About D50

My first DSLR was a D50. I changed it for a D40X (later complemented with a D300). The move D50 > D40X was a step both up and down.

• The D50 has less pixels than the D40X. This is not necessarily a problem, but for cropping photos, the additional pixels on the D40X really help.
• The D50 has a control panel with shooting data on the top, just like the D300 and other more expensive cameras. The control panel display can be convenient, but the same information is of course accessible in the D40X in other places - like the big monitor on the back and in the viewfinder. The control panel makes the camera bigger.
• The D50 has vertically positioned focus points, something I used all the time. Sometimes I rotate the D40X to portrait mode just to get the focus points righ.
• The D50 has an auto-focus motor for lenses without built-in motor. If you only have lenses with built-in motors, this is of course no big advantage.
• The D50 does not accept SDHC memory cards, which means it is limited to 4G cards. On the other hand, the images are smaller, so that never turned into a problem for me.
• Settings like white balance and ISO are easily accessible on the D50, but you have to know where to look for them. On the D40X they are easier to find, but less easy to use. Neither camera is particularly good in this respect, if one compares with the D300.
• The D50 is heavier than the D40X, which is extremely small and light - at least for being a DSLR.
  

All in all, I do not miss the D50, in spite of its advantages. It was a good entry level camera, but everything it did well, my D300 does even better.