal length of 200mm
See more NFL Panthers pics at Phuddle's photo gallery

Also of great interest is Randy's (cheerleading) take on the same game, shot with a Nikon D70s.

Advertising Shoot With the Nikon D50

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:40:02 +0000

This is a fantastic example of the Nikon D50 being used in an advertising shoot. Let Martín Crespo demonstrate.

Follow the links below for more information.

View larger pics | Source: Forum post

Equipment: Nikon D50, Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX lens, SB-800 Flash + soft box.

Technique and comments:

Martin likes the 1/500 flash sync speed, and did not face problems shooting directly into the sun
The car’s a Ford Maverick Grabber ‘77
Shot of the setup, with D50 in ISO200, WB (white balance) = Flash, 1 x SB-800 on the camera that acts as the flash transmitter, and the other in a soft box acting as the main light in remote + manual mode

Photographer's sites:
http://www.ISO1600.com | http://www.MartinCrespo.net

I personally think that the skin tones and colours are great.

Shooting Macros with the Nikkor 18-55mm Lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:35:21 +0000

Arne Resak shares an ingenious method of utilising the humble Nikon D50 kit lens for macro shots.

The method is to reverse the lens on to the camera's lens mount. This is a well-known technique that's documented in photography books; in Nikon's case, the use of a Macro Adapter Ring such as the BR-2A (for lenses with 52mm thread size) or BR-5 (for lenses with 62mm front attachment size) allows the lens in question to be fitted to the lens mount without any fuss.

What Arne has done here is to show us how, without incurring additional expenses, we can reverse the Nikkor 18-55mm directly to the camera. Without the BR-2A though, you'd have to hold the front of the lens carefully against the lens mount.

Links

View the larger images and read more about the technique. Arne also compares the reproduction ratio with this setup vs an image with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro lens.
Because you lose metering functionality with this setup, Arne put the D50 into Manual mode, set the shutter speed to 1/500 sec and had the on-board flash at 1/16 power
The Nikkor 18-55's aperture closes to a minimum when not mounted on the camera and this will cause difficulty with manual focusing since so little light can get to the viewfinder through the lens. For this reason, you'd need to manually slide the aperture lever to open up the aperture. The aperture lever should be similar to the one on the Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 – see a picture of it here.

Macros with a Reversed Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:30:26 +0000

Kevin shows that all you need for a successful series of macro shots is a rubber-band, among other things.

The method used is similar to Arne's, but this time, it's the el-cheapo Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC lens that's being reversed, rather than the el-cheapo Nikkor 18-55mm in Arne's case. And Kevin uses a rubber band to hold the front of the lens flush against the lens mount of the D50. I happen to own (since April 2004) this very same Sigma lens myself, but have never thought it could be used this way – until now, that is.

Links:

View Kevin's images in all their glory, and read about the method
Step-by-step explanation of the lens reversal process

Since the Sigma doesn't have an aperture ring, the aperture sets itself to the smallest opening when not mounted onto the camera. This causes difficulty for focusing because so little light gets through to the viewfinder. So, when focusing, slide the aperture lever to enlarge the aperture opening, focus (move your body back and forth until focus is achieved), and release the lever before the shot is taken.
You have to move the camera to track and maintain focus on the moving bugs

See more of Kevin's shots at his photo gallery.

Can a 4GB SD Card be used on the D50?

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:27:08 +0000

Can a 4GB Secure Digital memory card be used on a D50?

The answer is yes, provided you format the Secure Digital card as FAT32 using a personal computer or laptop since the D50 is unable to.

Candid of an Amazed Kid

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:15:45 +0000

Nuteshack shoots this superb candid of Ian the Amazed Kid at a wedding shower with a D50 plus Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D AF lens and an SB-800 flash.

Great colours, contrast and sharpness in this photo.

Links:

Click here to view a large version of the image and read about the D50 settings used and other shooting data.
See more fantastic portraits at Nuteshack's photo website

Care To Watch Movies Created With a Nikon D50?

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:07:29 +0000

There's no movie mode on the D50, but you'd be giving up a lot if you don't watch these clips.

Martín Crespo doesn't just shoot fantastic advertising images with the D50, he creates great short movies with it too.

Links

Direct link to Martin's video clips. All the clips, except for ANVERS LA NUIT, were created using images shot with the Nikon D50. Martin recommends the viewing of "NOSTALGIA", his personal favorite. TANGO EN 50 MM, shot with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, featuring a bandoneon, is another firm favorite among the viewers.
Adobe Premiere Pro and Videoimpression 2.0 were used to put the videos together
Why the huge Nikon D50 buffer is an asset in this type of movie-making. Shots done at 2.5 fps is sped up to 300 – 600% during the production process to produce a 300 to 1300-frames-per-minute movie.
6-Sep-2006 Update: Martin has just completed a new 35-minute movie.

Shop for Adobe Premiere Pro and VideoImpression.

Hike Up Brandywine Meadows

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:59:17 +0000

Wayne shares a great series of landscape images shot while hiking at Brandywine Meadows.

Links

View a larger version of the images and read his story and postprocessing workflow
Wayne's full Brandywine Meadows gallery
Equipment used: Nikon D50, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro and 72mm circular polarizer (CPL).

Sports Action Photography

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:53:47 +0000

Enjoy this series of fantastic handheld football pictures shot by Tony S. Credit must be given to his photography, timing and post-capture skills. Very interesting images indeed.

Links:

View a larger version of the images and read about the camera settings used.
Equipment used: Nikon D50 + Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens.

Miscellaneous Images With A Macro Lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:50:49 +0000

A sharp macro lens can be used to take an amazing variety of images, and Gerry shows us how, with a photo series ranging from a flower macro to sunset landscapes.

Links

View a larger version of the images and read the related forum thread.
Equipment used: Nikon D50 + Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro lens
Visit Gerry's gallery for more stunning images.

Images with the Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 Lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:46:39 +0000

Beautiful colours and composition stamp their mark on two images shot by Kipourax:

Links:

See a larger version of the images and read the forum post
Enjoy more fantastic images at Kipourax's photo gallery (taken mainly with the Nikon D50) at Flickr.com and his blog.
Equipment used: Nikon D50 and Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D AF lens

Beautiful Bokeh with the Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 Lens

David Chin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:40:59 +0000

These two fantastic images of a black-crowned night heron by Charles aka Warru allow you to effectively assess the beautiful sharpness, contrast and bokeh you get with the Nikon 180mm f/2.8 lens:

Links:

View a larger version of the pictures and read more details about the in-camera settings used.
Equipment used: Nikon D50, SB-800 flash, Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF lens.

Digital Photography Notes » Nikon D50

Nikon D40 vs Nikon D50

Nikon D40 Pros

Nikon D50 Pros

Update, 12-June-2007

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Nikon D50 Availability and Pricing

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Exquisite photo of his daughter with the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens

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How many shots has my D50 fired?

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Airshow pics with the Nikon 75-300mm lens

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The Nikkor 18-55mm Is Not "Just A Kit Lens"

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Shooting an NFL Carolina Panthers Game

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Advertising Shoot With the Nikon D50

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Shooting Macros with the Nikkor 18-55mm Lens

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Macros with a Reversed Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6

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Can a 4GB SD Card be used on the D50?

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