Nikon D50 vs. D70 vs. D80

[carriedodd]

I bought a Nikon D50 last year. Photography has now become my favorite past

time. Should I consider trading in my D50 for a D70 or D80. Will I notice a

big difference?

[Matt Laur]

D50 -> D70... no.

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D50 -> D80... <i>maybe</i>

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With the D80 you'll notice higher resolution, faster and more sensitive autofocusing, better low-light noise performance, and a noticeably better viewfinder.

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But the real question is: what is it about your current images that you find to be problematic? Do the circumstances in which you're shooting make the D50 trouble to use? Are you making large prints that actually call for the higher resolution? Do you need faster continuous frames-per-second for sports? Some of the differences between those two bodies will be enormous, make-or-break differences for certain shooters... while being completely meaningless to other folks. Often as not, your favorite new pastime will be better improved by the purchase of a really good new lens or two, while you wait another generation for some more incremental changes to the bodies. The D80 is nearing the end of its life cycle. Get some great glass, and hold off a bit on the body. Have fun!

[.th]

d50 and 70 share the wonderful 1/500 sync speed, even higher if you want. apart from that, the d80 is a vastly more capable camera. whether or not you'll see much difference, is sort of impossible to say, until after you try one..

[juanjo_viagran]

D50 -> D70... no.

 

D50 -> D80... maybe

 

D50 -> D200... YES

 

;)

[sjmurray]

I started digitally with a D70 and now use a D80. I don't need fast synch, fast AF or fast frames/sec. I did upgrade to get the 10mp image, which can make larger prints with more detail. The D50 will make a 6.7x10 inch print at 300 dpi without resizing, and the D80 will make an 8.5 x 13 inch print. Both can be resized larger, but you can see that you're starting with a much larger print in the first place with the D80. If you print no larger than 8x10, you probably won't see much difference between the two cameras. You have a nice portfolio and it looks like you are shooting basically still life/landscapes in daylight, so you don't need all the features of the higher end cameras.

[ShunCheung]

On the D80, you'll have 11 AF point auto focus, separate main and sub-command dials, a much better viewfinder, depth of field preview, iTTL flash control from the pop-up flash, NEF + JPEG fine/normal/basic options .... If you are fairly serious about photography, I wouldn't use anything less than the D80.

 

Depending on your budget, the D200 and the up-coming D300 should be even better choices, but you also want to keep a balance between good lenses and a good body.

 

The D80 uses SD memory cards, same as the D50. The D200 and D300 use the toally different CF memory cards.

 

Nikon consumer DSLRs are on a roughly 18-month product cycle. The D80 was originally introduced in August, 2006. If that 18-month cycle holds true, the D80 should be at the tail end of it. If you can wait a few months, I would wait until the 2008 PMA (Photo Marketing Association) show where new cameras are usually announced. The 2008 PMA starts on January 31.

[m_rose2]

I agre with Matt, buy glass - that's what gives you the capabilities. And nothing has changed despite technology...so far. I have taken photographs for 50yrs, get f1.4, get f1.8, get f2.8 max, get non-DX if you can. The D50 is a great camera.

[juanjo_viagran]

m rose, I was with you until the non-DX..:/

 

I have a 10.5mm and 17-55mm DX and both are awesome to say the least..

 

the 70-200mm 2.8 which I had is also DX, check the review on that lens..

 

do you have bad experience with DX lenses.?

[mileri]

Juanjio, which 70-200mm you had is DX?

[Matt Laur]

Juanjo: Slow down there, cowboy! The 70-200VR isn't a DX-specific lens like the 17-55 is. It works fantastically on a DX camera, of course - but it's also a great tool on a full-frame ("FX" or 35mm) body.

[m_rose2]

juanjo, I was just thinking of future proofing for FX days. I have some DX glass, 12-24mm and 18-200mm VR. Both are great, esp. the 18-200 which is absolutely amazing for travel, but I'm not sure I will buy more DX now FX is on the horizon. If you buy AF lenses for DX use you are just using the centre bit which gives you amazing results and it "should be" future proof.

[tom_burke3]

I went from a D70 to a D80 this spring. Truthfully, the differences are incremental:

resolution, viewfinder, LCD display, AF - all are 'somewhat' better, with 'somewhat' varying

from 'a bit' to 'quite a lot'. The main benefit of the the extra resolution, for example, is

that it gives you a lot of cropping space; as far as printing is concerned you won't see any

benefit unless you print above 12 x 9 or larger.

