Review : Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Price : $450 with Free Super Saver Shipping

"This camera feels so much like my old Nikon film camera, it was love from the first moment I held it in my hand. Using a 1 Gig memory card I can now shoot 350+ "fine" quality photos without having to change out ten rolls of film...or pay the processing! And a handy battery recharger quickly restores battery capacity when needed. Even with lots of flash pictures its charge remained strong for very long periods of time. A handy icon appears in the info screen area to let you see at a glance who much power remains. I bought the D50 for a vacation to the photogenic Southwest, and this camera was more than up to the task. The fast auto-focus, the simplfied auto controls that give quick choices for portrait, landscape and full sun, cloudy, night etc. let me shoot like a pro while it was the Nikon that converted my impulses into reality. Neat. With the ability to interchange lenses, and a great Nikon Zoom lens to start, I believe this camera proves that it is the optics which are every bit as important as the pixels. My earlier digital camera has suffered sudden retirement. I have a wide carriage Epson printer and have been printing out some of the images as 12x18 prints. Even with cropping, the images look like they were taken with a medium format camera. Progress! If you like crisp and detailed images with no hint of digital-itis, this camera is a great choice. I love precisely composing pictures through the lens rather than approximating the cropping with the display screen; but I also benefit from the ability to quickly check that screen to see the results at once. Never could do that with my old SLR without a Polaroid back! Overall, this camera and lens is a real find and I do not think you can go wrong with it. Its only drawback is a short learning curve to become familiar with the many features and options it includes, and that is not really a complaint. This camera has more tricks than I will ever use!"

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Review : Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Price : $661.65 with Free Super Saver Shipping

"The Nikon D40 is a quite capable Digital SLR, that should deliver good picture quality, in a compact and affordable camera. It has all the basic features you'd expect (listed quite well by the staff at Amazon), so let me go into comparisons with other cameras. First and foremost, the D40 lacks the focusing motor built into the body of the camera (like all previous Nikon DSLRs). Instead, it must have a motor built into the lens (Nikon calls these type "Silent Wave" or AF-S), otherwise, you lose autofocusing. While Nikon offers several AF-S lenses, they offer only a handful under $1,000. Additionally, the D40 will only be available in the US with the 18-55 kit, and most the other lenses under $1,000 over lap very much with this lens. Tamron and Tokina currently offer NO lenses with the motor built-in for Nikon cameras, and Sigma only offers a very few. If you want a zoom going to 300mm any time soon, be prepared to shell out about $600 for Nikon's new 70-300VR lens if you require autofocus. It promises to be a very nice lens, but you can get a basic Canon or Sony 75-300 for a bit over $200. Thus, if your considering the D40 because you have a bag full of Nikon AF lenses, then you might instead look at the soon to be disappearing D50. Compared to other Nikon DSLRs, the D40 is much smaller, very similar to the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. While this results in a smaller, lighter camera, it also means it will have some of the same drawbacks that many Nikon owners have teased Rebel owners. The camera will have a smaller grip; a smaller, less powerful battery; will lose the top info LCD and use the rear 2.5" screen instead; and, the feature Nikon users typically point to when they refer to "ergonomics" is the viewfinder. While the D80 has a .94x viewfinder, the D40 matches the smaller .80x of the XTi. The autofocusing points will also drop to 3, with 5 being the previous low on a Nikon DSLR. The D40 will do very well, especially since Canon & Sony aren't currently offering a lower cost, 6 megapixel camera. The directly comparable camera would be Pentax's K110D, which retails for about $550 with lens and after rebate. It uses the same 6 megapixel sensor supplies by Sony as the D40. A bit heavier, is uses 4 AA batteries instead of the LithiumIon. I prefer the latter, but there are many fans of the inexpensive AA NiMH rechargables. The viewfinder is also larger, and has a very nice 11 point AF system. Pentax also offers the more popular K100D, which is the same as the K110D, but with SR ("Shake Reduction") built into the camera body. This retails, after rebate, for about $50 more than the D40."

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Review : Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Price : $869.88 with Free Super Saver Shipping

"So far, so good, but if you use a UV filter you will find that shots taken in low light or those involving prolonged shutter exposure will cause light to reflect off of the lenses. If it was possible for me to attach an example to this review I would attach about 100 pics I shot within the past 2 weeks. Other than that this camera is easy and fun to learn. The only drawback to camera operation is that sometimes the autofocus does not know what to lock onto if there is too much sky or solid color in the picture, which will prevent the camera from taking the picture unless you switch it to manual operation."

"i bought this camera for my girlfriend and she loves it. she is a bit of amateur photographer with a great eye and this camera is very user friendly that takes beautiful pictures. it is user friendly enough for the beginner yet has enough features to allow you to grow with it to professional. she loves it. "

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