 Kristi Buxton |
Advise on Nikon D50/N65 equipment for Hawaii trip I am going on my first trip to Hawaii (Maui) in a couple weeks with my husband, my parents, and my 1 year old. My main photographic interest will be my family against the beach/misc outdoor maui highlights. But I would also like to take some landscape-type shots. My skills are very amateur. I have a Nikon N65 with the lens it came with (Quantaray 28-90 AF zoom) and a Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8D AF lens for portraiture. I plan to buy the Nikon D50 to upgrade my digital capabilities. I am trying to decide whether I should buy the D50 WITH the Nikkor 18-55 AF Zoom lens (to maximize my ability to take landscapes), or with the Nikkor 28-80 AF Zoom (?better portrait shots?) or perhaps with a different lens entirely. I understand it is difficult to make lens recommendations--I have read 'don't put cheap glass on a nice camera' so if I can't spend more than a few hundred extra, I figure I should stick with the kit lens options. I am also trying to figure out whether I should buy a digital flash for the D50 (and for N65 for that matter)? My daughter has the most incredible blue eyes but my lighting always seems subpar with the camera's flash (on the N65), I just haven't had the opportunity to investigate an additional flash. If I purchase a digital flash for the D50, any hope it is cross compatible with the N65? I'm trying to get a handle on whether the combination of equipment I have/want to purchase will be what I 'need' ...I'm also wondering whether I will expand my N65 capabilities with any of the D50 lens/flash equipment (or is that dreaming?) Thank you for any help (in laymans terms)!
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Paul Tobeck |
I would suggest getting the kit lens with the D50 (unless you can afford to upgrade the lens to something like the 18-35 D Nikkor, about an extra $400) to maximize its wide angle capability. The 28-90mm zoom will be equivalent to a 42-135mm with the lens factor on the D50. Store brand lenses such as Quantaray and Phoenix are just what you said, cheap glass. They are essentially stripped down Sigmas and Tamrons (at least they used to be) with cheaper components and fewer lens coatings. They are fine for amatuers who rarely make prints bigger than 8x10. Try and make a 16x20 and you'll be shopping for a better lens (which I highly suggest you do after your trip). As far as flash goes, any of the recent Nikon Speedlites would work fine on both your cameras for straight up flash photography. The same may apply to newer 3rd party flashes like Sunpak, but I can't be certain about that. The only difference will be mostly what capability is built in to your camera body. The D50 for example supports multi-flash TTL exposure, which the N65 wont. Nikon's claim to fame (besides quality) is backward compatibiity, meaning most all accessories will work with most all cameras, albeit with some limitations. If you get the D50, be sure to get at least one extra battery (two would be better), a portable charger, and at least 2 1gb cards. A portable storage device to offload pictures to would be handy as well (a laptop would serve that purpose if you already own one). You may fall totally in love with that D50 and shoot more than you think. The last thing you want to do on vacation is interrupt your fun by having to go back to your hotel room to charge a battery, or worse yet, run out of memory card space. Enjoy your trip! I'm jealous! :-)
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Jon Close |
A step up from the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6G DX is Nikon's very good 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G DX (~$270-$340). Gives the moderate tele for tight portraits w/o giving up the moderate wide angle, and is up to 2/3 stop faster maximum aperture.
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Kristi Buxton |
Thanks both for your answers! Purchased the D50 with the Nikkor 18-55, + extra battery and 2x1 gb cards yesterday (good idea!) and can't WAIT to get them and start playing...definately will save up for better lenses in future as my spouse will be using this for medical photography at work as well. We're looking forward to loving it so much that we'll want to sell all our other cameras :) Still trying to convince spouse of utility of external flash...hopefully won't regret not getting one before trip.
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