Nikon SLR Digital Cameras |

Here’s the advantages of the D50 (and digital SLR cameras in general):
* It’s vastly more responsive than digital compact cameras. With compact cameras, the autofocus takes forever, you have annoying shutter lag, you even have lag due to the electronic viewfinder. With the D50 everything is much faster. With action shots (even with kids and pets) that means you get more keepers.
* Bigger viewfinder. I know it sounds trivial, but I like to see details when I look through a viewfinder - not just check the composition.
* Better low light performance. dSLR cameras keep working without the flash during dusk and indoors. You can crank the ISO up to 1600 and still get great image quality. If you add a dedecated low light lens, like the 50mm f/1.4, you can even do street photography at night. (I do with my Nikon D200.)
* More control over depth of field. With the D50, you can take a picture of someone and deliberately blow the background out of focus. With compact cameras pretty much everything is always in focus, wich makes pictures look flat.
* Extra features. The D50 lets you take more control than than the usual ’scene modes’. That’s if you want to, of course. You can also just leave it on fully automatic.
* Incredible choice of lenses. With a compact camera, you have 5x or 10x zoom, and that’s it. I used to have a camera with 10x zoom myself, but indoors I was constantly backing up into walls. With my dSLR, I can slap on a super wide angle lens and make my tiolet look like a ball room. Or I can use a macro lens or a 600mm tele lens, or a low light lens, or whatever lens the job requires.
The down sides are that the D50 costs more (you can get started for around $800, but extra lenses cost $150 and up… way up) and if you do collect a lot of gear, you’ll end up dragging it all around in a heavy camera bag.

Digital cameras cost anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars, with all of them having excellent components and will be a good one. What it boils down to is what is it a person wants, and what eventually will suit their needs. The new word on the block is “prosumer” cameras - referring to cameras and their equipment focused on mainly advanced amateurs, a very inelegant word but getting the point across.

According to unbiased consumer reports, the leading brands about price, quality, and guarantees are Canon, Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony - with other brands coming from consumer-electronics, computer, traditional film, and film companies.

To avoid being stuck with this, recognize there is no such thing as a perfect camera. What is perfect is not what is the “top pick” but one that is the absolute most suitable one of all of them - for me - not the majority of the consumers. Choosing a digital camera from lists from the random choices of reviewers and camera critics is not the way to go, believe me, as they do not take a person’s needs into account with the most updated information available. Each camera comes with its own individual features like image resolution, storage capacity, lens power etc. So, what should the buyer look for in the camera?

The first step is thinking about what is needed and wanted. Look at various specifications - and recognize they are not always straightforward facts for all the cameras at once. An example is the number of pixels the sensor records on the cameras. We assume that a 5 Mp camera will give higher quality results than a 3 Mp, but this may not be true.

Questions need to be asked and looked in their entirety, not just one at a time. Some of these questions are: (1) what type of camera user am I?; (2) how important is camera size, megapixels, and finished picture size to me?; (3) what are the lens options to me?; (4) what are my memory choices, and how much do I need?; and (5) is money an issue, and how much can I pay or should I pay? A digital camera should last for about two or three years before upgrading; I need to look at the camera and how long it has lasted its present owners.

Many factors need to be considered when a buying a digital camera. Look at the online information of digital camera web sites and suitable models of what you want. Then go to your local camera store and handle the actual camera. Get a feel of it, and if it fits comfortably in your hands. Look at its build, its quality, and what it accessories it has.

Talk to the camera professionals that are working there, or even people you know who actually owns one. Look at some of the reviews of the camera you want; do not decide to purchase based on their reviews - only how they feel AFTER they have purchased it. What problems have they had? Would they buy another one? What guarantees does it have, and do they honor it? What is their return time on answering questions or repair work?

Resolution is another major requirement - I need to ask myself how much flexibility would I need to enlarge my images? Are 4×6 or 8×10 pictures what I want - if so, I need to choose the camera accordingly, as the quality of the camera is directly proportional to the resolution of its images. For 4×6 photographs, the 4 or 5 MP (megapixels) is adequate, yet can still do the 8×10 photographs without a lot of image distortion; any enlargements would require a 6 to 8 MP camera.

The 3 megapixels camera outputs images that are anywhere from 1 to 2 MB in size while a 7 MP camera outputs images that are 4 to 5 MB in size. A gentle rule of thumb is if I was a professional photographer then I would go for high pixel cameras; if I was a beginners I can look at low or mid-end cameras.

