If you are thinking to buy Nikon D5100, you should spend some time to read this review so as to see if this camera is really suitable for you. The D5100 was released in April this year and since then, it has gotten a lot of attention from the DSLR community of photographers like yourself.
One of my friend, Paul, has been using the D5000 and D60 models and was excited to buy Nikon D5100 with the 18-55 VR kit soon after it was released. It was meant to be an upgrade for his D5000 as he considers himself a “professional consumer”, who looks for excellent image quality, performance and low-light functionality in a light and slim camera body. One good feature as compared to the D5000 is that the D5100 has the “Live view” and high definition function where continuous autofocus are enabled.
One main advantage of the D5100 is that it shares the same sensor as the Nikon D7000 but it only cost 2/3 the price of a D7000 and is lighter, although it means sacrificing some high end features of the D7000. However, the D5100 offers almost the same image quality as the D7000, which is what you want and in addition, it featured a special display where you can frame difficult to reach objects.
The supplied 18-55 VR kit lens will surprise you with excellent image quality and performance that will surpass your expectations. This can be proven by sample shots from the manufacturer website and of course many hobbyists personal blogs that you can find online.
If you are looking for lens upgrade, then the Nikon 55-200 VR autofocus lens will be a good choice since it offers good value with high image quality. If you are comfortable with little distortion and image softness, then the 18-200 VRII (18x) lens will be a good choice for you to walk around.
An important feature to note is that this camera is a huge improvement from the D5000 in terms of Liveview functionality + High Definition video capture capability. This camera tracks faces and objects accurately in the Liveview mode but not as fast as you would see in the normal compact camera. It will take about half a second for auto-focus of Liveview in low light conditions, which loses to viewfinder, but still a big leap from the D5000.
In the video capture mode, the D5100 can record videos up to 22 minutes in 1080p High Definition, H.264 format when using the SD card. It’s a bit disappointing to know that this camera takes time to search for the correct focus especially in low light conditions but you can eliminate this if you switch to the manual focus mode from when moving form object to object. Another thing is that the microphone is mono instead of stereo and this means that if you want to capture good quality audio, you will need to purchase the ME-1 external microphone.
Overall, my friend Paul is happy in buying the Nikon D5100 camera that comes with good image quality and a light and slim camera body with a price that does not blow a hole in your pocket.
Thanks a lot for this article. But i have a question, my friend just bought a new Canon 600D and he’s saying that its perfect for beginners. So now the question is, which one is better Canon 600D or Nikon D5100? I need a camera with high specs and good image quality. That’s what all I care about.
I have been researching the nikon D51000. I ve looked at several reviews of this camera. I really like the features, the D5100 is #1 in most of the reviews i ve looked recently. It is a combo of Nikon D3100 and D7000. It sounds like a high quality camera I believe it is a better quality camera than the canon 600D but what I want to know is is it in fact that it is worth the price is it really all its hyped up to be ????