Unpacked the new D50 this afternoon...

[Chip NoVaMac]

Yeah, I was gonna ask you why you got a D50 when they're on such similar levels, but I guess you sort of have it figured out.

Speed is not an issue for me. I am used to the likes of the Leica M series and Nikon FM series.

Was going to look at the Panasonic FZ30 as my travel camera/lens, but really like the higher ISO's. And I find that I really need some sort of IS at longer zoom lengths.

Add to that, I have a project for a non-profit that the PictureMate will work out great for.

 

[Jay42]

So, let's see some pictures of the thing!...oh wait.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Here is a quick unedited view of my first shots yesterday. Did not have the hood set properly on the 12-24, so there is some corner shading.

http://homepage.mac.com/jlenkiewicz/PhotoAlbum18.html

 

[cr2sh]

Well, I also bit the bullet tonight.

A D50 with the 18-55mm kit lens and the Epson R340 cost me $930 total before the $150 in rebates.

Upon opening the camera I noticed a very slight "rattle" in the camera... sounds like some kind of spring, when I turn the camera I can here it moving for a second or two. It's not actual tumbling around inside the camera... but I was wondering, is this noise normal?

My initial impression, after dropping in a SD card and snapping a few... "I'm goin g to need to read the manual." Definately not something I was able to just pick up and shoot, review, zoom... I'm not sold yet.

I need a camera bag and a better memory card... probably get a Lexar 80x 1GB, but I'm open to suggestions on a great bag. Is there anything that's ~water-proof, durable, and not TOO big?

 

[hhlee]

rattling

Upon opening the camera I noticed a very slight "rattle" in the camera... sounds like some kind of spring, when I turn the camera I can here it moving for a second or two. It's not actual tumbling around inside the camera... but I was wondering, is this noise normal?

the rattle you hear may be from the internal landscape/portrait sensor. something moves inside so that the camera knows how to display your picture on the small lcd display.

 

[law guy]

Here is a quick unedited view of my first shots yesterday. Did not have the hood set properly on the 12-24, so there is some corner shading.

http://homepage.mac.com/jlenkiewicz/PhotoAlbum18.html

Nice photos - I'm really impressed by the results with the D50. You've also piqued my interest in the 12-24.

 

[lesliern72]

Love the D50 so far!

Hello!

I haven't posted in the camera part but I thought I would add a couple of things...
We came to this forum due to our camera purchase. We have a crappy PC and are looking into buying a Mac for our amateur photos (more photojournalistic-since we have an 18 month old and he doesn't sit still).

A couple of months ago we got the Nikon D50 outfit from Cord for $650 (and have been mad picture taking fools ever since!)

After the price of $650 they had:
-a 10% rebate on all purchases
-and the full $150 rebate on the Epson printer.
We walked out of there and sent in our rebates and sold the printer to my Mom for $120.
Basically we ended up paying $465 for the D50 after all was said and done.
We went onto Ebay and bought the Tamron 28-300 F 3.5-6.3. For $150 lens it has worked out well.

You absolutely CANNOT go wrong with this camera. Now we need a good computer so we can do some good editing. After MWSF we'll know exactly which Mac we're going to get and we can get rid of our PC!

We're learning a lot about photography in general and it has turned into a fun little hobby--leading to a soon to be Mac purchase.
Hopefully we'll be asking you all kinds of Mac software questions pretty soon!

Have fun with the new D50! I know we love ours!

Leslie

PS I didn't think the camera was horrible to learn without reading the manual front to back (and I am a very technically challenged woman). Another major surprise was how long the battery lasts in this camera! It took forever to get the thing to run down!

 

[cr2sh]

I've never used a Nikon camera and never an SLR. The controls are much different from ym canon.. I've just got to learn my way around them.

I saw the before christmas deal from Cord. I was up in the air then, not really sure if I wanted to spend the money or not.... in the end, obviously, I did go with the D50 and did lose the 10% back rebate from them... but again, I don't think I'm paying too much now either.

I've looked at a couple images I took last night.. they're either blurry or dark. No solid, good photos... but by the time I get to the Florida Keys on Sunday I'm sure I'll have it figured out.

 

[efoto]

Upon opening the camera I noticed a very slight "rattle" in the camera... sounds like some kind of spring, when I turn the camera I can here it moving for a second or two. It's not actual tumbling around inside the camera... but I was wondering, is this noise normal?

My 20D does this too and after some inspection I found out what was causing it, and it may apply to your D50 as well. Pop up the built-in flash unit and check the slides that it rides on to lift. On my 20D there are metal slides on either side and what I assume to be a dual-cut wheel to slide in each slide....if you can follow that. I found w/ the flash up it rattles less, steady it w/ your fingers and it makes no sound. Closed there is more slop in the slides because they are not under pressure of any kind and therefore they make some more noise.

I have a 580 so I never/rarely use the built-in flash and it remains closed (and making noise), but now that I've placed a finger on why it's acting up I can rest easier since I know the internals aren't barfing all over the place

I need a camera bag and a better memory card... probably get a Lexar 80x 1GB, but I'm open to suggestions on a great bag. Is there anything that's ~water-proof, durable, and not TOO big?

All of my CF cards are Lexar Professional 80x, I love them. As far as bags go, Tamrac and LowePro both make excellent photographically geared products, I prefer LowePro mostly from style and finish. Check out a TopLoader (forget the numbers) bag, I had one with my D70 and it was great. It held the camera w/ up to a 70-300 (like the one Nikon makes although I had the Sigma which is slightly larger) on, and although it only carried the one lens it made for a very light and portable setup, plus the bag isn't all that much $$$.

 

[lesliern72]

No problems yet...

We haven't had problems with blurriness...as far as we can tell. Although, like I said we are amateurs yet. This was our first attempt at a "layering" of the color on B&W. It took forever on our program. Although we didn't do it as precise as it should have been, it is a fun feature (not on the D50-just in general). Hopefully it's easier to do on the Mac.

 

[cr2sh]

Very nice. I have to admit, I'll be happy if I'm shooting images that look that nice after some PP.

Very cool.

Thanks e, I'm checking prices on some LowePro toploader AW's now.. the 75 looks just right.

 

[efoto]

Thanks e, I'm checking prices on some LowePro toploader AW's now.. the 75 looks just right.

No problem. Now that I'm home I checked my bag and it's actually the "Top Load Zoom 1" (TLZ 1), perhaps the 1 is 100, I don't remember. It's a little bit longer to accommodate the 200/300 length lenses as long as they aren't the massively large/long f/2.8s

 

[law guy]

Hello!

I haven't posted in the camera part but I thought I would add a couple of things...
We came to this forum due to our camera purchase. We have a crappy PC and are looking into buying a Mac for our amateur photos (more photojournalistic-since we have an 18 month old and he doesn't sit still).

Leslie, WELCOME to Macrumors! It's good to hear that you're having a fun time and are getting good results with the D50. Managing photos has been a wonderful experience on the Mac. I have thousands of my toddler daughter on there. iPhoto is a wonderful app. and I use a web page through a service apple offers called ".Mac" to post lots of family and travel photos and a very easy to put-together and maintain website. iMovie gets a lot of use as well - very easy to edit together digicamera and DV cam vidio and photos into movies that we easily put into great looking menus with iDVD and burn to disk to send to our parents and siblings who live all over (Oregon, Idaho, New Orleans, Alabama, London...). It's all very easy and fun to use, allowing you be really creative and produce great results.