None of us want to think about our camera malfunctioning or breaking down entirely before we ever purchase one for any length of time, but it can and probably will happen at some time. If this does happen, make sure the camera’s manufacturer will guarantee this, and for how long after the purchase? If they do, they will exchange the new camera for the broken one if requested, and then pass the defective camera onto there servicing department. It will be fixed and sent to the outlet warehouse, completely functional.

Many deals for consumers can be found this way, at a newer and lower price for a fully functional and almost new camera. For amateurs and novice users, restored products such as these are popular for a lower price, and still has a warranty that is slightly limited.

Mike Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/electronics-articles/how-to-choose-a-digital-camera-gimme-my-options-76922.html

I have a Nikon N75 and want to purchase a slr digital camera (Nikon D50). But I'm trying to figure out if it is cheaper to purchase the body only and lens separately or if possible to use the lens I already have (Quantaray Lens compatible with Nikon N75). Do you know if the N75 lenses are compatable with the D50? Or is there a website where I can check?

The Quantaray will work with both cameras. I too have a Quantaray for my N75 that I am using now on my D50. I also have a Nikkor 70-300mm that works on both the N75 and D50. In general, the Nikon lenses for the Nikon film SLRs will work with the Nikon DSLRs, but not necessarily the other way around. Of course, manual focus lenses will not auto focus on either camera, and the older Nikon "non-CPU" lenses will lose certain functionality (like the different metering options and iTTL flash). Nikon has a line of lenses that are designed for their digital SLRs and will not work correctly with their film SLRs.

Hi Friends and Fellow Entrepreneurs,

Ahhâ?¦wide angle photography, probably one of the easiest types of photo to take; but also one of the hardest to excel at.

Have you ever tried to cram 30 people into a single photograph? Youâ??d try to stack them, have some of them on the floor or even ask some of them at the back to jump at the press of the shutter!? Youâ??re also trying to make sure that you are able to see the faces of these people in the photograph. Difficult if your cameraâ??s lens is not wide enough and you have to move yourself further back to accommodate, which may not be possible if space is limited. When shooting indoors with flash, moving back may even give you an underexposed photograph, as flash is often not powerful enough to reach longer distances.

Apart from the utilitarian purpose of getting good group photographs, shooting wide angle lets you portray the scene in full detail with unusual and sometimes, exaggerated perspectives. This is especially true of super wide angle. Small objects can be made to appear larger than larger objects within the same scene, effectively shifting the balance of the image composition. When used well, it can bring attention to the subject of interest in the foreground, at the same time preserving the context of the whole image by showing the location or event in the background.

Choose your foreground interest wisely

-Wider Options

Lenses are categorized by their focal lengths. Typically, lenses fall into one of these categories:

· super wide angle (10~24mm)

· wide angle (24~35mm)

· standard (about 50mm)

· telephoto (70~300mm)

· super telephoto (300mm and beyond)

These numbers indicate the focal length, which describes the field of view achievable using that lens. Incidentally, the field of view of a 50mm lens is considered to be an approximation to what the human eye sees. For the DSLR owners, they can choose from a variety of lenses ranging from a super wide lens all the way up to a super telephoto. But what about the rest of us?

Digital compact camera owners are not left out of the picture. There are a multitude of wide-angle adapters for digital compacts; both made available as accessories as well as by third-party manufacturers. These can be attached via lens threads or bayonet mounts on their bodies. There are also some from third-party lenses which can be attached magnetically!

-Focal Length Multiplier

Note: The â??focal lengthâ?? of the lens determines the â??field of viewâ??, which is the angle of view seen using this lens. â??Field-of-view cropâ?? is often referred to as â??focal length multiplierâ?? for the sake of simplicity.

Digital photography, from the hardware perspective, is based on principles of 35mm film cameras. For a photographer who shoots with film, there is no such thing as a â??focal length multiplierâ??, because to them, everything is 1x. This means that a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens. Not so for a digital SLR. A 50mm lens virtually becomes a 75mm lens, when attached to a Nikon D200 digital SLR. This is because the â??focal length multiplierâ?? of 1.5x causes the 50mm lens to have a field of view equivalent to a 75mm lens.

Shooting wide angle is basically one way of depicting a scene using a wider field of view, which in turn is achieved by using a lens with a focal length of less than 50mm on a 35mm film SLR camera. These days, with the proliferation of digital SLR cameras, there might be some confusion to how focal lengths are calculated.

To keep things simple, we can use this rule of thumb. If you are using a 35mm film SLR, your focal length multiplier is 1x. If you are using a digital SLR, your focal length multiplier could be any one of these, depending on the model of DSLR camera: 1x (eg Canon 1Ds Mk II), 1.3x (eg Canon 1D Mk II), 1.5x (eg Nikon D200 or D70) or 1.6x (eg Canon 30D).

