New D50 owner and some test shots
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:37 pmHi there,
Well after some lengthy talk on what camera I should get, I ended up getting the D50 kit set (18-55 lenses) instead of the D70 kit set which were selling at the same price or sometimes cheaper for 2nd hand.
Why did I get the D50? To pass it onto my siblings in case my skills improve enough to know how to use cameras such as the D70 and among others.
Out of the box, the D50 is a great camera for anybody using a dSLR for the first time.
You know there are great photographers, but with crappy cameras, and there are not so good photographers with great cameras.
Playing with a D70 for the first time was like climbing into the cockpit of a Formula One car, I'm a great driver but what the hell do these buttons do?
The D50 is very much a simplified version of the D70, a camera that tries to bridge the gap between dSLR and current trend digital cameras, or more accurately - to be as user friendly as possible.
Well, I took many many shots today and despite my effort to use manual controls, the Auto comes out better looking!
The focus of my picture taking today was mainly of my car, and I guess most if not all digital cameras do well here. My car is a Nissan Skyline GTR in Gunmetal.
The colour is so important here, its not gray, metallic gray or dark silver, its gunmetal. Quite often when I took photos of it with other cameras, the car would look silverish, or bland gray. With the D50 on Auto, the car came out the colour I've always wanted.
Anyway, here are some test shots that I thought was worthy of posting. Now I know I'm a noobie but please bear with me ok?
Here's a reduced image of a Japanese flower (sunflower?). It was near my car and I wanted to add some variety to my album. I think I was lucky that there was a bee, even luckier that there was another insect within the petals. In its reduced state, its not bad though do you think it looks a tiny bit dark?
Here's a cropped version of the original and as you can see, its even more impressive. My god I've never come close to a bee before and looking at it scares me. But you know what, I reckon that fly was hiding under the petal otherwise it would have been lunchtime for the seemingly huge bee. I was quite happy with this shot, though if there are some improvements that I could have done do mention them!
This is the view of what most drivers get when I'm on the road, the rear view of my GTR. Japan's most famous sports car, it has aged a bit and this example has more chips and cuts than Rocky Balboa. The car is fitted with 255/17 tyres, which makes it look mean, it has been lowered as well. I wanted to take a picture of the rear because it really does look menancing. I couldn't achieve it with the other digital cameras, but I guess with the dSLR I could. Now if I could highlight those tyres a bit more then it would look a little more impressive I think.
Well, I guess you can tell that I washed the car before taking these pictures. This is what Japan looks like, nothing but a concrete jungle with power lines and telephone poles all over the place. Some houses still manage to maintain its 1960s looks, while others simple towers over them with their modern architects. One thing that I really noticed when I got this camera, was how colourless Japan really was. My room, my house, my neighbours houses, the streets etc etc. I actually bought this camera because I'm going on a roadtrip of a lifetime (free minivan, free petrol, free accomodation, free beer but no food). So hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of nature and not the dull concrete life of the cities.
Please comment on these photos, I'm excited about joining the dSLR bandwagon and am more excited about using the D50 on my road trip. I have the 18-55 lenses and they are really better than one would expect them to be.
I remember someone pointing out the fact that if a camera has a f/3.5 - 5.6 speed lenses then it would be considered cheap in quality and performance. Well it is, but the fact that Nikon bundled these with the D50 as new lenses probably means that they are very capable as general lenses for the average but picky users (Japanese people are demanding sometimes!).
I'm not sure if the lenses will hold up for landscapes and such, but the camera has been awesome and I would definitely recommend it to anyone starting out for the first time.
Well after some lengthy talk on what camera I should get, I ended up getting the D50 kit set (18-55 lenses) instead of the D70 kit set which were selling at the same price or sometimes cheaper for 2nd hand.
Why did I get the D50? To pass it onto my siblings in case my skills improve enough to know how to use cameras such as the D70 and among others.
Out of the box, the D50 is a great camera for anybody using a dSLR for the first time.
You know there are great photographers, but with crappy cameras, and there are not so good photographers with great cameras.
Playing with a D70 for the first time was like climbing into the cockpit of a Formula One car, I'm a great driver but what the hell do these buttons do?
The D50 is very much a simplified version of the D70, a camera that tries to bridge the gap between dSLR and current trend digital cameras, or more accurately - to be as user friendly as possible.
Well, I took many many shots today and despite my effort to use manual controls, the Auto comes out better looking!
The focus of my picture taking today was mainly of my car, and I guess most if not all digital cameras do well here. My car is a Nissan Skyline GTR in Gunmetal.
The colour is so important here, its not gray, metallic gray or dark silver, its gunmetal. Quite often when I took photos of it with other cameras, the car would look silverish, or bland gray. With the D50 on Auto, the car came out the colour I've always wanted.
Anyway, here are some test shots that I thought was worthy of posting. Now I know I'm a noobie but please bear with me ok?
Here's a reduced image of a Japanese flower (sunflower?). It was near my car and I wanted to add some variety to my album. I think I was lucky that there was a bee, even luckier that there was another insect within the petals. In its reduced state, its not bad though do you think it looks a tiny bit dark?
Here's a cropped version of the original and as you can see, its even more impressive. My god I've never come close to a bee before and looking at it scares me. But you know what, I reckon that fly was hiding under the petal otherwise it would have been lunchtime for the seemingly huge bee. I was quite happy with this shot, though if there are some improvements that I could have done do mention them!
This is the view of what most drivers get when I'm on the road, the rear view of my GTR. Japan's most famous sports car, it has aged a bit and this example has more chips and cuts than Rocky Balboa. The car is fitted with 255/17 tyres, which makes it look mean, it has been lowered as well. I wanted to take a picture of the rear because it really does look menancing. I couldn't achieve it with the other digital cameras, but I guess with the dSLR I could. Now if I could highlight those tyres a bit more then it would look a little more impressive I think.
Well, I guess you can tell that I washed the car before taking these pictures. This is what Japan looks like, nothing but a concrete jungle with power lines and telephone poles all over the place. Some houses still manage to maintain its 1960s looks, while others simple towers over them with their modern architects. One thing that I really noticed when I got this camera, was how colourless Japan really was. My room, my house, my neighbours houses, the streets etc etc. I actually bought this camera because I'm going on a roadtrip of a lifetime (free minivan, free petrol, free accomodation, free beer but no food). So hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of nature and not the dull concrete life of the cities.
Please comment on these photos, I'm excited about joining the dSLR bandwagon and am more excited about using the D50 on my road trip. I have the 18-55 lenses and they are really better than one would expect them to be.
I remember someone pointing out the fact that if a camera has a f/3.5 - 5.6 speed lenses then it would be considered cheap in quality and performance. Well it is, but the fact that Nikon bundled these with the D50 as new lenses probably means that they are very capable as general lenses for the average but picky users (Japanese people are demanding sometimes!).
I'm not sure if the lenses will hold up for landscapes and such, but the camera has been awesome and I would definitely recommend it to anyone starting out for the first time.
Lovely R32 GTR, one of my favourites. The bee shot is great too! 
