Nikon SLR digital - Good buy??

[austinsdad]

Ritz has a Nikon D-50 digital camera. Comes with 2 lenses - 28-80 Nikor and 70-300 lenses. Priced at $700. 6.1 megapixels.

I'm tired of using the point and clicks for the more serious shots I want (family, fish, landscape, kids sports, etc). That little Canon does fine for simpler shots and vacation ease, but I'm ready to step up.

I'm and old school photograper type. Prefer manual exposures and sometimes manual focus too.

Anyway, good price/ camera? Not trying to go to the $900 range.

[BillD]

To get the low down, try http://www.dpreview.com/ for info and comparisons. Also a site called Steve's. I found both sites very helpful. Since you already have some knowledge, you will be able to sift through the reviews lloking for the right answers for your specific questions.

[Sicklid]

That sounds good compared to some other deals. I have a 70-300 lens on my old school SLR and it is my go-to lens for almost everything except true wide angles (which I have a 22mm lens for).

I am not venturing into digi because of the $1000 dollar prices either, but I paid almost $400 for my current digi cam, a regular 3.1 megapixel P&S when it was new four years ago so that isn't a bad price IMO. I may have to join ya on that one.

I bet it has manual focus option, as well as ways to do manual exposure. I will check into that because I like those features in my (practically antique now Pentax) camera also.

[austinsdad]

I bet it has manual focus option, as well as ways to do manual exposure.

Yep!

[mr funktastic]

i have a pentax k1000 manual 35 mm and i love it. i want to go to digital slr sooo bad but the cheapest i have seen around me is 750+tax and it wasnt all that great. i am getting a fugi s5200 after christmas and will use that for a while untill the digital slr goes down a bit. but 700 for that one u mentioned with 2 lenses is an awesome deal.

[roka64]

You can get it here for a lot less:
http://pricescan.com/digiphoto/08010100.asp
I was looking at the Sony 7.1MP, ritz has, it doesn't have changeable lenses, though. You can also get a waterproof case for it, check pricescan on that one too.

[austinsdad]

Not with both lenses.

[reefrunner69]

Can you give me a link? Whether it's worth the price or not...depends heavily on which two lenses are included. If it's bottom of the line lenses...it's about on target for buying each individually, I think your saving about 15 dollars buying as a package from ritz + you save on shipping. The 70-300 can be found for about 135 from a reputable dealer, the 28-80 can be found for 95 from a reputable dealer and the body can be found for 475-480.

The D50 is a very capable camera and I'm sure you will be very happy with it. The thing to keep in mind is the real expense is in the lenses, it's likely you will not be satisfied with the lenses that come in your kit and will want to upgrade. With the slow telephoto lens you'll want a faster lens as well as VR technology and it will start to add up. If you can be satisfied with the less expensive lenses and the results you get, that combo will cover you for everything but wide angle. For a true wide agle on a digital crop camera...you will need somewhere around 10-12mm.

[austinsdad]

The link...

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/SLR1152.htm

Also, I understand that with digi cams, I won't get blur around the edges of a wide angle lens. My favorite (back in "the day") was my 35mm lens which was clean around the edges. The 28mm was rather blurry around the edges. No worry with digital SLRs? I just like to get family shots and etc without those folks around the edges messed up.

[reefrunner69]

It really depends on the lens, with a nikon dslr you multiply the focal length by 1.5 to get your field of view, often called a crop factor. It's called a crop factor because your cropping an area out of the image circle of the lens because the digital sensor is smaller than a frame of 35mm film.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...dslr-mag.shtml

That looks like a fair deal, the prices I was quoting above were for the "G" lenses so you will save a little bit on the kit and you'll save on shipping.