Never thought I could!

[Danny K]

I only went to hold the Panasonic FZ30 and Fuji 9500. I was looking for a big zoom camera, 10 to 12 zoom for around £400 - £450. Been reading reviews for months, including SLR's but out of my price range.

Anyway went in to Currys late yesterday afternoon, to cut it short, I walked out with a Nikon D50 kit (18-55 lens), a Lowepro Rezo 140aw case and 2 puremedia 256mb SD cards for £515.00. I know slightly over budget - but whats £65!!

Breakdown:

Camera ............£474.89

Less ................£39.86 Managers offer

+ 2 SD cards .....£49.98

+ Case ............ £29.99

..................... =£515.00

Hope I got a good deal?

Tonight, the battery is charged up - everything works fine, ready to go!

My question is what is the most important first item you would suggest I need to protect or add to the D50 while I start learning how to use it over the next - - - Lifetime!

Don't want to damage it!

New Nikon SLR owner!!

[BigConig]

Congrats of your new camera, I'm sure you'll be quite happy with it. One thing I always add to my new lenses is a UV filter to protect the front element. Some people say they negatively effect image quality but I have never found this to be the case. Other than that it looks like you have the bases covered for a good start.

[ktixx]

Look into a Sensor Cleaner
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning
Costs about $40.00 and worth every penny. http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/46845039
If you want to see why take your brand new SLR, set it to f/22 and take a picture of a clear blue sky. Take that picture into photoshop and play with the levels and you will see a buch of dust. This isn't me trying to be negative, I am just letting you know that dust with DSLR's is inevitable and you should be prepared to combat it. To set your mind at ease cleaning your sensor is REALLY easy and in fact, you aren't even cleaning the sensor but a piece of glass that covers it.
As far as equpiment goes I would definitely recomend a UV Filter (as previously suggested) and a circular Polarizing filter (makes the sky a nice dark blue and significantly reduces reflections.
Good luck with your camera, you made a great decision upgrading to a DSLR, Make sure to posts some of your shots in the forum. Congrats on the purchase!
Ken

[VetteD50]

Congrats of your new camera, I'm sure you'll be quite happy with it. One thing I always add to my new lenses is a UV filter to protect the front element. Some people say they negatively effect image quality but I have never found this to be the case. Other than that it looks like you have the bases covered for a good start.

I agree with this however I experienced bad lens flare with some night shots due to this filter. For daytime, it's a must have.