Nikon D5100...(took the plunge)!

[Oliverstacy]

Hello,

I’ve been looking around at SLR’s for a while now doing research and the one I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.

When the Nikon 3100 hit the market I knew they’d add the same features and a few more to the D5000 eventually and I just got a flyer that the D5100 is now available.

Anyone using one of these?  Has just about all I can think of and a few extra features.

Thanks,

Josh

[swampthing]

The pictures will look exactally the same from both of them. DSLR video is a cruel joke in my book, you will hear the camera's auto-focus on video!. If there is some feature you can't live without then I would recomend it. The only thing the more expensive DX DSLR cameras get you is faster navigation through the camera's adjustments on the fly. Adjusting WB, Exposure, some of the color adjustments, and shutter speed and appeture if your into that.
 Save your money on the useless features that "new" cameras cost you, and take the money you saved and get a good fast lens, something with f1.8 is fine.

[cthorsman]

A month ago I had my D90 and a D7000 side by side. The images out of the D7000 were better than my D90, but not enough to make me switch. Don't have the $$$ right now.

The sensor in, and images out of, the D7000 and the D5100 are the same. Check dpreview.

The one place the D7000 smoked my D90 is in low light. Huge ISO capability. I have the D90 primarily for wildlife and outdoor photography and I crave low light ability.

If you have an older dslr,  or are getting your first, the 5100 seems pretty good for the money. It's high ISO performance will bump you 3 or 4  f-stops in low light, maybe more.

Also, an articulating screen is a useful thing to have.

And what swampthing says. A good lens is often more important than the camera it is on and if video is what you really want, the D5100 may disappoint.

The camera is nothing, wait til you start buying lenses.

BTW, if you need telezoom, the D7000 matched up really well with the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens, a lens that I did not like on my D90.

Good luck!

[Oliverstacy]

Well I took the plunge and got the D5100 from a big box store...it came with the 15-55 VR lens but I'm going to be shopping around for more thing very soon.

Got a SanDisk Extreme Class 10 8GB memory card and a Circular Polarized filter.

Took this photo of 1 of our cats playing around with the different settings...I'm having fun playing around with it and it's going to take a lot of work to learn it all.  It looks a lot better full screen on my computer.

 

Going to look for a Macro lens as I love close ups...not bad but nothing a normal pocket camera can't take.

Hope all is well out there in photo land!

Josh

[Aeronut]

I bought a Nikon D3100 five months ago and I'm very pleased with its performance.  I take a lot of action pictures of my daughter's BMX races and have no complaints about the still shots I take with it.  A lot of my daughter's BMX friends have been using the pictures as their Facebook profile shots.

As said above, the video is not the greatest and you have to manually focus or you will have noise in the videos.

A few examples:
The first three are a series shot in burst mode.
 
 
 
 
 

I can't wait for this fall.  I'll probably be shooting more pictures than arrows.

Dennis

[BowBrain]

Josh.. thats a cool shot of your cat.  I have a Nikon D40 and really love it.  However my wife has kidnapped it so i'm looking to upgrade.  The D5100 looks like the right camera right now.

[Chris Shelton]

I don't own the 5100 personally but my sister does, I've messed around with it a bit. It's too tiny for me personally, but I'm used to my D7000 with the battery grip so that would seem a bunch smaller.

Don't underestimate the power of DSLR video. Film makers have utilized DSLR video for years now, Canon's 7D has been part of several Hollywood films. And honestly the quality of film from the D7000 is nearly identical to the 7D and its about a grand less at the price tag.

As far as image quality the D7000 and the D5100 are nearly identical. The internals are almost the same . . .

 

Thats a D7000 shot, just to give you an idea.

[heavyfire99]

im personally a canon guy but nikon is also a very good camera. i have the canon 60d with a 18-200 lens. heres a link to my photo portfolio
 www.flickr.com/djgoodson

[GoBow]

Just got my 5100 a few days ago.  So far, so good.  First DSLR after owning quite a few P&S.  Have the 18-55 VR and 70-300 VR for son's football games.  And my hunting trips...