Nikon D50 Review

Review Date: August 15th 2005

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the JPEG Fine (3008 x 2000) mode, which gives an average image size of around 2.5Mb.

Noise

There are four different ISO settings available on the Nikon D50 which you can select at any time. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 200 (100% crop)	ISO 400 (100% crop)
ISO 800 (100% crop)	ISO 1600 (100% crop)

The noise levels look very good at ISO 200-800, with some noise and RGB artefacts starting to appear at ISO 1600. Overall though the Nikon D50 exhibits little noise at any of the settings and is useable throughout the ISO range.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default Optimize Image setting of Normal are very soft with post-processing bringing out a lot of extra detail.

Original 100% Crop	Sharpened 100% Crop

File Quality

The Nikon D50 has four different file quality settings available, with Fine being the default option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with both the pixel and file size shown in brackets.

RAW (3008 x 2000) (5.83Mb)	Fine JPEG (3008 x 2000) (3.01Mb)
Normal JPEG (3008 x 2000) (1.68Mb)	Basic JPEG (3008 x 2000) (835Kb)

Chromatic Aberrations

I had to look hard to find any examples of chromatic aberrations in the review shots taken with the Nikon D50. They were only apparent in very high-contrast situations, such as the roof structure and bright white sky in the examples below. When they did appear, chromatic aberrations were at the edges of the frame and not too obvious at all.

Example 1

Macro

The Nikon D50 offers a Macro scene mode, but as the D50 is a digital SLR it is the lens that determines how close you can get to the subject, not the camera body. The standard 18-50mm kit lens allows you to focus on a subject that is 28cms away from the camera respectively. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image)	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Nikon D50 are pretty standard - Front-curtain Sync (normal sync), Red-eye Reduction, Red-eye Reduction with Slow Sync, Slow Sync and Rear-curtain Sync. These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (27mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (82mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (82mm)

And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, neither the Flash On or Red-Eye Reduction setting caused any amount of red-eye, and the exposure was fine.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction	Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Nikon D50 maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there is also a Bulb setting (allowing you to open the shutter for as long as you like), which is great news if you're interested in night photography. The shot below was taken with a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 200. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot (click to view full-sized image)	100% Crop

Overall Image Quality

The Nikon D50 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The 6 megapixel JPEG photos were quite soft out of the camera at the default setting and benefit from further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can increase the sharpening setting on the camera or shoot in RAW mode and sharpen the files later on your computer. The Nikon D50's best performance was with chromatic aberrations, which simply did not appear in any of the test shots! It also handled noise well, with ISO 200-800 displaying little noise and the fastest setting of ISO 1600 also being very useable. Macro performance was average with the supplied 18-55mm lens, although with this camera being a DSLR you could always treat yourself to a dedicated macro lens. The built-in flash got the exposure right indoors and there was no evidence of redeye. With a maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and a Bulb setting, the Nikon D50 offers great potential for creative night shots.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Nikon D50 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.

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