Nikon D50 review with 18-55mm f3.5~5.6 DX lens

19th June 2007

Written by Gordon Laing

Samples

The following images were taken with the Nikon D50 and the optionally bundled 18-55mm f3.5~5.6 DX lens. The recording mode was set to Large / Fine, thereby using the full 6.1 megapixel resolution and the least-compressed JPEG setting. The individual exposure mode, file sizes, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO and lens focal length are listed for each image.

The crops are taken from the original files, reproduced at 100% and saved in Adobe Photoshop CS2 as JPEGs with the default Very High quality preset, while the resized images were made in Photoshop CS2 and saved with the default High quality preset. The three crops are typically taken from far left, central and far right portions of each image.

City: 2.81MB, Program, 1/250, f8, ISO 200, 18-55mm DX f3.5~5.6 at 46mm

City: 2.79MB, Program, 1/100, f14, ISO 200, 18-55mm DX f3.5~5.6 at 55mm

Zooming in to 55mm with the kit lens allowed us to take this detail shot of the London Eye.

With the aperture closed to f14, there’s unsurprisingly no optical problems to report, with sharp, detailed crops. Again, there’s also no noise to speak of at 200 ISO.

Close-up: 2.70MB, Program, 1/250, f8, ISO 200, 18-55mm DX f3.5~5.6 at 55mm

This shot was taken with the kit lens at 55mm and its closest focussing distance of around 13cm.

Again with the aperture closed to f8, the image suffers from no optical problems, although a smaller aperture would have ensured areas in the background would have been equally sharp.

There’s no noise to speak of at the D50’s lowest ISO setting of 200.

Portrait: 2.26MB, Aperture Priority, 1/400, f5.6, ISO 200, 18-55mm DX f3.5~5.6 at 55mm

This portrait shot was taken with the 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm f5.6.

A long focal length, small aperture and close subject distance were used to minimise the depth-of-field, but while the background is out-of-focus as desired, the Nikon kit lens is clearly not comparable to using traditional portrait optics.

Rural: 2.29MB, Program, 1/400, f10, ISO 200, 18-55mm DX f3.5~5.6 at 55mm

				This shot of a boat on the River Thames was taken with the 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm f10. Details on the boat itself are sharp, although the depth-of-field at 55mm f10 wasn’t sufficient to render the background in sharp focus. Again at 200 ISO, the results are smooth and noise-free.