My cousins have a 21 month old and several adorable pets and miss out on many photo opportunities because they don't have a good digital camera. They tried my D70 this weekend (without me explaining a thing to them) and loved it because it responded quickly and accurately. They complain that with their camera, by the time the photo is actually taken the moment is gone (I have always found that shooting children, sports, and animals with a digital point and shoot is hit and miss and quite frusterating). I would really love to buy them a digital camera but I'm not really sure what would be appropriate. The photos they took with the D70 (set on complete auto) came out great, but I feel like they probably don't need and wouldn't know how to use everything on such a camera. I was thinking of buying them the D50, but I was also thinking that maybe one of the bigger point-and-shoots or ZLRs from Nikon, such as the Coolpix 8700 or 8800, would be great. I'm not very familiar with the non-SLR cameras, but I want to buy them something that has no shutter lag and little if any write delay, so they can take many photos of their beautiful son and horses. They have good natural photography instinct, but don't really know much about manual exposure, what f-stops are, etc. so I'm afraid an SLR would be much more than they need. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Kari, the D50 would be an excellent choice. It has the P&S modes on it that work extremely well, so for all intents and purposes, it would be a P&S The advantage of course, if your cousins really get into it, they could expand their lens choices, etc.
The D50 sounds like a good choice for them. They already proved they could get good results with the D70 and the shutter lag in a PS is a problem when trying to get "that shot" of children (yes quite frusterating).
Thanks for the advice you guys. I'll probably do a little more research on the D50. Does anyone know if the kit lens that comes with the D50 package is any good or is it a piece of junk? What about the kit with two lenses (a normal range zoom and telephoto zoom)? I was hoping to see some D50 reviews on FM, but so far none. I'd greatly appreciate some advice from anyone with experience with this camera.
Also does the Coolpix 8800 have shutter lag? One think that appeals to me about the camera is the hefty zoom, whose wide range would probably meet all of the needs of my cousin.
I would also look into the panasonic FZ series(nonDSLR) constant 2.8 and Huge range.
My brother just purchased a d50 and loves it. I havent had a chance to play with it yet but he is already looking into a telphoto of some sort for the extra range.
Check out the Canon S70 for a bit of wide angle choice - it goes out to 28mm equivalent and offers all sorts of manual facilities and is nice and small. If wide angle's not important the Panasonics are good and I believe they have 3fps or so for those action pet shots. I know someone who constantly raves about his 4MP Lumix 10 thingy.
Same opinion here regarding the D50. If you are looking for simplicity, remember that many of those higher end non SLR cameras are somewhat tedious to use with all their buttons and features. Also, they are probably in the same price range as the D50. For a review of the D50 check out Popular Photography Septmeber 2005 issue. The D50 is on the cover and they have a pretty informative article on it.
I had ordered a D50 and was going to return it when I decided to pick up a 20D (again), but I like it so much that I decided to keep it and teach my wife on it. Very much like the D70, save the lack of sub-command dial, but when shooting pretty much anything but M, I don't miss it.
My, but you are some cousin if you'd get your relatives an SLR !!! (Will you adopt
me?)
Seriously, the D50 is an excellent camera, especially for someone who doesn't need to be able to instantly switch to spotmetering (you can do it, but only with menus).
There are VERY few cameras other than a few of the SLRs and a handful of rangefinders that have the rapid response of the Nikon SLRs. I expect that now that your cousins have been spoiled by your D70, it will be hard to get them comfortable with anything in "your price range" but a Nikon 50 or 70, or the new digital rebel. You could think about a Casio rangefinder (IMHO, they have the fastest shutters of rangefinders), but it's just not the same.
The advantage of course, if your cousins really get into it, they could expand their lens choices, etc.