Nikon D50 vs D70s

Hi guys,

I've been doing underwater photography with a point-and-shoot camera for a while now, and am thinking of upgrading to a dSLR camera. I've kinda narrowed my choices down to either a D50 or D70s (reckon I'll be doing mostly macro photography), but would appreciate your thoughts on the following to help me decide:

(i) From what I've gathered, there are some D70 users who feel that for the additional new features, the price of the D70s is not worth the upgrade. But since I'm starting from scratch, is it still worth getting the D70s over the D50?

(ii) The D50 only has a single command dial. Does it make more sense to have 2 dials for UW photography instead?

(iii) Some pple prefer the use of an SD card on the D50 than a CF card. What's the big difference between these storage media?

Thanks a mil!

1) I definitely would not upgrade from D70 to D70s as it is essentially the same camera with slighty bigger LCD monitor. Personally if money is not tight, I would definitely go for D70s over D50 for a few reasons. The sensor is basically the same but I think the algorithm for photo processing is slightly different, from what I understand. I can't remember where I read this though but I think the main difference between the two camera will be in ergonoimcs.

2) Dual command dial for F-stop and shutterspeed certainly make life a lot easier since you will be shooting mostly in manual mode so yes, it certainly helps. Is it worth the differences in price, only you can tell that.

3) SD card is smaller so you can use it in smaller camera but CF card is a better value as far as GB per $ and you can get bigger CF card than SD card so for me, CF card is a plus.

Other reasons that I like D70 better and probably the most important factor: D70s has many many more housing choices than D50. When you look at the overall cost of dSLR setup, the camera is only a small part. D70s is supported by just about every housing manufacturers whereas D50 is supported only by Sea and Sea and may be Ikelite. So I would also look at all the available housings as well when you make your decision.

I think we will see more housings for the D50. It's a newer camera. Plus, the D50 is aimed at a larger mass audience. Right now there are housings from Ikelite, Fantasea and Sea & Sea. As long as the housing YOU want is available, you should be fine.

The D50 is certainly a nice camera. Here are some differences worth consideration.

CF Card vs. SD. CF cards are less expensive, hold more, and is the form factor that the majority of DLSR's use.

Metering. The D50 has a 420 segment meter, the D70s 1005 segments.

Spot Metering. The D70s has a 1% spot meter, the D50 a 2.5% spot.

Sensitivity, the D50 has 1 stop settings, the D70s 1/3 stops. IMO this is important.

White Balance Fine tuning, not available on the D50, another thing to really consider.

Some other features the D50 lacks is a control panel light, Wireless flash control, and DOF preview.

All in all the D50 certainly is a reasonable camera. BUT IMO it lacks a lot of the features that are useful both UW, and maybe more importantly on land.

IMO for the extra $$$ I'd go with the D70s.

I would also look at a used D70. There are some good deals.

Check out this D50 review byThom. It's good and he mentions the difference between the D50 and D70 in several ways.

Hi guys,

Your inputs were great (I knew I was missing something!), and it's definitely helped me make a more informed decision.

P.S. The D50 review by Thom was excellent btw

I just took the giant stride and got the D70s
So far just getting used to it during the hoildays so far and shot a few hundred family shots using both 28-70 and 55-200 nikon glass just got 60mm used off ebay and waiting for that.
I have choosen to go with Ikelite housing and 125 strobe w/ flat port for the 60 mm
and have been getting used to Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Premiere Elements 2.0 for my editing
Iam using the Elements for slideshow with Kewl transitions and burnable to DVD then.

I finally took the plunge and outfitted my D70 for underwater. I could use some White Balance setting help. Also any other recommendations would be nice too. I am charging my strobes and assembling everything right now....
\
Ron

The D50 is a good camera. On land and in warm water, it is just as good as the D70s IMHO but the single command dial is a big disadvantage in cold water as pressing a button at the same time as manipulating the command dial is almost impossible with thick gloves. That, together with the much better display, was the main reason why I recently upgraded to a D80. The D50 is NOT a new camera and that more manufacturers will produce housings for it is frankly in the pigs-might-fly category. All the pictures from Bunaken in my Smugmug album (see link below) were taken with the D50, by the way.