Can some explain in layman's terms what the Nikon D50 has, that the D40 doesn't?

[spirez]

And vice versa please!

I've looked on the site and it doesn't mean a great deal to me at the moment. Also, there are a lot more specs listed for the D40, but the D50 listing doesn't seem so complete.

D40

D50

I should add, this will be my first DSLR and i intend to do a fair bit of inddor shots at my thai boxing club of people in action, as well as various other shots of scenery etc.

On the currys site they have a D40 with the 18-55mm lense, plus a 55-200 mm lense for £500 quid. Is that a good deal and is the additional lense for further distance shots?

Cheers

 

[spirez]

Just found here that the D40 doesn;t have the following:

you can't change the CW average area, exposure steps are fixed at 1/3 EV and there's no bracketing)

What does this mean and is it a major disadvantage or not?

I can still change the shutter speed can't i, eg 1/250 and 1/1000 etc?

 

[GaryS]

There is a good comparison in this article:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/

For your first DSLR I don't think you need worry about the difference in specs, there's nowt significant from a beginners point of view.

You might find you need an external flash for the boxing shots as the on-camera one is a bit cack for anything other than indoor portraits etc.

Yes the 55-200 is for taking shots of things in the distance. £500 is ok for that kit... bear in mind you'll also need a memory card if that isn't included, 7dayshop etc usually have good deals on memory cards.

 

[spirez]

Cheers. seems like quite a good deal with the additional lens as they seem to be over £150 to buy separately, but i don't think i'd really use it at this stage as i'm going to be doing closer shots.

Plus i might as well see if i can really get into it before spashing loads on kit.

 

[unofficialPete]

As far as I know the D50 will work with more lenses like the 50mm f/1.8 which is a budget gem!

Also the D40 has loooads of pointless auto modes.


Goto a shop and see which one feels better in your hands, if you prefer the smaller D40 get that and vice versa..

 

[ukaskew]

As above main thing is to hold them, I struggled with the 350D so I imagine the D40 may be a bit small/annoying for me as well, the D50 felt absolutely perfect, which is the main reason I went for it.

D40 only accepts AF-S lens (not strictly true, they work but only in manual focus mode) but it just really means you have to be careful which additional lenses (if you do intend to get any) that you purchase in future.

You should be able to find a D50 for the same or less as a D40 at the moment though, it's the safer option as it's far more versatile with lens choice, I couldn't live without my 50mm f1.8, and this will only work manually on the D40.

Saying that, Nikon seemed to have nailed every other aspect of it. Unless you need huge prints the restriction on megapixels is fantastic news, they've managed to speed up most aspects of it (it outperforms some very expensive equipment in some areas), high ISO (which the D50 is incredible for anyway) seems to have improved even further, and image quality appears to be pretty special.

 

[MaLicE]

u can manual braket anyway, just roll up then down a stop on shutter or apperture.

 

[al]

A "5" in its name.