According to several leading overseas websites, the company is planning to release a new range of DSLR cameras, starting with the entry-level D50 model.

April 1, 2005: Nikon Corporation appears to have confirmed a spate of rumours that erupted on the Internet last night concerning the impending release of a new entry-level DSLR.
According to several leading overseas websites, the company is planning to release a new range of DSLR cameras, starting with the entry-level D50 model. (We found at least 20 reports today.) It seems a copy of a user’s manual for this camera was inadvertently posted on one of the company’s Web sites yesterday but, although it was soon taken down, that didn’t happen quite quickly enough. Nikon would not reveal any of the D50’s specifications and features but, from what we’ve been able to glean from the Web, it seems the new model will have a ‘silver’ coloured body (probably plastic), a fixed-eyelevel penta-Dach-mirror type viewfinder and a 6.1-megapixel CCD sensor. Image data will be recorded on an SD card and the new model will be supplied with an AF-S 18-55 mm, f/3.5-5.6G lens.
Many of the features of the D70 model are likely to be offered, including Nikon’s Multi-CAM900 AF system and 3D colour matrix metering. Exposure settings include the standard P, A, S and M modes plus Digital Vari-Program settings for auto, portrait, landscape, child, sports, close up and night portrait modes. Sensitivity settings range from IS0 200-1600 and shutter speeds can be set from 30 to 1/4000 second.
Some online reports suggest the D50 is one of several new digital SLR models that the company is planning to release following the success of the D70 model that went on sale in March 2004. It has been suggested that the new ‘popularly-priced’ models will be aimed at hobbyists and amateur photographers but there has been no hint of either a higher-resolution sensor or a larger-sized CCD.