To get the actual focal length (and hence field of view achievable) of your lens, multiply the lens focal length with the multiplier.

Example 1

Nikon D200 (multiplier is 1.5x) with a 17~70mm lens

The actual focal length range of this combination is 25.5mm-105mm, achieved by multiplying the lens range with 1.5

Example 2

Canon 1Ds Mk II (multiplier is 1x) with a 70~300mm lens

The actual focal length range of this combination is still 70-300mm.

Example 3

Nikon F5 (35mm film camera with multiplier of 1x) with a 15mm fisheye lens

The actual focal length of this combination is still 15mm.

The reason behind the focal length multiplier falls to the size of the recording media, the CCD or CMOS. Different cameras use different sized CCD/CMOS for different reasons eg. to make a smaller camera and for better power efficiency. For compact digital cameras which do not fall under the digital SLR category, focal length multipliers are rarely used because they donâ??t have interchangeable lenses. What they do have are wide angle adapters or telephoto adapters. A wide angle adapter may be referred to as a 0.7x wide adapter. What this number means is that this adapter shortens the focal length of the built-in lens by multiplying it with 0.7, effectively creating a wider field of view.

Super wide angle shots sometimes appear distorted, but they do show a lot more in the background, lending context to an image

-Focusing with Wide Angle Lenses

An inherent characteristic of camera lenses is that wide angle lenses come with more depth-of-field compared to telephoto lenses. This reduces focusing errors to some extent, which means that you can focus on almost anything around the center of the frame and get an acceptably sharp image. In this case, a small aperture further increases the chance of a sharp image. For best results though, we can use the â??1/3 of the distance rule”. Look inside your camera viewfinder, estimate the distance from the nearest point that is visible in the viewfinder, to the furthest point that is also visible in your viewfinder. Focus on a point that is roughly one-third of the distance away from you. If you cannot use autofocus effectively on that point (perhaps due to very dim light levels or low contrast early in the morning on a mountain), you can estimate the distance and manually focus your lens, using the distance scale on your lens. A small aperture (eg. f16) gives you more depth-of-field, so use it if possible. Thatâ??s why itâ??s good to carry a tripod, which will let you use smaller apertures without camera shake.

-Composing with Wide Angle Lenses

Wide angle photography has its own set of challenges. While it lets you show more of the scene, sometimes less is more. If not properly framed, a super wide angle image may include distracting elements which detract from your image, because a wide angle lens sees a wider field of view than a normal lens. Therefore itâ??s good to fill the frame well, composing it in such a way that only the necessary elements are included. Landscape photography is a classic candidate for using wide angle lenses. In order to shoot great landscape photography, foreground interest is important. Wide angle lenses let you include a sizeable portion of the foreground in the frame, so use it well by choosing a foreground that is actually interesting.

When shooting super wide angle, we can also get away with a slower shutter speed because the shorter focal length downplays slight camera shake errors, opening up new possibilites with photography. One example is hand-holding your SLR camera in a busy street downtown, capturing a sharp image of your subject while rendering the pedestrian traffic as a blur, due to the slower shutter speed.

-Wide Angle Care

Exercise more caution when handling your DSLR or digicam with a wide-angle lens/adapter. Some wide angle lenses have protruding glass which is more exposed and susceptible to accidental contact with dirty fingers or worse, it may end up getting scratched. If your lens accepts a UV filter, get one. It will protect your lens from countless dangers. Many wide angle lenses allow you to focus closer than a telephoto lens, so a lens hood helps to some extent to protect your lens from your overzealous attempts to get a closer shot.

Wide angle photography is exciting, go forth and experiment!

Enjoy !

Warmly,

Bernard Tan Min Chun

Photographic Artist

http://www.dreamentry4u.com/photo.html

BERNARD TAN MIN CHUN
http://www.articlesbase.com/graphic-design-articles/seriously-wide-110362.html

http://digitaalcamera.blogspot.com/

Well, now that you have the camera, I'd say it was worth it. If you asked this before you bought the D50, I'd STILL say that it was worth it. It's a shame that you got tied up with one of those bait-and-switch retailers before checking in here. However, what's done is done.

I don't know how much you paid for the camera or what you consider to be an expensive battery, but in the end, it probably didn't make a huge difference. If you got a Nikon brand battery, don't worry about it. At least you know what it is instead of wonderingn if the alternate brand is going to explode or hold a charge, etc.

