Help - D50 or D70s

This is my first post and I could use your help.

I am ready to buy a DSLR. I feel the D40 is too small for my hands, the D200

is too much $ now & I think the pre-sets would be good to have. I have

narrowed it down to the D50 & the D70s, (I know there is a D80).

 

I know that the D70s has several benefits over the D50.

I have read that the only benefits that the D50 has over the D70s are:

Better at High ISO,

Better out of the camera results (maybe just for jpegs),

Child portrait mode.

 

Are there any other D50 benefits?

Are the D50 Benefits that I list true, if so, how important are they.

Assuming that cost between the two was not an issue, please tell me what you

think.

 

Also, if I buy tht D70s, is it better to get it with the 18-70 kit for $250

more, or put that money into another lens. I'd rather not spend much over

$500 per lens now. I understand that I'm better off optically if I don't get

a (one lens does it all) lens, but I don't want to change lenses all the time

either. Thinking about Nikkor 18-35/3.5-4.5, 24-85/3.5-4.5, 35-70/2.8, 28-

105/3.5-4.5 or Tamron 17-50/2.8. I now have a Tamron 28-300/3.5-6.3 from my

film Nikon, if its almost as good optically as the Nikkor 28+ zooms I list,

please let me know.

 

Sorry for the very long question(s), but any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Chris

D70s hands down.

The 18-70 is an excellent lens; far better than the 18-135 which is now often bundled.

I question why you are looking at discontinued camera models? D70s is now replaced by the far superior D80, which I would recommend; I'm not sure about the D50, but I believe that is also discontinued with the 'low' end covered by the D40/D40x.

D70s is the way to go.IMO dollar for dollar the best buy for the buck. As far as lens shopping, my old story is that when I went to the John Deere dealer to get a riding mower he asked"What are you going to do with it" to which I replied "cut the grass" Do you have a small yard or do you have to do 10 acres in a 1/2 day. Point is what are you going to be shooting? and at what focal length? if your going to be shooting inside the 3.5 may not get it. If your going to be shooting sports from the sideline a 300/6.2 isn't going to get it. The glass is what make the photo, if your going to be shooting in low light/or without flash you will need faster glass,period. Buy the best glass you can, even if it means waiting, trust me nothing worse than having a lens lay in your bag that your not going to use. Two routes, zooms many build with say a 28-70 and a 80-200 to cover the average ranges and some mount one on each body. The other route is primes start with a fast 50(1.8 or 1.4) and maybe add a 85 and then a 180 and build your bag as you go. Good luck with you choice.

I would get the d70s and the Nikon 18-35 because Nikons glass is so much better. The d70s

is way better than the d50 it is faster and my favorite is that it bigger in the hand. I have a

18-35 it is great the 18 is equivalent to a 27.5mm lens which is good for all purpose

conditions.

I asked myself the same questions and ended up buying the D50 to save what was at the

time a couple hundred bucks.

 

Today I'd get the D70 for it's CLS Commander mode, depth-of-field preview and viewfinder

gridlines.

 

I'd get the 18-70 except that I have an 18-200, which I love. But the 18-70 is a better walk

around sized lens. The 18-200 is a little big.

Only one advise: when you want to buy new: make a discission NOW!

I agree with Jim Mucklin ... at this moment D70s is one of the best buy you can do. Yes, It is a discontinued model, but because that You can get it at very low prizes and It is/was one of the best sellers of Nikon and you can find all kind of accessories for It.

 

The 18-70 is a very good lens. There are better lens, of course ! But It's a great starting kit and You don't find nothing too much better for the same money.

You get AF-A mode, USB 2.0, ability to use SD cards, smaller size, simpler interface with the D50.

 

The D50 or D70 has been discontinued. I would go for a D80.

Thank you for your answers, they help. Please keep adding to them.

Does the D70s not have USB 2.0 ? A tech at Nikon said that it did.

Also what is AF-A mode, and is it also missing from the D70s?

Thanks,

Chris

D50 has AF_A area mode menu, while D70 has the same but organized in a different menu. Actually D70 has more... e.g. Focus Selector Lock Switch, 1005 pixel RGB sensor for matrix metering, while D50 has only 420 pixels sensor, D50 flash does not have commander mode, but if you never use it ? Max shutter speed is 1/4000 on D50, while 1/8000 on D70.

 

Only you can tell if these D70 additional features are important to you.

