Drawar

Canon and Nikon are both great systems. I shoot Canon. You shouldn't consider switching so easily, and I'll tell you why.

The lenses are what matters. Every year to 18 months there will be better camera bodies, they will have more features and make your life easier, and they will be less than you paid for the one you're using now. Nikon will do it, Canon does it.

Much better to invest in good glass and then upgrade bodies as you can.

Also, I think you're selling your d50 short. It's a fine camera. I'd wager you're not shooting anywhere near it's limits yet. A lot of pros are still using canon 10D and Nikon D70's, both generations behind the d50.

The 40D is an excellent camera, and I want one myself, but you will find more improvement by practice, technique and good glass. Now if canon sells lenses that you feel you could use that Nikon does not... well that'd be a good reason to switch.

Thanks for the quick response. But I do use the D50 to its limits. I want something that will do HDR and has more focal points. So in your opinion i should just get the D300 and stay with Nikon even though everyone is telling me to switch?

I can't see the point in switching brands at all.

I can see more focal points being handy, but getting a focus-lock on the nearest point and then re-framing or even using manual focusing is an option. To be honest, because focus is un-affected by the zoom, to get a perfect focus, you probably need to zoom in anyway, get a focus-lock, then zoom back out to frame - some people do that routinely - if you do that, then extra focus points become redundant really.

I'd want to have a much larger shopping list of features I'd use before I considered upgrading a body. For the cost of a D300 you could buy some very nice lenses.

As for HDR, you can do that with any camera - even from a single RAW file if you don't want to take multiple shots.

So, my preference would be, in order:
1. Buy lenses instead
2. Stay with Nikon if you've really got your heart set on a new body
3. Last resort swap to Canon - very expensive option for no obvious benefit.

good info, because I want to buy a camera

Nikon is my choise

Am I the only person that is hearing bad things about Nikon Color? The women at the shop said its a night and day difference . ( I know she isnt trying to make a sale either . They do not sell camera's)

Also here are some shots i took with the D50

Click here

Colour looks fine to me. I'd say the people at the shop are making more from canon, or don't know how to use their nikons (or computers.)

Yeah, that sounds like complete cobblers to me, I agree with Ozone42 again here.

If you look at the conclusion of the D50 review on dpreview.com, they say...

Use of default color Mode III delivers punchy vibrant colors

and

D50 is more than capable of producing some fantastic results, and is tuned to deliver bright and colorful images from the first exposure.

I use a D50, I know lots of people who use D70's and D80's and nobody has ever complained that they think their colours are suspect somehow.

Both Canon and Nikon offer very good products. At that level, it is a question of taste, how comfortable you are with the ergonomics (that one is quite important, if you don't like something at first, you wont later).

Optical quality as well as most other considerations are at par. There are differences like sensor types where again personal taste is the main factor.

Have been a professional photographer for over 25 years, Nikon has been my tool of choice. I do not need high speed (one of Canon's stronger points) but the +/- new move to CMOS by the top Nikon's is quite nice. Canon has been there for a while.

You can rent one of each for a day and do side by side tests. You would be surprised how something you did not notice at first , really gets on your nerves at the end of the day, or the other way around. I just got my first point and shoot camera, the first thing I considered was "where do my fingers fall naturally in place". My final choice was a Nikon because it had a hotshoe for a flash, and there was a rubber pad where my thumb is for a no-slip grip.

Take your time and avoid the "numbers game", million's of pixels are useless if the camera stays in the cabinet.

Enjoy your new camera. Feel free to write if you have any questions.