In order to help you appreciate your D50, I'll include a couple of things I have written in praise of the D50, which is the camera I chose for my wife.

For a few dollars less, you could have had a D40, but I think it is an actual full quantum below the D50. The obvious difference is that the D40 no longer has a status LCD on top of the camera. All of the same information is available, however, on the larger rear LCD. I don't know what impact this has on battery life.

The less obvious difference is that the D40 only has 3 autofocus zones and, therefore, only 3 spot meter zones. The D50 has 5 zones. The D50 also lets you define the size of your center-weighted metering zone and the D40 does not.

The D40 will not autofocus with anything other than the newer AF-S and AF-I lenses, while the D50 will autofocus many older AF lenses, including G and D lenses as well as most other CPU lenses. If you do not own any lenses, this will not present a problem, but if you want to expand your lens collection (and who doesn't want to eventually?), you will have to bear this in mind before you make your purchase. There are MANY older lenses that are excellent and still available new.

One thing I like in the D40 is adopted from the more expensive cameras in the Nikon line. You can set a maximum ISO in the auto-ISO mode and you can set a minimum shutter speed in the auto-ISO mode. Frankly, I have the same features on my D200 and I don't use them, but I can see how they might come in handy if I was in a rapid-fire shooting session (haha) where I couldn't pay attention to these values for every frame.

I do use the programable FUNC button on the D200 and I see that the D40 has this feature also.

The D40 has a lot of in-camera retouching, but I would never use this as I do all of my own work on the computer. If you are going to use a store kiosk to do your prints, maybe you would like this feature.

If you read the review from the page I list below, you will see a comparison of the D40 and D50 right on the first page of the review. They used a green highlight for the "winner" of each category.

The bottom line is, my wife has the D50. I use it and like it. If we waited and bought the D40 for her, I am sure I would like that also. The biggest thing I would miss is the 5-zone auto-focus/spot-metering capability.

Check out this comparison page. Click on "In-depth review" and "Read Owner Opinions" for each camera. Be sure to note that the reviews are many pages long so you don't stop after page one. Check the sample images, also. You can enlarge these to full size images if you click on the link below the picture. You will have to then put your cursor in the white space to the right of the picture and click once. After that, you can pass your cursor over the image and it will turn into a magnifier. Click it as a magnifier once and the image will go to full size and you can really examine the detail or look for artifacts like fringing or noise.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=nikon_d40%2Cnikon_d50&show=all

~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_d50.asp

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/nikon_d50.html

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d50.htm

Photo camera deals are something, which are very easily available in the market. There are a lot of competitions in the field of photography. Therefore, photo camera deals are a really vast and are developing. There are a lot of companies, which offer the best gadget in town. The most fascinating feature is that almost all the companies are the leading ones and they could be really a tight competition for all.

People always go for the best reputable and top brands rather than the new ones that are introduced in the market. The different of companies, which are present in the market, make people confused about the brand they are supposed to choose. Apart from the different companies, there are various products also for them, which are the proof for the latest innovations and the advancing technologies. Modern world has brought out an increasing need for everyone to buy more and more electronic gadgets for daily use. Among them the most importantly used one are the camera.

Photo camera deals make people easily for buying different gadgets. Different companies, which are a part of the photo camera deals, are many such as Sony, Hitachi, Kodak, Canon, Nikon, Fuji and many more. These photo camera deals are really of great help to people shopping for camera. People have to look out for different deals related to the photo camera and they have to decide on the one they have to buy!

There are different types of cameras. Canon company offer a lot of digital cameras such as Canon Power Shot SD600 digital camera which has 6.0MP, 2816X2112, 3X Opt, SD/MMC Slot, Canon EOS Rebel XTi Black SLR digital camera kit which offers 10.1MP, 3888X2592, Compact Flash Slot, Canon Power Shot SD 800 IS digital camera that gives 7.1MP,3072X2304, 3.8x Opt, 16MB Removable Flash Memory, SD/SDHC/MMC Slot. Nikon company also offers many models such as Nikon D80 digital camera W/18-135mm Lens Kit that has 10.2MP, 3872X2592, SDHC/SD slot, Nikon D200 SLR digital camera body only which offers 10.92MP, Compact flash/microdrive, Nikon D40 SLR digital camera kit that offers 6.1MP, 3008X2000, SD/SDHC slot. One of Fuji’s camera model is Fuji Finepix F30 digital camera which offers 6.3MP, 2048X2136, 3x Opt, xD-Picture Card.

Photo camera deals are really helpful in the need of shopping. They help a lot in making estimations about different companies that are prevalent in the market. Photo camera deals are of great use!

