nikon D50 or nikon D70?

[howser88]

sheesh.. i don't know which one to buy.  help!

[SensoVision]

Hello howser88 and welcome to WKey forums! Hope to see you frequently here and your photos as well once you decide which camera to buy.
I can't give you single answer to this question as both cameras have it's strong sides, so it's all depend for what tasks you'll be using your camera. E.g. if you shoot fast moving objects or sport events mostly you'll probably need camera with faster shooting speed(D70), from other side D50 seems to have best lowest noise ratio on low light and high ISO shots I've ever seen(it's just my opinion) although some people prefer get not so sharp photos in order to post-process them in some image editing software. D50 also have smaller size, use SD(which I'm using) and cost less, so for my tasks it fit more than D70 but you may have different preferences.
The only thing I'd like to say is that D70 have much superior kit lens than D50, so if it's possible I'll try to get D50 with AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm lens(which usually come with D70).
Take a look at this page you'll find characteristics of both models at one table which would let you easily compare them: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond50/

Also maybe you can consider new model D80 which should be replacement for D70 if I'm not wrong. I've seen sample shots from it and seems that it has much less noise in image than D70.

If you tell us more what you're expecting from camera maybe we'll be able to give more suggestions to you. Feel free to ask anything.

BTW we have member who using D50, she should back in a week or so, hopefull she can give tell you about her experiences as well.

[howser88]

these are SLRs right? do they have optical zoom? this matters to me also. or the optical zoom will dpend on the lens? i like D70 for having the feature in shooting fast moving objects. haven't checked on D80 yet. thanks for that 

[SensoVision]

yes all these models are digital SLR cameras(dSLR) and their zooming capabilities depend on first of all from lens you're using and also from the crop factor of sensor.
BTW if you don't have any Nikon lens yet I would also recommend you to check new model dSLR from Pentax which looks to me very attractive because of built-in anti-shake feature(my current compact camera have anti-shake and it's really help me out in certain situations especially when I zoom for something far away).
BTW Here is link to Nikon D80 review: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d80-review/index.shtml
and Pentax K100D: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pentax/k100d-review/
Of course you can invest in special lens on Nikon cameras but they are expensive in time when with K100D you'll get anti-shake working on nearly all lens you're using. There is also another advance in K100D IMHO, as it's using usual AA battaries which are easy to get here and they are not expensive as propietary ones.
The only drawback in Pentax model is that it have high amount of noise on picture for my taste, but you should check it yourself, maybe it would be acceptable for you especially if you're not going to shoot a lot of night photos.

[howser88]

thanks much SensoVision. i like that anti-shake about Pentax! gee, i like to shoot night photos.. i think that would be a drawback for Pentax.. hehe.. but at least i have something to compare with the other cameras. why can't just a single camera have everything that we want? all in one.. hehe!

[SensoVision]

why can't just a single camera have everything that we want? all in one.. hehe!

You're not alone at this wish I'm also waiting for such camera to appear, once it happen I'll buy it of course if prices become lower till that time.
BTW I hope that Pentax will start to use better sensor one day which will improve photo quality.

don't forget to let us know if you decide to buy certain model.

[howser88]

thanks so much for the infos. realy great help! i think i'm gonna buy this december. hoping those cameras will get on sale. BTW, where do you buy your digital camera/s?

[SensoVision]

BTW, where do you buy your digital camera/s?

Unfortunately this info wouldn't be much help I guess, since I reside in Ukraine and many US shops would refuse to send goods here or ask for high shipping.
My first camera I've bought here but later found out that could buy goods a considerably cheaper on Ebay, so my second camera was from there.
Unfortunately it has some annoying bug which couldn't be fixed by local service center so I had to work with it before I manage to get money on next model. I didn't send it back to Ebay seller as shipping costs would be high for me.
Last time I've bought from online shop in my country, of course it cost me a bit more but now I have possibility to return it for warranty repair if necessary.
I also use three online shops to buy photo accessories like filters and other stuff here:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com
http://www.henrys.com
http://www.photofilter.com
all of them are reliable and deliver goods pretty fast.
Hope it helps a bit, and feel free to ask more questions if you have any

[howser88]

oh it's nice to meet someone from other country. glad to meet you.  thank you so much for all those infos. are you kidding me, it all helped!  well, i'm not considering buying from ebay. scares me when it comes to the point when there willbe a problem and you can't just send it back for repair. hehe.

[SensoVision]

well, i'm not considering buying from ebay. scares me when it comes to the point when there willbe a problem and you can't just send it back for repair. hehe.

if you live in Europe or US you probably shouldn't skip Ebay at all as it would be hard to send something for repair from here but in your country it could be easier.
BTW you may wish to check Amazon.com it has some good prices but unfortunately all photography equipment is shipped US only, if not I would probably try this shop as well(till now I only ordered books about photography from them)

[Hope]

I have the D50 and LOVE IT!!! It takes great pictures. The lense options are the same for both cameras. It is just a matter of how much you want to spend and what MP you need/desire. I looked closely at both and decided to go with the D50 because of the price.

[howser88]

BTW you may wish to check Amazon.com it has some good prices but unfortunately all photography equipment is shipped US only, if not I would probably try this shop as well(till now I only ordered books about photography from them)

i also buy books. a lot books for now. and by december i'll get a go with a digicam.

thanks Hope. i'm glad to hear from a D50 user as well! 

[eddie46]

If you are unsure about which product is best check read expert reviews. Using PriceGrabber.com (http://www.pricegrabber.com/info_expertreviews.php/masterid=8233716) I came across a cool site that list all expert reviews for a product in a single page. I hope this helps: http://www.smartratings.com/photography/digital_cameras

[SensoVision]

Welcome aboard Eddie!
Thanks for sharing these resources! I knew about pricegrabber before but second link is really nice find as it have links to reviews on many good sites I'm always read when try to form my opinion about certain camera.

[Andy]

I also found some good independant opinions about Digital cameras on Webmaster Key