BenjaminXYZ wrote: Russ

Pentax and Nikon have different approach to shake reduction.

Pentax uses in-body shake reduction (SR). It works with *every* lense attached to K100D. You pay $100 extra (K100D and K110D price difference) for it once and that's it. All your lenses are with SR. SR of K100D really works, people get 2 f-stops and more with it.

Nikon uses in-lense vibration reduction (VR). You have to buy Nikon VR lenses to get VR. Nikon kit lense isn't VR lense. VR lenses are quite expensive, usually VR version of lense is $300-$400 more expensive than non-VR version. You must pay for VR multiple times. Also Nikon doesn't make VR version of many lenses at all (for example 50mm primes). In-lense stabilisation is a bit more effective though.

So, you decide: $100 extra and SR with every lense, or $300 extra for every VR lense. For $600 you'll get D50 with no shake reduction at all.

In my opinion salesmen was trying to push Nikon because he would manke better profit with it. K100D and D50 are very evenly matched, you can't say that one camera is much better than other.

K100D has shake reduction, better viewfinder, mirror lock-up, DOF preview
D50 has faster autofocus, bigger buffer and better continuous shooting.

I would go for D50 just in case if my primary purpose would be sports/action photography.

My contribution may be lost here, but while I don't use either camera (I use a KM 7D with CCD anti-shake)...I will say this. I've shot almost 2 full 2GB CF cards using just one of their rechargeable lithium batteries. I also check my histograms for several shots in new surroundings & leave the post view, anti-shake & use AF lenses all the time. (I've also spent less than $500.00 on lenses that would have cost me $8000.00 for the IS versions of the competitions models).

ALL the lenses I buy are IS, so I could care less who makes them (as long as they are good). I shoot mainly portraits, so as far as the D50 vs the K100D goes, I'd jump on the essential features you need in your camera, rather than salesmanship.

By that, I mean I care more about manual controls, PC-sync sockets & viewfinder/AF quality, rather than the mega pixels (I can print flawless 13x19 photo-prints with my camera...and have many times).

BenjaminXYZ wrote: You caught me :-) These are my two favorite photography sites and I thought I would take advantage of all the wisdom I could get.

Based mainly on the responses I received here, I went ahead and ordered the K100D yesterday since I don't anticipate doing a great deal of sports photography and can live with the smaller buffer and longer AF time to get the much better price and SR offered by the K100D. Thanks to all for helping me find my way into the DSLR club and I'm looking forward to being able participate in actual photography threads soon! Thanks again for all your responses.

BenjaminXYZ wrote: I've taken 498 photos with my D50 since I got it on September the 13th, and haven't needed to recharge the battery yet (other than the first time when it was brand new of course ). Indeed, it's still showing as full.