Recording And Viewing Images

Nikon and Pentax have both chosen to use Secure Digital (SD) memory cards, now the standard on the consumer market. Except for brands that have chosen to use a proprietary format, the SD card is used in nearly all new consumer/prosumer models. It has the advantage of a minimal footprint, a reasonable price, and good capacities (1 GB is common and 2 GB cards are becoming available). Like most other memory cards, they exist in several speeds, with transfer rates up to 133X. In our opinion, a "normal" card is quite sufficient for most users, but check prices, because certain faster cards are offered at prices that are barely higher than those of basic cards.

With the D50, you have a choice of three image sizes and three quality levels in JPEG. Added to that is RAW format, alone or associated with a JPEG image in "basic" quality - an approach we find very worthwhile. This gives you both a JPEG image that's usable immediately, and also a "digital negative" with optimum quality and a multitude of possibilities for image manipulation and correction. Pentax offers the same choices, but without the RAW + JPEG mode, which we find regrettable. There's also a big difference with respect to how the RAW files are saved. Nikon uses lossless compression that results in files that are generally under 6 MB, while Pentax records them without compression, resulting in a size of over 10 MB. That's an obvious disadvantage, since it means that a 1 GB card can hold fewer than a hundred photos.