 

Having just picked up my D70 again recently, I've found another couple of advantages of

the D80 - the shutter is a bit quieter, and the download speed in the D70 is much s-l-o-

w-e-r: the D80 has USB2, the D70 has USB1.1 (What does the D50 have?)

 

I suppose my overall message is: don't expect any earth-shattering difference. The

biggest step is when you get your first DSLR; thereafter it's all incremental. I'm prepared to

believe that moving to a high-performance fullframe camera might be more fundamenal,

but neither of us are making that change.

[ShunCheung]

I think Tom is right that the upgrade from D70 to D80 is incremental, but based on the posts in this thread, quite a few people have made that upgrade since late last year. Since the D50 was essentially the economy model to the D70/D70s, the upgrade to the D80 would be a bit of a bigger jump. But if one can wait a bit, if Nikon indeed updates the D80 in 2008, upgrading to its successor would likely be a more meaningful one.

[carriedodd]

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful feedback!

[Two23]

The D80 is Nikon's best value. It is essentially the same camera as the D200 since it shares most of its most critical oomonents. It's also more compact and easier to carry. For me, it was a no-brainer. If indeed the D80 is approaching time for Nikon to replace it, I would really advise you to sit tight and upgrade your lenses. It's never a mistake to upgrade lenses and even tripod/head before blowing money on a camera. Good lenses & tripod you keep for years and years. Cameras come & go quickly.

 

 

Kent in SD

[sam_thompson2]

D50 has lower noise at high iso than the D70,D80,D200 etc.

 

Out of jpeg should be of better quality than the D70. Supposedly the D50 meter is much more accurate than the D80 but that is a controversial issue.

 

The D70 and D80 has features that are more usability related than pure image quality. Dual dials for changing exposure, ISO at fractional stops, white balance trim, built in support for CLS, additional accessories like the vertical grip.

 

If you are happy with your images currently then you shouldn't really upgrade. Once you find that there is something lacking then you should look into upgrading because by then the camera you want should be 1) less expensive 2) of higher quality.

 

For example I have a D50 as well. I like it but I would like to have more FPS. An upgrade to a D70 or D80 wouldn't help me too much as that wouldn't really increase FPS very much. I am hoping for a D80 replacement that would match the D200 FPS or picking up a used D2 series or D200.

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

One major D200 thing that the D80 does not is the metering. The D80 metering really pushes it to keep the noise down, but very often blows out the highlights. I bought a D50 for my son who knows squat about tweaking exposure and gets much better exposures out of the D50. The D50 alos runs a little hot, but not as bad as the D80. Also the default settings of the D50 gives "punchier" more saturated images.

 

There are many things that are much better with the D200 over the D80. Lots of folks are selling their D200's now in anticipation of buying D300's. I would chose a lightly used D200 over a new D80 in a heart beat.

[ptkeam]

If I were you I would keep the D50 for the time being. If you have bucks burning a hole in your pocket, spend them on lenses. I have two D70's and have no plans to plunk down any money any time soon for a new camera body.

In the film days, you could confidently spend a lot of money on a good camera body and know you would be able to use it for many, many years. Now, with digital, unless you are a photojournalist, you really don't need the robust body you can also hammer nails with. As one of the above contributors noted, the changes from D50-D70-D80 are incremental -- not exponential.

[studor13]

I have a D70 and I wouldn't "upgrade" to a D80. I think that the D50 is as capable as that of the D70.

 

I shoot mainly landscape, but a few days ago I read that the D70 has a very decent flash system so I gave it ago for portraits.

 

Attached are two samples using the AF 50mm f1.8.

 

For this lens I really like to shoot it around f3 for portraits. On the D70 you can sync. the flash up to 1/500.

 

The differences are subjective but the point is that being able to shoot at the aperture you want with flash is very handy indeed.<div></div>

[studor13]

And this.<div></div>

[mvtol]

I upgraded from D50 to D80. In actual pracatice I realy like the bigger LCD, the direct spot metering (and the two dials: D50 makes you go in and out the menu al the time), the 11 point AF wich you can select and use to spot meter also, and the large viewfinder. I bought the Tamron 17-50 2.8 which is also great. My 18-70 didn't work that well on the D80; it just wasn't as sharp on the D80 as on my D50, for what reason I don't know. For me it was worth while to upgrade, also because I did it 10 months ago; although the D80 is a camera that will stay with me for a couple of years, like Shun said, you can wait till the D90? comes out

Just my thoughts, regards Martijn

[albertdarmali]

Just for the viewfinder alone, the upgrade to D80 is well worth it.