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.

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

(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.

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

(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.

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

get the Olympus Evolt-500 kit.

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

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.

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

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).

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

In article 20060502145249.652f49f3@localhost,
(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.

I have recently done the same thing, and decided on the D50 too.

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

Not if you're trying to save money. The D70s has a few features missing
from the D50, and the Rebel XT felt cheap and light to me, though I'm
sure the pictures you take with it would be equally good. Any of them
will be plenty for beginner/amateurs like you and I.

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.

RUN AWAY!! Those places look too good to be true, and they are. Some of
them are so bad they've been banned from the sites where online stores
are rated!!

I ordered my D50 body only last week from www.butterflyphoto.com, where
it was just under $500. After the usual call to try to persuade me to
buy more stuff that I didn't want (and politely refused), they confirmed
that it was in stock, and confirmed payment. Then, mysteriously, when it
came to ship it, they were out of stock! And still are. Not many people
seem to have the body only D50 in stock at the moment, so you might be
better off ordering one with the 18-55mm lens, add the 18-70 lens, then
sell the 18-55 on eBay! If they don't ship mine tomorrow I'll be
cancelling and doing exactly that.

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

That's what I went for. In fact, it just arrived today. Still haven't
got the D50 body though, argh!
--
-Take out Ron to reply-
My games blog: http://bloggisgames.blogspot.com
GT4 pics slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_bogg...s/162932/show/

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

Gisle Hannemyr wrote
(in article ):

(East Bay) Phil writes:
2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply?

Adorama, B&H, Buydig.

I've never dealt with Buydig. When they claim it is "in stock",
can you believe them? Anyone have any complaints?

Online ratings of their service is a mixed bag.



--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

I have purchased 2 Canon dslr kits and a lens from BuyDig over the last 2
years and have never had any problems. My latest purchase, a Canon 17-40mm
L lens was ordered last wednesday and arrived three days later even though I
elected for the cheapest shipping. I highly reccomend them to anyone.
They have a refurbed 50D with 18-55mm kit lens for $489.

LabRat


"Randy Howard" wrote in message
. net...
Gisle Hannemyr wrote
(in article ):

(East Bay) Phil writes:
2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply?

Adorama, B&H, Buydig.

I've never dealt with Buydig. When they claim it is "in stock",
can you believe them? Anyone have any complaints?

Online ratings of their service is a mixed bag.



--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

Question about buying a d50 cheaply
 

On Wed, 03 May 2006 00:38:36 GMT, Randy Howard
wrote:

Gisle Hannemyr wrote
(in article ):

(East Bay) Phil writes:
2 - Any recommendations for a place to buy it cheaply?

Adorama, B&H, Buydig.

I've never dealt with Buydig. When they claim it is "in stock",
can you believe them? Anyone have any complaints?

Online ratings of their service is a mixed bag.

I bought a C3030Z from them (BuyDig) several years ago, and although
they did call back to "verify" the order (and, "Oh, by the way, do you
want to buy ...?"), they sent only what I ordered, in good time, with
no problems.
Just my experience. :-)
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"