Cathy Peterson
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/photo-camera-deals-94693.html

When I purchased my first digital SLR camera I was given a great beginning photography tip: don’t buy more than you need. I was a beginning photographer who had never tried a film SLR camera, who didn’t know the definition of aperture, and who basically didn’t know much at all. I ended up purchasing the Nikon D50, which was Nikon’s introductory digital
SLR at the time, and I am very glad I did.

I have spent a few years learning the basics of digital photography and for the first year or so I
almost never felt that I needed more than what my Nikon D50 has to offer. Of course, now I am ready to move up to a model with more features, but
had I paid for those features initially I would have wasted several hundred, if not thousands, of dollar on features I never would have used.

Had I not listened to that beginning photography tip I probably would have purchased the Nikon D100, which was an amazing camera at the time. I would have spent at least one thousand more dollars, had a heavier camera, and had a few more features.

However, today I would still be wanting to
upgrade my six megapixel Nikon D100 to the newer and much better Nikon D300 or the Nikon D3. I’m not saying that those who purchased the D100 back then made a mistake by any means. It is a great camera. What I’m saying is that for me, purchasing it would have been a mistake because I would not have used the additional features that the D50 does not have.
Learning how to use a digital SLR camera takes time, especially if you are a complete beginner in the photography world.

You have to learn what aperture, ISO, white balance, shutter speed, f-stop, focal distance, and
many other things mean. And then, after knowing the definition of those terms, you have to learn how to manipulate them and how they work together to help you take and create great photographs. More simple, entry-level cameras are designed just for this purpose to help you learn the basics.

You can spend around $500 and get a great beginner camera that will enable you to learn the fundamental principles of photography. And the best part about buying a entry-level camera is that you generally don’t sacrifice much at all on the most important aspect of photography, the picture quality. I have seen amazing prints from both introductory-level digital SLR’s and pro-level cameras and many times I cannot tell the different.

In fact, if you read many photographer blogs, you will find out that most professional photographers do not just have one camera, they almost always
have a backup camera, and that backup camera is usually an entry level digital SLR just like the one I purchased.

So, remember this great beginning photography tip: if you are a beginning photographer, then start with a introductory DSLR. Then, when you understand how to use aperture and ISO and shutter speed together, you
will be ready to upgrade to a newer, better camera. You will never regret it.

Michael Clark
http://www.articlesbase.com/gadgets-and-gizmos-articles/beginning-photography-tips-for-buying-a-camera-529769.html

I'm buying a Nikon digital camera and am torn between what to get. Which is the best choice: the D40, D60, or D80 ?

I guess it just depends on what you are going to use it for the D40 is a great camera, it is 6.1 MP great for everyday picture taking, its ease of use and the light weight make this camera is good for a starter camera, but the D40 has a small problem the reason its light weight is because the AF motor is in the lenses so you would have to buy AF-S or IF lenses
Now the D60 is the same as the D40 except for the 10.2 MP, so unless your going for something as a large format image go for the D40.
Now the D80 is also a great camera same as the D60 (10.2 MP)except you can use almost any Nikor lens. And the processor is much faster than the D60
I personally carry my D40 everywhere I use it for everyday picture taking (i.e. landscapes, nature scenes, creative pics, always at photo jobs as a second camera, wedding etc.)
And my D60 is my studio camera which I use for large format pictures, I tried the D80 but the it basically the same as the D60.

The new cameras from Nikon and Canon look great. I am upgrading from a D40. I like lots of things about both and am kind of at a stand still. What do you guys think about each one? My favorite type of pictures to take are Wildlife and Landscapes with the rare sports session thrown in there. My teachers were no help either cause some are devoted to Nikon and others to Canon. My school rents lenses for both brands so thats no worry. Whats your opinion and why. The more detailed the better and personal opinions are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I am buying the D300 no question. The main reason is that I already have Nikon Lenses. As to the first answerer's points, the D300 also has live preview (I won't be using that) and has a massive 51 area auto focus.

There is nothing bad known about this camera. I saw some images taken at a massive ISO 6400 and they were beautiful. Some grain was evident but wow! That alone is getting me excited. Getting clear shots at high ISO means faster shutter speeds for your wildlife.

i have nikon d200 & nikon d type lens 28-70 (3.5)range lens.
i want to know this lense is sootable?

Any auto-focus lens will work with all the functions of the D200. You can even use the older manual focus lenses if you like .. I use a 500mm mirror lens for shooting sports. Just choose the Non-CPU data settings in the camera's menu