Nikon D50: Week 1

When I first became serious about photography, those oh so many moons ago, I began with an old Minolta X-370. Minolta made great cameras even though they forever existed in the overhyped shadows of Canon and Nikon. So throughout the years I stuck by Minolta up until their recent announcement that Konica Minolta was getting out of the camera making business.

So when it came time to purchase a new, general purpose DSLR my obvious choice was going to be the Maxxum 7D but after hearing those bastards at Konica, forcing Minolta to get out of the camera business I was not about to purchase from a company that was being killed off. It really chaps my hide that a third rate company like Konica was able to acquire a fine company like Minolta, simply for the name, and then destroy a great legacy. Konica is the K Mart of the copy machine world. But I digress.

Faced with having to choose between a Canon or Nikon I chose the Nikon D50. It has a solid set of features and the body is the most comfortable in my hands. It has been a week now that I have been doing some general shooting with the D50 and I am very pleased. One thing that really amazed me was how well the built in flash works. Typically I avoid using the flash at all costs because it tends to wash out the photo, but the Nikon D50 ttl flash is superb. Additionally, whether shooting with a high ISO or low light, noise is not an issue. The camera meters beautifully and even though it does not come equipped with an anti-shake feature I find that I am able to shoot in low light without a tripod at some pretty slow shutter speeds.

If this little camera turns out to be as wonderful as it is starting to appear, I will be a true Nikon fan. I'll be heading into the wilds of downtown Portland for some more photo tests and I am confident that my new Nikon D50 will measure up just fine.

[Nikon D50]