New to the forums!

Describing myself as a rank amateur may very well be the understatement of the year. I haven't taken any pictures with my D50 in quite a long time- but I drove out to our local Mission earlier today with my camera and was reminded of how wonderfully satisfying and calming it is. I plan on buying a nice fast 1.8 50mm and a Sigma 70-200 2.8. After those purchases are made, I'll be getting a D7000 before the summer begins for vacation photos. Below are a few pictures I just discovered buried on my hard-drive- don't hold back and feel free to do whatever you wish!

Happy to be here, from my brief lurking period looks like a great forum.

Hi Mtrain, and welcome to the Nikonites Community. I wouldn't worry about describing yourself as a rank amateur. We have all been there and on this site we enjoy helping anyone who asks for help. I like your shots they show creative thinking which is one of the elements of being a good photographer. You can help us to help you if you would list your camera and equipment in your profile. That way we not only know who we are talking to but what equipment you are using. Looks like you have a good plan in place to up grade your equipment. The D50 is a good camera and the D7000 is even better. This site is not only a good place to learn but has good friendly people. Enjoy.

Welcome, Mtrain, to Nikonites. I echo what Joseph says about being a rank amateur! We're all rank amateurs of one form or another. The fact you still enjoy photography tells me you're still having fun with it. You have a good eye for composition in your shots. I particularly like the second shot of the fence post buries in snow. The first shot, I would crop out the little bit of sky in the top left corner......but that's me.
Enjoy the site, and be sure to participate as much as you wish. We'd enjoy the company.

do either of you use a post-processing software? Just switched back to Mac and am currently considering Aperture or Lightroom- suggestions?

I'm a pc user and use Lightroom 3.3 You're going to laugh, but one of my favourite "process" programs is Irfanview. Quick and easy to use.

A nice, quick, light-weight application like that would be great for casual pictures. I'll have to check it out. You seem quite knowledgeble so I figure I'll just present you with the question-
I've been looking at lenses and have decided on: 50mm 1.4 D and 18-200 VRII for the time being to extend my collection. On the 50mm 1.4 page it says: "Note! AF not supported by D40, D60, D3000 & D5000 cameras." Now I assume there is obviously some technical reason for this that I am unaware of. My question is: is there something I need to be looking out for to make sure some of these lenses AF on my current D50 and future D7000?

Mtrain, hello and welcome.
The D40, D60, D3000 and D5000 cameras are built without an inbuilt focussing motor (helps make them smaller and lighter) but they all require a Nikon AF-S lens which means that the focus motor is built into the lens. I don't know the D7000 well, so I don't know what AF system it requires, you non AF-S lenses will work fine with the cameras you listed but you will have to manually focus. Hope that in some way explains the whole AF/AF-S thing
Oh yeah AF-S lenses will work without any issues on other Nikon bodies, or othe F-Mount systems.

I use Apple computers and have used Aperture almost from the start. On an Apple computer I find Aperture runs a bit faster. And I also find Aperture to be more intuitive. But that's my opinion. I'm sure others will be different. I keep track of over 30K NEF RAW files in my Aperture Libraries. You also can't beat the price at $80 from the Apple App Store. Having said that you also will not go wrong if you chose to go with Lightroom.

Also the D7000 will fully support AF/AE with any AF-G or AF-D type lenses as well as with AF-S. So all of the lenses you are using on the D50 are fully compatible with the D7000. When you get the D7000 look on page 269 of the users manual for a list of lenses and what features it will support.

Also your D50 fully supports any AF-G, AF-D or AF-S lens. The D50 has the built in lens focusing motor. The D40, D60, D3000 & D5000 cameras do not have the internal focusing motor and are limited to AF-S type lenses for auto focus.

Second vote for Aperture.

I was looking at my computer applications folder today - thinking "Wow, look at all these photo applications".

Hello, Mtrain, and welcome to the forum! You'll get a lot of info here and help. From your photos, I can tell you have a great eye! Really nice captures!

Hope you hang around here and have as much fun as the rest of us do! Looking forward to more of your pics!

Best Regards