I have been a professional photographer for years and in the last year sold my Nikon F100 film camera with lenses and flash and wanted to upgrade from my Olympus C-5050 point and shoot digital to a digital SLR.

I am not doing much shooting these days, but still enjoy shooting my travel photos on exotic trips I take with my travel agent wife. I have tried a number of cameras including the Kodak P880 which I hated and bought the D50 at Costco at around $670 a few months ago and ended up returning it, thinking it was just about that time that Nikon would be coming up with something more then this 6.1 MP camera.

Ålthough they did come up with the D200 which is a 10 MP camera, the cost of the body alone was $1700 and impossible to get because of the high demand. So I waited until I caught their new offer at my local Costco. The D50 was not bundled with the two most popular lenses a compact 28-80mm and a longer 70-300mm lens. Both lenses are light weight using space age plastic vs. the heavier metal construction and good enough for my occassional use. It also came with a 256 Mb Smart Media card and a nice carry case with neck strap. Now the best part was the new lower price...$799 complete and no shipping costs.

The nice part about purchasing anything at Costco is their liberal return policy. Hold onto the receipt, keep the boxes intact and if you decide to return it, even months later, they will take it back for a full refund. I figured that if Nikon does introduce a new camera that I had to have within the next few months I can always return this one and get the new one, but frankly, this should really be all I will need and at this price how can I go wrong?

I am sure you can find out a lot more by simply doing a google search for professional reviews on the D50, but understand that this camera and the Canon Rebel XT are the two largest selling DSLR's on the market today. Although the Canon is an 8 Mp camera, I just don't like the look and feel of the camera. Being a pro for years I enjoy the rugged feel and look of the Nikon and have always been happy with their products and service.

To sum this review up, I would say, if you are like me and are shooting with a point and shoot digital now and have wanted to trade up to something a bit more meaningful then the Nikon D50 kit is a great deal. I am sure you will now find it being sold at the Costco prices elsewhere, but beware of the hidden costs mail order, like S&H fees and dealer upgrades that are usually not worth a fraction of what they claim. I have seen dealers insist on you purchasing their overpriced accessories in order to get the cameras, so watch out for the bait and switch guys that advertise unreal low prices. At $800, you have to figure you are paying around $450 for the body and $150 for each lens and the case and card is the other $50.

At these prices you can't go wrong and if you are a member of Costco, do walk into your local store and buy it there and have their unreal return priveledge.


One last note, just came off a two day cruise on the new mega ship Freedom of the Seas.  Took some outstanding shots with this camera and you can see it at my web site located at:  http://internationalpress.com/index.php?file=freedom

You will see photos on the left margin of the article taken with the D50 and also a nice Quicktime slide show inserted in the review of the ship. You tell me if you need more camera then this one. By the way, printed a number of these using my new Epson Stylus Photo R340 and the prints pop with color and resolution.