How does your Nikon handle reds?

I have the D50 and, admittedly, I am still mostly using the auto or pre-programmed settings for a majority of my pics. I keep intending to practice with UE, but just haven't gotten around to it... maybe after school starts. Anyway...

I seem to have a lot of trouble with reds. We had some beautiful begonias earlier this summer, but I was never able to get a good capture of them. I now have some red dahlias and they are just as difficult to capture. It doesn't really matter what lens I use (I have a 70-200mm, 50mm and 28-70mm), the reds are just to bright or something and tons of detail is lost and anything in the background is completely washed out.

Here's an example (SOOC w/USM)...
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1129/1072907777_bf8f518c81_o.jpg
The flowers are in a shaded part of the yard, so it's not super bright but not completely dark either.

So give me your thoughts. Is it a lighting issue, would I get better color if I tried the manual setting, or is it a camera/lens issue?

TIA!

nikon digitals are notorious for being more "red" than others. canons have similar issues with other colors...

just differences in the sensors.

what lens is it?

i have the same camera but shoot full manual all the time. i find that if i purposefully slightly underexpose it helps a lot. i also use a polarizer.

Ok, I thought I'd heard that, but when I went looking around online I couldn't find anything to back it up. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places!

I used my Sigma 28-70 for that pic, which admittedly I am not all that happy with. It's nowhere near as nice as either Nikon lens I have, but I got what I paid for and it'll do until I can afford the nicer version.

I'll try fiddling around in manual to see if I can get a better capture. Thanks Tracey!

i often have to edit my reds and desaturate them a bit...and just play around with them.