Nikon D5100 REVIEW # BEST PRICE: October 2011

Nikon D5100 Excellent Starter Camera
I received this as a gift just recently. I had quite a difficult decision between the D3100 & D5100 as my FIRST DSLR. I was aware that they were both 'starter' cameras and they had very similar features. What really set me for the D5100 is that it had the swivel screen for the tricky shots and the durability. I like the texture of the body better than the D3100. My specifications were that it had to last a few years, it needed to withstand some wear and tear, it needed quality pictures and videos, but also ease of use. And because it is my first DSLR, I am a little confused with the usage, but I'll learn. I know it takes a lot of practice and a few terrible pictures. I find the Nikon manual very clear and helpful. I do love that it's not a thick, giant camera and it's light and easy to hold with my tiny hands. I did so some research to see that the buttons were placed differently from the D3100, but I find them easy to locate and understand their meaning because it is my first. It takes some awesome shots. Fast. 4fps is very nice to get those quick shots. Crisp, detailed, clean. I haven't had much time of playing around with the special effects. I believe that my current settings are on manual. I'm not a big fan of automatic mode. I had a digital camera and that mode was pretty terrible. And I don't want to miss any special shots on auto-mode. Overall, I would recommend this camera. The price is a bit much for pretty much a step up starter camera. It has come down from $899, but by $40. I would recommend this. Still need some getting used to, but so far, it's worth the price and hopefully will last for a long time. :)

Nikon D5100 BEST DSLR for your $$
I am not a professional in the 'DSLR field' but I can tell you this.

I've had Nikon D3100, Nikon D7000, Nikon D5000 all for one month, and D5100 is the best DSLR for your money.
D3100 is good but compared to D5100's feature, why not pay little more and get D5100? (Microphone slot, rotating screen, faster system, etc)
D5000 is okay but D5100 is going to be the definite upgrade from it. Why? I personally think that D5100 has better image quality, better rotating screen function, and.. it looks better- smaller in size, less bulky.. D5100 looks much sharper than D5000.. i think at least.
D7000 takes the best picture but it goes over $1000 and it feels very similar to D5100, so why not get D5100 for $400-500 cheaper?

So bottom line, I decided to keep D5100 for a while and I am loving this beast every bit of it. Plus, Amazon had a great deal on this camera! ($849!! in Best Buy it's $899+tax=$980!!)
If you want to own a DSLR for the first time and is on the search for the right one, D5100 is your choice. It will NOT disappoint.

Nikon D5100 If image quality is your highest priority.
As a former D90 shooter, I can say without reservation that the D5100 is now Nikon's biggest bang for the buck. The AF accuracy on this camera is much better than what I experienced with the D90. Image quality is astoundingly superior (i.e, great noise reduction while image stays sharp, sharp, sharp).
Contrary to what has been written by others, I find the "i" (Information menu) option for changing settings (e.g., ISO) to be quite fast and easy, once you "get" how to use it (in lieu of hunting for buttons or dials or button/dial combinations for everything). And, most importantly, the Command dial is still where it should be for quickly changing exposure settings.
In agreement with others, if you want a heavier APS-C camera and want to pay $400(US) more for all those buttons, be my guest and buy the Nikon D7000 instead. Perhaps you need a larger viewfinder, or have older and/or AF-D lenses you want to keep, so you need a built-in AF (camera) motor to focus. If so, then spending the additional money for the D7000 might be worth it. But if you stay with Nikon's line-up, only a heavier/more expensive FX D700 can truly produce better IQ (and I would say perhaps, depending on conditions, because the resolution of the D5100 is really phenomenal).
I've put together a very affordable D5100 kit:(wide-angle)Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 DI-II B.I.M., (walk-around) Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM, Nikon 35 F/1.8 (honestly not used much), (tele) Nikon 70-300mm. For under $2800 (US), I now get a broader focal range, and the kind of image quality that I used to think was out of reach for my wallet.

Nikon D5100 Awesome Camera
Bought this as a gift for my wife for mothers day. We had been reviewing different cameras and this one had it all for the price. Loved that it came with the lens instead of having to purchase after the fact. We really liked the mega pixels and the fact that it has video recording in HD. Pictures and video are incredible. When we compare our pictures we took from our 10mp point and shoot camera with our new camera its like looking at a TV at 720p vs a flat screen with 1080p. Even our pictures look like High Def now!

Love this camera and definitely recommend it!

