New Nikon's announced

[LongQ]

www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6466-7762

[docevi1]

ooo, a D50 for $899, thats £500 or so isn't it? Do Nikons tend to follow that model?

[beano500]

Plus - watch out for a firmware update for the D70.


(Although, I am standing back awaiting it on the Nikon official site in the UK and some feedback from anybody who updates. Rumours are of better autofocus, to D70s standard, but some tampering with the NEF file format and I don't want to see that and then find compatability problems.....)

[V6GTO]

Not ANOTHER one?!

Martin.

[docevi1]

Nikon are very clever here - they are making the dSLR market open to people like me with limited budgets

Very sensible, just in time for when I'd be looking at purchasing one as well

[_dobbo_]

I'm more interested in this:

Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED DX. US$249.95

Assuming that has internal focusing that's a bargain lens...

edit to add

Looks like a bargain indeed based on this:

nikon press release said:

To ensure outstanding optical performance, both new lenses also feature Nikon's exclusive Extra-Low Dispersion (ED) glass to minimize chromatic aberrations, and Silent Wave Motor technology (SWM) for fast, quiet auto- focusing.

>> Edited by _dobbo_ on Thursday 21st April 15:02

[LongQ]

Park Cameras (for example) offering the Canon 350D with 18-55 lens for £664 and you get vouchers from Canon agianst the price of lenses and so on.

I guess the Nikon pricing for the D50 is going to be competitive with that. 350D perhaps a little less than that elsewhere.

The D70s sounds like a mid-life update.

Apparently the 18-55 lens on the Canon is a MkII version. Whether better or worse than the MkI not yet reported in any of my review reading.

Edit:

350D with 18-55 MkII at Pixmania - £622.

Typical US price circa $999.99

'Best' US Web prices under $900.



>> Edited by LongQ on Thursday 21st April 15:14

[tuscan_v8]

docevi1 said:

ooo, a D50 for $899, thats £500 or so isn't it? Do Nikons tend to follow that model?

Well £549 for body only and £649 with D50 kit (18-55 IF-ED)
www.europe-nikon.com/details.aspx?countryid=20&languageid=22&prodId=1058&catId=91

[docevi1]

thats pretty much the price I've been seeing D70's at recently.

[Ex-biker]

If Canon kept the 300D and sold it at around £400 (or £450 inc lens) instead of discontinuing it, they would maintain the majority of the budget Dslr market and force Nikon to rethink their pricing of the D50.

Lets face it, Canon could afford to do this. It would not detract from people buying the 350D, but open up a market for budget Dslr's.

[LongQ]

Ex-biker said:

If Canon kept the 300D and sold it at around £400 (or £450 inc lens) instead of discontinuing it, they would maintain the majority of the budget Dslr market and force Nikon to rethink their pricing of the D50. Lets face it, Canon could afford to do this. It would not detract from people buying the 350D, but open up a market for budget Dslr's.

Many outlets are selling the run out stock of the 300D at around £400 - but I understand from a Jessops store that they can sell as many 350D's and 20D's as they can get.

From Canon's POV I think they would be better off modifying 350D price strategies than they would having 2 production lines running somewhere and splitting their market. I reckon they would see some of the other models they have in the £400 range as there to satisfy the needs of punters at that price.

Do Canon actually make the cameras or have they subbed it out? If subbed, on a model by model basis, there may be manufacturing contract renewals to consider as well.

[simpo two]

D50 - Logical and overdue - it allowed Canon to monopolise the budget end for a year. But why did they waste time/money designing an 18-55mm lens when there's already a very good 18-70mm available? And why SD?

D70s - the 2" monitor sounds good, but I'd rather have a grip and bigger viewfinder than the other bits. Oh yes, and more exposure latitude please!

The big gap for me is the one between the D70 and D2X. One day I will eventually outgrow the D70, but no way can I justify £3.5K!

[Ex-biker]

The D50 seems closer in spec to the 300D than the 350D, so if prices reflect that Nikon will sell lots of D50's.

I can see what Simpo_two says about the gap. Canon have the 20D sitting there nicely.

Then again from what I have seen of the results people are getting with the D70, why upgrade at all?

[beano500]

Ex-biker said:

Then again from what I have seen of the results people are getting with the D70, why upgrade at all?

It is a good piece of kit, with (for existing Nikon users) not too many niggles, but better quality images are possible, the lack of vertical grip is a little annoying, it could be a bit quicker to focus and have a slightly better viewfinder - oh and have an even better burst rate and write more raw files to a CF at a time.

More importantly it needs a mirror lock up facility (desperately!), a 10 pin socket for an MC-20 seperate AF-L and AF-E controls and the AF-C and AF-S controls should be back on the body and not lost in the menus

Then again it could do without half the things on the mode dial, the fairly average eye cup (which I have lost already, so there's that problem solved!)



Picky? Moi?

But that's what the next model up should have - at the £1500-1600 bracket probably and the build quality to match.

[_dobbo_]

My D70 has a menu item that says "mirror lock up" - is this what you are referring to?

I'm assuming this is to stop camera shake when on a tripod?

[beano500]

_dobbo_ said:

My D70 has a menu item that says "mirror lock up" - is this what you are referring to? I'm assuming this is to stop camera shake when on a tripod?

and and that's what I want it for.

IIRC the mirror lock up is solely so that you can get to the sensor to clean it That's not a job I want to try out!!! Gonna leave that to the professionals to c0c3 vq.......

[simpo two]

beano500 said:

IIRC the mirror lock up is solely so that you can get to the sensor to clean it

That's how I understand it too. Sometimes I think we're going backwards - my father's Minolta, circa 1972, had a thing on the side you turned to lock the mirror up...

Why don't DSLR makers design the mirror so that it makes a seal in front of the sensor when down, thus protecting it from dust when you change lenses?

[CVP]

D50 sounds good to get people "into" a DSLR, D70s doesn't seem real progress to me. I would have thought replacement of the D100 is a key task/opportunity for Nikon. I'd like to see somehting to take on the 20D type market.

Ideally it should have;
1. Vertical grip built in, don't make us pay for an extra, but don't make it too much of a brick
2. Better AF than D100, use the AF from the D2x
3. A decent resolution increase over the D100/D70, say 9mp
4. Maintain current D100 battery so upgraders don't have to restock
5. Reasonable number of fps, say 4fps

Overall I believe there is a decent market for a cut down D2x at approx £1,500. At the moment it's a vast gap between D100 and D2x. I believe the D2H is a very different beast and is not a logical step on from the D100.

Chris

[neilr]

On the subject of dust, the Olympus has an 'ant-dust' system on the E1 (and possibly the E300 too) which is incredibly effective.

My parents have an E1 which i how i know it works, however I dont and have to suffer with dust like everyone else!

[simpo two]

neilr said:

On the subject of dust, the Olympus has an 'ant-dust' system on the E1 (and possibly the E300 too) which is incredibly effective.

The D70 has the ability to take a 'dust reference photo' but I haven't experimented with it.