Question about buying a d50 cheaply

Hi, first timer here.

I've put-off the leap to digital for financial reasons and because I wanted a SLR. It seems possible to get a d50 in my range. I'm thinking of buying the body as cheaply as possible and then finding a reasonable multipurpose lens until the 18-200 becomes financially accessible to me. I have a few questions.

1 - Is there any reason I should consider the d70 or rebel xt over this camera?

2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply? I saw some places - royal camera, best price cameras, and cci camera city - that sell the body for around $300. Are these places for real? reputable? I've never dealt with 'grey-market' goods, if that's what they sell.

3 - Assuming I do get the body and then hunt for the lens, is the 18-70 a good place to start. Truth be told, most of my experience is with a plain ol' pentax p3. :^D


Thanks,
Phil

PS: please pardon my cross post - I'm not certain which list is most appropriate for these questions.

(East Bay) Phil wrote in
news:20060502145249.652f49f3@localhost:

Hi, first timer here.

I've put-off the leap to digital for financial reasons and because I
wanted a SLR. It seems possible to get a d50 in my range. I'm
thinking of buying the body as cheaply as possible and then finding a
reasonable multipurpose lens until the 18-200 becomes financially
accessible to me. I have a few questions.

1 - Is there any reason I should consider the d70 or rebel xt over
this camera?

2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply? I saw some
places - royal camera, best price cameras, and cci camera city - that
sell the body for around $300. Are these places for real? reputable?
I've never dealt with 'grey-market' goods, if that's what they sell.

3 - Assuming I do get the body and then hunt for the lens, is the
18-70 a good place to start. Truth be told, most of my experience is
with a plain ol' pentax p3. :^D

The Nikon D 50 is an excellent DSLR. I have one and find it does
everything I need it to do. It has every manual control as well as all the
automatic settings for point and shoot operation. I bought mine with the
18-55 kit lens and I recently bought a used Nikon 70-210 AF f/4-5.6 lens. I
also have two other digital cameras, A Canon G3 and a Sony W5, so I have
cameras to compare it with. There is no comparison between the D50 and the
others. I take lots of pictures of my grandchildren and as you know,
children don't stand still. Only the D50 stops the action and gives me the
shot I expected to get. The D50 does everything the D70S does except for
stopping down so you can see the depth of field. If you don't need that,
there's no reason to buy the D70. The pictures you will get with the D50
will look just as good, if not better, as the D50 has less noise than the
D70. As for the Rebel, it cost more and won't do anything the Nikon won't
do. In addition, Canon lenses are more expensive, but no better than Nikon
lenses.

(East Bay) Phil wrote:
Hi, first timer here.

I've put-off the leap to digital for financial reasons and because I wanted a SLR. It seems possible to get a d50 in my range. I'm thinking of buying the body as cheaply as possible and then finding a reasonable multipurpose lens until the 18-200 becomes financially accessible to me. I have a few questions.

1 - Is there any reason I should consider the d70 or rebel xt over this camera?

Not if you're looking for the cheapest D-SLR that is worth buying. The
Rebel XT does have several advantages over the D50, but Canon doesn't
have an 18-70 lens like the Nikon. Canon has the 17-85 IS, which is a
better lens, but much more expensive.

2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply? I saw some places - royal camera, best price cameras, and cci camera city - that sell the body for around $300. Are these places for real? reputable? I've never dealt with 'grey-market' goods, if that's what they sell.

No.

The body only is about $550. Reputable places are Adorama, B&H, Buydig,
and Pictureline.

3 - Assuming I do get the body and then hunt for the lens, is the 18-70 a good place to start.

Yes.

SMS wrote:
3 - Assuming I do get the body and then hunt for the lens, is the
18-70 a good place to start.

Yes.

I have a bunch of good lenses now, but I usually use the 18-70 on my
D200 as my walking-around lens.

3 - Assuming I do get the body and then hunt for the lens, is the
18-70 a good place to start.

Yes.

I have a bunch of good lenses now, but I usually use the 18-70 on my
D200 as my walking-around lens.

I don't suppose there's some store with a package deal including this lens and the body?

I was just searching the sites which had been mentioned. It appears that the d50 body runs $550 or $400 for a refurb. The $400 price is right, but my only experience with refurbished electronics has been cdroms (not a good experience).

get the Olympus Evolt-500 kit.

Bolshoy Huy wrote:
get the Olympus Evolt-500 kit.

I agree. Check out the E-500 before you make your purchase. I have done
my homework and this is the one I am getting.


Ron

--
And it really doesn't matter if
I'm wrong I'm right
Where I belong I'm right
Where I belong.

Lennon & McCartney

get the Olympus Evolt-500 kit.

I agree. Check out the E-500 before you make your purchase. I have
done my homework and this is the one I am getting.

I'll look into this. The only concern I've read of so far was that
there are some noise issues.

Given that the E-500 costs more, what sold you on it (over the nikon,
if that was in consideration)?

P

(East Bay) Phil wrote:
get the Olympus Evolt-500 kit.

I agree. Check out the E-500 before you make your purchase. I have
done my homework and this is the one I am getting.

I'll look into this. The only concern I've read of so far was that
there are some noise issues.

Given that the E-500 costs more, what sold you on it (over the nikon,
if that was in consideration)?

I'd avoid the E-500 due to the noise issues. Also, there is no upgrade
path with Olympus, nor is there a good selection of lenses. With Nikon,
you have huge availability of lenses, both new, used, and third-party.

I'd avoid the E-500 due to the noise issues. Also, there is no
upgrade path with Olympus, nor is there a good selection of lenses.
With Nikon, you have huge availability of lenses, both new, used, and
third-party.

In the course of investigating the Nikon, upgrade path has been
something I've begun to explore. I've read posts about the d70(s) vs
d50. I'm not experienced enough with the high-end to properly assess
feature differences. That said, if I'm looking at the d50 w/ 18-70 vs
the d70 w/ 18-70 at a similar price should I be looking to the d70?

I'm going to take a spin over the local camera shop today to get a feel
for both of these models.