"Does the D70s not have USB 2.0?"

 

It supports USB 2.0 but doesn't support USB 2.0 Full speed. So transfer rate of 12 mbps vs 480 mbps of the D50. If you use a card reader it doesn't make a difference. There will be a big difference if you shoot tethered with a laptop.

 

Supposedly the D70 underexposes more often than the D50 and the D80 tends to overexpose.

D70S. Buy a card reader. 18-35mm AF IF-ED is good starter lens. Not the most robust lens in the hands, but a very good results. I bought a D70S used and haven't regretted it. The only thing I miss on this one is the ability to meter with my old Nikkors which I love and cannot part with, yet. The D80 would have provided that option, but at $$ I couldn't reach. I shoot in manual mode 80% of the time, so I don't miss it. If I want to meter with the old glass, I just bolt em on my F4s and go to work in A-priority.

D70S will get you there.<div></div>

I purchased the D50 last Feb. and at that time I didn't have the extra $200 for the D70s. I love my D50 and still learning from it. If I was in your position I would be asking the same questions you are. I have taken some night events shots in Manual mode with my D50 & 50/1.8 lens and was quite pleased with the results. At this point I am very happy with the camera. When I get a bad picture I always find it was me not the camera that caused it to happen. It is a very capable camera so don't sell it short. The one option that the D70s has over the D50 is the detached Flash command control. If you are thinking of doing portraits and weddings get the D70s.

"The only thing I miss on this one is the ability to meter with my old Nikkors which I love and cannot part with, yet. The D80 would have provided that option"

 

CE, the D80 will let you mount but not meter with AIS lenses. For metering you'd need to step up to the D200.

Since someone mentioned metering... similar subject was discussed here:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KfZR&unified_p=1

 

But I doubt Nikon will ever upgrade firmware in D80 to enable metering with non-CPU lenses, regerdless if they use aperture lever or not.

It has buttons for all important controls on the body of the camera, not in menus.

 

It has a much larger viewfinder than both the D50 and D70(s).

 

It has greater resolution which gives the ability to crop images. If you can't zoom in any

further you'll have more opportunities with the D80 than the others to crop the image and

get a useable picture.

 

These are important and valuable differences.

 

I have a D50 and like it very much but the D80 blows it away for long term ownership.

"CE, the D80 will let you mount but not meter with AIS lenses. For metering you'd need to step up to the D200."

 

Correct. My fingers outpaced my thinker. Thanks.

FWIW, I mount my old Nikkors on my D70S, also. Use either an incident meter, or guestimate-chimp-adjust.

This is an interesting thread. For me, the improved noise performance on the D50 has made a big difference for me. I have both cameras, and can notice the difference. I can also notice the difference in the feature set - 1/3 stops on ISO settings (which helps a bit with noise - if I only need 640 instead of 800, that's just a bit less noise, after all), a dedicated metering pattern button (the one major thing I miss on the D50), and more custom settings.

 

But, the D80 is in the mail as I type.

 

allan

Allan,

How noticeble is the noise difference, and at what ISO settings do you begin to see the difference. Also, are there any other benefits to the D50 over the D70s based on your experiences with both.

Someone mentioned the lower noise of the D50 compared with the D70s (true, though

only significant if you're doing a lot of low-light work) but mentioned that ISO options

were limited to full stops (200, 400, 800, 1600). That is true and is a drawback; however,

the Auto ISO function can help. Shooting a 28mm f/2.8 lens in the evening, I set the Auto

ISO to kick in when shutter speed would otherwise fall below 1/30th or (if I'm feeling

steady) 1/15th of a second. I see ISOs of 240, 360, 640, 480 and so on. (Important note:

Auto ISO continues to work even in manual mode, to allow you to choose fast shutter

speeds and small apertures, should you so choose - it will set ISO accordingly. Remember

to switch this off if it's not what you're expecting.)

 

If my D50 breaks (it shows no signs of trouble after more than a year) I'll get another one.

I'd get a D40 (even lower noise, better detail) but I use primes without inbuilt focusing

motors and I'd miss autofocus. My next camera will be an equally low noise, full-frame,

affordable Nikon DSLR. Sadly, I might be one of _very_ few remaining D50 users by then?

 

BTW, I bought the 18-70 AFS-S DX with the body (got a great deal) and love this lens for

daylight work where I need the depth of field. No good later on in the evening, of course,

but that's where the primes come in.