Which camera would best suit my needs? (D90 or 50D)

Which would you choose?

  • Nikon D90

    Votes: 15 55.6%
  • Canon 50D

    Votes: 12 44.4%

  • Total voters
    27

galaxy

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I am very much a beginner and am purchasing my very first DSLR. I have narrowed it down to the Nikon D90 and the Canon 50D based on (mostly) how they feel in my hands, the features, recommendations from others, and the price points. I will mostly be shooting my 4 VERY active children. I think the 2 most important factors would be speed and light. I need to be able to catch them in motion and in low light. My biggest problem with my current camera (Nikon P90) is that almost all of my pics of my 20 month old are a blur (motion) ans most of my pics look either dark or oddly colored due to the nasty indoor lighting. Are either of these 2 a better choice than the other? Thank you in advance :)
 
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I voted D90 only because that was my choice when I looked at both models. Really, you cannot go wrong either way body-wise.

What you might want to do is look more down-the-road and investigate lenses that might be of interest. Then consider the brand that would make more sense.
 
As jdag mentioned, for the speed and low light settings that you are wanting, either camera is going to do a good job, but the lens is going to determine how well it shoots in low light, etc. You may be best off buying the body and lens separate, instead of a package that comes with a lens...or at least determine that a lens that the camera is packaged with will be suitable.
 
For the most part this 'poll' is worthless, Nikon users will vote Nikon and Canon users will vote Canon.

The deciding factor here is; which one are you? Pick them both up to find out... took me all of 1 minute to realize which I preferred.
 
For the most part this 'poll' is worthless, Nikon users will vote Nikon and Canon users will vote Canon.

The deciding factor here is; which one are you?
It's not worthless to me because at this point a flip of a coin would almost work, LOL. I have been a Nikon in the past, but, I am also VERY inexperienced and uneducated in this field. Both cameras feel fantastic in my hands. So- it will come down to a vote, I think.:sexywink:
 
the d90 has 12.3 mp vs 15.1 on the 50d..... also if you want to take sequences the 50d has 6.3 fps vs 4.5 on the d90 not sure if this is relevent to what you will be using the camera for though.
 
..... I am also VERY inexperienced and uneducated in this field...
IMO, In this case more in depth research to become educated, rather than a fan-boy poll, would be more valuable to you.

You can explore some of the technical measures of image quality and ISO performance side-by-side at Compare cameras

There you will see that the D90 has significantly better color depth, dynamic range, and ISO performance (977) than the 50D (696).

Additionally, the "how it feels in your hands" selection criteria is a canard, since humans are so supremely adaptable to minor differences in ergonomics.
 
I recently upgraded from a 35mm Canon Elan II to digital. And I did ALOT of research before I decided to go with the Canon 50D.

I was leaning towards the Nikon D90 until I held them both. I found that the 50D felt much more solid in my hands. Plus I had a lens (75-300) that I could use with it... So it saved me a bit of money.

They are both great cameras. I doubt you could go wrong either way.
 
..... I am also VERY inexperienced and uneducated in this field...
IMO, In this case more in depth research to become educated, rather than a fan-boy poll, would be more valuable to you.

You can explore some of the technical measures of image quality and ISO performance side-by-side at Compare cameras

There you will see that the D90 has significantly better color depth, dynamic range, and ISO performance (977) than the 50D (696).

Additionally, the "how it feels in your hands" selection criteria is a canard, since humans are so supremely adaptable to minor differences in ergonomics.

I have done this. Now I need to actually BUY something to learn ON. More than anything I am looking for opinions now. So a fanboy poll works well for my needs at this point in my procees of decision making. As I mentioned- they both feel fantastic in my hands. I do not love one more than the other. I have done as much research as I will before I buy and these are the 2 that it came down to. I started with more like 10 or 12 in the running...

Thanks for the input!:D
 
They are both great cameras, and you can't really go wrong with either of them. That said, the D90 does apparently perform slightly better at higher ISO levels than the 50D... The quality of the lenses you use on either camera, though, is likely to play a much larger role in your low-light photos than the differences between the actual cameras - if you put a mediocre lens on the D90 and shoot with a high ISO, you're still going to get a mediocre photo at best. To help you decide, you should take a look at each company's lens selection and see what you'll probably want to be shooting with (for low-light portraits, probably something with an aperture of f/1.8 or larger).
 
The Nikon D90 has been a top-selling camera for Nikon, with many,many satisfied users who absolutely love the camera and recommend it highly. The Canon 50D OTOH, has been almost a non-starter for Canon, with many Canon users recommending the prior 40D or another camera entirely.

Personally, the ability to shoot shot video clips with your still camera would be the deciding factor for me in a D90 over a 50D. I own both Nikon and Canon cameras, but none are a D90 nor a 50D.
 
Thank you so much for all of your input :) . I just got back from the camera shop, and after trying them on ...yet again..I think the Nikon does have a slight edge for me as far as comfort. I am 99.9% sure that is the direction I am deciding to go. I really appreciate your input...keep it comin'!
 
I'm a nikon user and i still think you'd use the 50D more
 
D90 will have slightly better image quality and also better performance at higher ISO.

The D90 also has the ability to control a speedlight or a group of speedlights without adding anything on, the 50D does not. Whether or not this is important to you I don't know, but it's something for you to consider.

To me the MP difference is negligible, either one will get you pretty darn large prints.

All the rest is just opinion and how you feel about the ergonomics of either camera, and which feels better to you.
 

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