D50 or E500?

[monographix]

Hello. short on budget and not knowing which first DSLR to get.
I own a Nikon F70 (being pretty happy with this body) a sigma 28-105 (2.8-4 Aspherical) and a Nikon 70-210 (the old heavy one-touch AF-D) and my two candidates are the Olympus E-500 double lens kit (14-45/40-150 zuikos) for 700 euros and the D50 body (450 euros) (or the D50 / 18-55 basic kit for 600-650 euros)

I am not shooting much and often and if i get a digital i realy doubt if i would be shooting any film realy .... So dont know realy if having a Nikon system already (which one of the lenses isnt even Nikon, so the nikon lenses advantage argument is paling a bit) it is a reason worth enough to go for the D50 although could get away for some time with only the body purchase till i get later the 18-135 (and basicaly be totaly covered by that single lens) for another ... 400 euros(?)

or on the other hand just go for the bargain E500 kit and try maybe sell my Nikon system too to save some more money.... feels like a bit too much maybe having two bodies and four lenses and just shoot only very ocasionaly ....

[willie45]

Well I'm no expert but I recently bought a D50 with kit lens for my girlfriend and it has been fantastic for the cash. Beautiful pictures and a pleasure to use. I have no regrets at all about it's purchase.

I doubt if you would get enough cash for your camera body to make selling it and buying the olympus worthwile in purely financial terms. So for what its' worth I would go for either the Nikon kit or just the body and see how you like your lenses on it.  You will always have the option of buying other lenses later. It seems silly to lose these lenses once you have them. So what if one is not a  Nikon?

As I say I am no expert and there are lots of gear heads on this site who will be able to advise you better but my experience has been positive enough with the D50 to wholly recommend it.

Willie

[monographix]

input much appreciated. Thanks.

[Graham Welland]

The D50 is an excellent camera on which to start a system and reuse your existing lenses. I use one of these as a lightweight travel body to complement my D2x/D200 bodies and prefer it to the D70 both in terms of picture quality and metering. It is outstanding value for money and very well built when you consider the price.

Don't get a kit lens though unless you look at least at the 18-70dx. The camera will take advantage of decent glass.

[monographix]

The D50 is an excellent camera on which to start a system and reuse your existing lenses. I use one of these as a lightweight travel body to complement my D2x/D200 bodies and prefer it to the D70 both in terms of picture quality and metering. It is outstanding value for money and very well built when you consider the price.

Don't get a kit lens though unless you look at least at the 18-70dx. The camera will take advantage of decent glass.
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i read that the two kit Zuikos are very decent lenses, bought together alone could cost about 400-500 euros. Also others say that Olympus has great image quality / light & color perfomance out of the box while the D50 needs work with custom curves

[robertwatcher]

read that the two kit Zuikos are very decent lenses, bought together alone could cost about 400-500 euros. Also others say that Olympus has great image quality / light & color perfomance out of the box

That is all true. The 2 kit lenses work great without having to spend any more money - and it is a real advantage having a zoom included with a 300mm equivalent on the long end compared to the shortish and restirctive kit lenses that come with the D50 or other cameras. Color out of the camera - particularly skin tones is far better than my D70 (basically the same as the D50 image). The AF speed of the Evolt 500 is almost as fast as the D70/D50 which won't be an issue unless you are shooting fast action or movement with either camera. The main reason I purchased an Evolt 500 is the lenses which are almost 1/2 the price of Nikon's top glass for equally as good image quality and are sealed against the elements (not the kit lenses though). Last year I shot many weddings, portraits and commercial jobs with my tandom of D70 and Evolt 500. I believe that any DSLR camera nowadays will do an incredible job and provide high image quality - the functionality and feel of the camera in your hand will be different from camera to camera so maybe make a large part of your decision on that and just presume that the images will be great on either one.

[Frere Jacques]

I recently bought a D50 with kit lens for my girlfriend
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Ditto here. She loves it and it produces really good images for the price. Hang on for Photokina, though -- supposedly Nikon is going to release another new DSLR & it could be an updated D50.