D40 or D50?

D-50 · Jan 21, 2007

Not trying to start an argument but if your looking to do sports photography why would you buy a 50mm first as it will not really help you with sports photography ?why not get a longer zoom that will afford you more flexibility?

smyth · Jan 21, 2007

D-50 said:
Not trying to start an argument but if your looking to do sports photography why would you buy a 50mm first as it will not really help you with sports photography ?why not get a longer zoom that will afford you more flexibility?

First off, I find for basketball, and Hockey, a 50mm lens works well enough. Not to mention the $$ factor.

smyth · Jan 22, 2007

anyways enough about lenses, anyone else have an opinion on which i should get?

Sw1tchFX · Jan 22, 2007

here:

Sw1tchFX said:
Go to a camera store (not best buy) and feel them. Buy whichever feels best.

smyth · Jan 23, 2007

well not sure what i'm going to do now. The D50 is not available anywhere's in town, so that definetly sucks. I think I'm going to take a more serious look at the Pentax K100D. Anyways, thanks for your help everyone!

Don Simon · Jan 23, 2007

I have the K100d, it's great but... I'm not sure it's the right choice for the kind of sports photography you'll be doing. While the K100d's continuous shooting rate is slightly faster than the D40 or D50s, the K100d has a shallower buffer than either which means it can take less shots at that rate before it slows down while writing to the card. The K100d allows for 3 RAW or 5 Jpeg shots at 2.8fps, while the D50 allows for 4 RAW or 12 Jpeg at 2.5fps, and the D40 allows for 9 RAW or unlimited Jpeg at the same rate... so from that point of view the D40 would possibly be best for shooting fast-moving sports, where you could be taking many continuous shots in order to get one image. On the other hand there are the drawbacks of the D40 already mentioned... the moral here is that there is no perfect camera, everything's a compromise especially if cost is an issue (and for most of us it always is).

D-50 · Jan 23, 2007

You can always order the D50 from B&H.

smyth · Jan 23, 2007

D-50 said:
You can always order the D50 from B&H.

:neutral: I thought about that, but I live in Canada which complicates the process. Exchange, duties, import taxes. etc. Of course if I am not charge any import taxes / duties it's a sweet deal, but that's highly unlikely.

smyth · Jan 23, 2007

ZaphodB said:
I have the K100d, it's great but... I'm not sure it's the right choice for the kind of sports photography you'll be doing. While the K100d's continuous shooting rate is slightly faster than the D40 or D50s, the K100d has a shallower buffer than either which means it can take less shots at that rate before it slows down while writing to the card. The K100d allows for 3 RAW or 5 Jpeg shots at 2.8fps, while the D50 allows for 4 RAW or 12 Jpeg at 2.5fps, and the D40 allows for 9 RAW or unlimited Jpeg at the same rate... so from that point of view the D40 would possibly be best for shooting fast-moving sports, where you could be taking many continuous shots in order to get one image. On the other hand there are the drawbacks of the D40 already mentioned... the moral here is that there is no perfect camera, everything's a compromise especially if cost is an issue (and for most of us it always is).

I usually don't hold take more than five shots continuous at one time anyways, and I don't plan on only doing sports photography. Thanks for the insight though

Reel1 · Jan 23, 2007

Depending on your location in Canada Henry's Cameras have several D50's.

They have several stores in Ontario, but they also sell on Ebay.

http://www.henrys.com/webapp/wcs/st...ay?dest=frames.jsp&currency=CAD&storeId=10001

Sw1tchFX · Jan 24, 2007

right, there should be Canadian online retailers.

fmw · Jan 24, 2007

smyth said:
:neutral: I thought about that, but I live in Canada which complicates the process. Exchange, duties, import taxes. etc. Of course if I am not charge any import taxes / duties it's a sweet deal, but that's highly unlikely.

What ever happened to NAFTA? Weren't all three countries supposed to reduce trade barriers. Apparently only one did.

smyth · Jan 24, 2007

fmw said:
What ever happened to NAFTA? Weren't all three countries supposed to reduce trade barriers. Apparently only one did.

depends on the item. It has to be made in the U.S. or Mexico for starters, (the D50 is made in Thailand I believe). Not to mention, dutys are collected on what they deem "luxury items" (usually jewellery)

Don Simon · Jan 24, 2007

smyth said:
I usually don't hold take more than five shots continuous at one time anyways, and I don't plan on only doing sports photography. Thanks for the insight though

Glad I could help, sounds like the K100d could be good for you then. Personally I agree, I wouldn't want more than 5 and with good timing 3 would usually be enough (3 because I mostly shoot RAW). Admittedly I haven't tried shooting fighter jets or F1 cars, but it's worked fine for shooting track and cross-country running.

If you do decide to go for the Pentax, a word on lenses: There are some new ones apparently to be released in March, so if you can resist buying all your lenses now you might then be able to get current ones cheaper (or of course buy the new ones). Mmm, new lens smell...