02.04.06

Nikon D50

Posted in Cameras, Nikon at 1:02 am by www.PHALANO.com

Digital SLR’s are quickly becoming the fastest moving segment of the digital camera market, this means more new digital SLR’s, more competition and lower prices. The Nikon D50 is introduced as a more affordable and easier to use version of the D70 which was released just under fifteen months ago. Anyone who has seen or handled the D70 will immediately see a strong resemblance in the D50, it’s only when you start to examine the camera in a little more detail that you notice the differences (we’ve detailed them below). Clearly the D50 is designed to compete with other affordable digital SLR’s such as the Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT), Pentax *ist DS and Olympus E-300.

Differences between D50 and D70/D70s

Although quite similar in use and appearance there are some noteworthy differences between the D50 and D70, we have detailed all of the feature / specification differences in the table below. To summarize the most important; the D50 has improved auto focus especially in the area of motion tracking, it has a new auto AF mode (which automatically switches between single and continuous AF depending on the subject), it has a lower resolution metering sensor but that sensor is a newer generation than the one used in the D70 (and D70s) – spot metering circle is also larger, the maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 sec, continuous shooting is 2.5 fps, it has a better viewfinder eyecup, the LCD monitor has increased to 2.0″ in size, the D50 takes SD cards (not CF), it’s slightly smaller and lighter than the D70 and several features have been removed or simplified to make the camera easier to use.

The only key difference between the D50 and D70 from an image pipeline point of view is that the image processing algorithm has now been tweaked to improve rendition of highlight detail (to clip less and have a softer roll-off to the highlight). It’s also worth noting that the D50’s default color space mode is IIIa which is still sRGB but is described as being optimized for nature and landscape photographs, you can see the difference in the sample on this page of our D70 review.

Nikon D50 digital camera specifications

Announced 20-Apr-05

Format SLR
Price (street) US$746
Also known as
Camera body
Release Status
Max resolution 3008 x 2000
Low resolution 2256 x 1496, 1504 x 1000
Image ratio w:h 3:2
Effective pixels 6.0 million
Sensor photo detectors 6.3 million
Sensor size 23.7 x 15.5 mm (Nikon DX)
Sensor type CCD
Colour filter array RGB
Sensor manufacturer Sony
ISO rating Auto, 200 – 1600
Zoom wide (W) n/a
Zoom tele (T) n/a
Digital zoom No
Image stabilization No
Auto Focus Yes
Manual Focus Yes
Auto focus type Nikon Multi-CAM900
Normal focus range n/a
Macro focus range n/a
White balance override 6 positions, plus manual preset
Aperture range n/a
Min shutter 30 sec + Bulb
Max shutter 1/4000 sec
Built-in Flash Yes, pop-up
Flash guide no. 11 m (36 ft) m
External flash Yes, hot-shoe
Flash modes Front curtain, Rear curtain, Red-Eye, Slow, Red-Eye Slow
Exposure compensation -5 EV to +5 EV in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps
Metering 3D Matrix metering II, Center weighted, Spot
Aperture priority Yes
Shutter priority Yes
Focal length multiplier 1.5
Lens thread Nikkor AF / F-mount, D-Type
Continuous Drive Yes, 2.5 fps, up to 12 JPEG images
Movie Clips No
Remote control Optional (ML-L3)
Tripod mount Yes
Self-timer 2 to 20 sec
Time-lapse recording No
Orientation sensor Yes
Storage types SD card
Storage included None
Uncompressed format RAW
Compressed format JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Quality Levels Fine, Normal, Basic, Raw
Viewfinder TTL
LCD 2.0 ”
LCD Pixels 130,000
Playback zoom Yes
Video out Yes
USB Yes, 2.0
Firewire (IEEE 1394) No
Battery / Charger Yes
Battery Nikon EN-EL3 Lithium-Ion & charger included
Weight (inc. batteries) 620 g (21.9 oz)
Dimensions 133 x 102 x 76 mm (5.2 x 4 x 3 in)
Notes

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