Nikon D5100 Camera Impressed
I recently purchased this Nikon D5100 camera and have since replaced the kit lens with the Nikon 18-200mm VRll and have a 35mm f/1.8G AF-S on order. I have absolutely no complaints about this camera or it's lens, everything works perfectly. I don't mind the use of a plastic body for lighter weight as there's enough heft to this camera (and the 18-200 lens) to make you aware that you are holding something of significant value. I've reassigned the 'Fn' button to adjust the ISO on the fly since I primarily use aperture priority (nice touch btw). I'm currently looking into the ideal camera bag for travel... possibly the Lowepro Fastback 250, as I want to keep the 18-200 lens attached.

The built-in flash does NOT work as 'commander' for wireless flash use... not a deal breaker though.

Nikon D5100 Better than the d7000, for my needs.
I spent a few months looking at the d7000, but I was afraid of some of the reported problems with dead pixels and overexposure. Plus, the d7000 is a lot of camera for someone like me. I know how to shoot in manual mode, but I don't always need to. Sometimes the scene modes are enough for me when I'm trying to get pictures on the fly. I'm just looking to take great pictures and I wanted a great camera with low-light performance.

The d5100 turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. Don't underestimate the usefulness of the articulating screen. Its really great for taking self-portraits, or pictures of you and your friends when you don't have a tripod. I have used that feature alone a lot more than I thought I would, and this makes it well more suited than the d7000 for me. The d5100 is also alot lighter than the d7000, and I appreciate some of the gimmicky features that it has (the special scene modes, like sketch and miniature). No overexposure/metering issues in bright sunny days and the same low-light performance of the d5100 makes it a winner for me.

Another point is that the battery life of the d5100 is really good. I thought it would be too short, especially when the d7000 gets almost twice as many shots as the d5100 on the included battery. But as long as you charge the battery each night, you should be fine for a full day's worth of shooting.

Nikon D5100 Best Price, Best Light Weight DSLR EVER
Being in Graphic Design, I was in the market for a DSLR, and was reading up on the specs of the D5100. I had only had previous experience with a Canon D60 and proudly owned and used a Nikon FM2 Film Camera for a decent amount of years. (Hence why I went with Nikon again, for the lenses) Since I was looking for a camera for on-the-go shots and night shots, this little baby seemed to come into my life just at the right moment.

It is an unbelievably light weight camera, which makes it nice for lugging it around. The body IS Plastic, so it is definitely not ment for you rough and tumble types. The rotating flip screen is a serious plus, for getting those wierd angled shots you would otherwise need to dig a hole to get. All of the features, such as portrait, landscape, etc like point and shoot cameras are featured, although I just use manual settings to custom taylor to my needs. ISO can get up to 6400, Shutter Speed can get up to 1/4000. The white balance is very nicely programed, pictures come out as if it were my own eyes. (*personal settings apply) Auto focus can be turned on in constance and is pretty responsive when moving the camera around.

Never mind the Video capability. (1080p HD?! COOL!) Even little on-unit touch ups like upping digital lighting, or adding a "Miniature effect" to the photos, it has been quite joyful to even do slight color correcting on the camera in playback.

I have only had this camera for a few days, keep in mind. And I did not buy it from Amazon (even though they have the same great price i paid for it.) This camera is a bargain for what you get. I couldn't be any happier, especially with the price. What can I say- I am already in love.

Nikon D5100 Best Price, What a camera.... and what a steal
I bought my D5100 just 4 weeks ago and 2000 shots later have to report that this is one of the very best and certainly the very cheapest Nikon (D)SLR's I ever owned in more than 50 years. Not being as dextrous as I once was I wanted something that gave me pin sharp pics out of the box without having to fuss through lengthy menus for a custom set up. The 5100 did not disappoint in any department. With my 5 year old 18-200mm attached the camera at first felt just a little unbalanced but 5 minutes later it felt a lot better to me than it did on my old D200. Results have amazed me especially at the ISO6000 level and above, and just for fun,I put it up against the D200, my neighbors D3 and my son's D2X - have to say the 5100 blew them all away using an old 50mm f1.4 ai-s in manual focus of course! I cannot fathom the comments from a recent reviewer, who signs off as a pro, and who mentions a Canon Rebel having better IQ than the 5100. No pro I know would use either camera as a day to day working tool, they are just not made for that kind of hard work. Although when you think about it you could buy 6 of the 5100's for less than the price of a D3s. Now that's a thought for a pro who wants to go ultra lightweight! But getting back to the image quality issue, I have to report just one thing - There Is No Issue!! It is a super sharp machine with any decent lens you care to put on it. The video output is excellent and on a Samsung 50" LCD in HDMI mode the picture quality was better than I could ever have hoped for. Crystal clear with outstanding sound quality. OK so it doesn't have a waterproofed Titanium and Kevlar shell, the buttons seem to be getting smaller on all Nikons,the video controls and logic are problematic but no doubt curable with a firmware upgrade.The liveview switch is not exactly conveniently placed either and I could go on with other picky findings. But overall this Nikon rocks!

