Upgrading my nikon D50?
I'm thinking if upgrading my D50 seeing as I'm have a change of career. I'm trying to get a job doing wedding photos (which I'm starting a course on), obversely starting as an assistant, so my question is, should I upgrade my camera and also which camera would you recommend (professionals or very keen snappers)
Cheers
Your camera is enough. You may need a large flash gun though. If you have the 18-55mm lens, that too would be enough. If you want easier portraits, get the 50mm f/1.8.
Get your education first. Upgrade equipment later. You might want to tone down the saturation and contrast from the default D50 settings for wedding work.
What do you think the D50 can't do that you need it to? I'm thinking you are maybe looking for some better low light performance?
TBH your best bet is to begin to invest in some good glass - it will have more impact on your images than the body will. Lenses I use for weddings;
- 50mm f1.8
- 85mm f1.8
- 24-70mm f2.8
-70-200mm f2.8
You might also want to start getting together some off camera speedlights & modifiers & learning about light (although you should be covering this on your course).
When you do go into weddings, you will need another DSLR as a backup body - suggest rather than selling your D50, keep it as a backup. Cameras like the D7000, D300s, would be good choices.
In terms of saturation etc, you should be shooting in raw in any case.
You should keep the D50, and get either a D90 or D7000 for now, and a SB-700 flashgun. Having two cameras is a big advantage or perhaps we should say having one camera is a huge disadvantage.
In the long term, you should be looking at a D600/D700 combo, with a mix of 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 VR II and 85/1.4 and DC-Nikkor 135mm, while keeping a body as a backup. And vertical grips for both cameras with lots of batteries.
The key is that you should be able to produce without feeling that your pushing too hard, and experience is what really counts.
Don't upgrade the camera body yet. Invest in other equipment such as: High spec lens(es). Solid tripod. High output flash.
If you start as an assistant, then you will only "assist" at weddings to start with.