Nikon D5100 Best Price, I LOVE this camera...and i'm pretty green.
I wanted a camera that was a little bit beyond me. I was tired of buying expensive point and click's only to have them stop working after 1 1/2 years...I shelled out decent money over 3 years for two coolpix...Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens they were ok, but i was looking for something that produced more professional looking shots and to have a camera i could grow into. I had a problem with my D5100 at first, i couldn't get the darned thing to focus - it turned out to be a menu item was on AF-M instead of AF-C (auto focus continuous)...an easy fix, thank goodness. There is nothing i can't do with this camera. Yes, it cost some extra clamshells...but with proper maintainance and tlc, i know i'll have this camera and be satisfied with the results for a long time. I don't find it too cumbersome to deal with...i took it on a recent trip and was able to set up perfect shots quickly, and i didn't tire of it on my shoulder. This to me would have been a sticking point - to have a great camera but it being too heavy or awkward to be able to just point and shoot, that i wouldn't want to bring it everywhere and anywhere. It has the best of both worlds - the ease of a point and shoot with very impressive results.

Nikon D5100 Best Buy, Awesome DSLR.
I've been on the hobby for about 5 year now, my last camera was a Nikon D60 and let me tell you, this D5100 completely obliterates the D60, it even outperforms the D90 as this camera has the same excellent sensor as the High end Nikon D7000, just in a smaller package, sadly it does not have an integrated autofocus motor in the body so AF it only works on newer AF-S lenses, but that is not a problem anymore because we have a big variety of AF-S lenses.

Image quality is superb, specially on low light conditions, we can crank up the ISO Speed and it looks great, even at ISO 6400. Video quality is just as great but my true passion is photography so I can't get deep into reviewing the video recording feature.

If you want the BEST DSLR for under 1000 Dollars this is the one to get.

Nikon D5100 Best Buy, Very Happy.
I bought the camera as an upgrade to a D60. I took the camera on a cruise with me and it worked great. I posted some of the pictures I took on a cruise forum and many people have posted positive comments regarding the pictures. I've only had the camera for a short period of time (I have not even had the chance to do any serious editing of the photographs yet), but I am happy with the camera.

Nikon D5100 Best Buy, Fantastic Picture Quality; Great High ISO performance.
I sold my D3100 and purchased the D5100. I really liked my D3100, but there are 2 features I wanted that the D5100 has: 1.) bracketing function and 2.) ISO 1/3 increments. I like HDR photography, and the 3 exposure bracketing mode makes it easier to do on the D5100 (although I wish it had a 5 exposure bracketing mode). I take a lot of night photos, and the D3100 would only go from 800 to 1600 to 3200. The D5100 will let you shoot at ISO 1000, 1250, 2000, etc. The high ISO performance on the D3100 is very good, but it is outstanding/phenomenal on the D5100. I have taken quite a few ISO 5000 and 6400 photos on the D5100 that come out awesome with almost no noise, even with the stock lens. I recently took a photo at ISO 5000 and posted on flickr that looks like ISO 200 on almost any other camera I have ever used, including my Panasonic GH1. I will share it on Amazon. I believe the incredible low light, high ISO performance is because the D5100 shares the same sensor as the D7000. So this is a big upgrade from the D3100 as far as the sensor in low light environments. I have taken about 500 photos so far, and pictures come out tack sharp with the stock lens. Combined with the 35 mm F1.8 Nikon lens, the camera takes as fantastic of pictures as I could possibly imagine. Battery life is incredible--after 500 pics the battery indicator still showed the full 3 bars. I also like the adjustable swivel screen for when I am shooting on a tripod or above my head. The one thing I do not like about the camera are the placement of the buttons and settings. There is not a button for ISO; you have to press the "i" button then scroll down on the screen and change it. You could assign ISO to the Fn button (which is in a difficult location on the left side of the camera), but then you can't set the camera to a 2 second self-timer without going through the menu. I use the 2 second timer a lot for shooting on a tripod at night, so I didn't change the Fn button. On the D3100, the self timer was on a switch on the top; not sure why they removed that. Overall the controls are somewhat cumbersome in the dark without looking at the camera. I am getting used to them, but they could make it easier. Finally, the D5100 does not autofocus on older Nikon lenses like the D7000 does. But I think the picture quality of the D5100 is probably equal to the D7000 because they use the same sensor. Other than the controls/button placement issue, I love this camera and highly recommend it. I think it is certainly worth the 200 dollars more than the D3100 if you are considering between the 2.

Nikon D5100 REVIEW # BEST PRICE

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Nikon D5100 REVIEW

@>> CHEAP Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens

Nikon D5100

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