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| Nikon D5100 |
The Nikon D5100 full specs 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens that Nikon supplied feels fairly well-balanced on the Nikon D5100 and it fits into place with a reassuring mechanical click. Nikon bodies don't offer any form of in-camera image stabilization, unlike similar models from Sony, Pentad and Olympus, so the affordable 18-55mm VR lens is a good starting point if you don't already have any Nikon lenses.
The shutter release action on the Nikon D5100 is surprisingly quiet, with a dampened mirror slap that makes this DSLR actually quieter than some rangefinder cameras. We'd prefer it to be on the rear of the camera and also to incorporate the Movie record button, in keeping with the D3100/D7000 models.
Press the Live switch and the mirror flips up, the shutter opens and the rear screen displays the scene as seen through the lens. Contrast-detect auto-focus (CDAF) is also available and, while slow, it tends to be accurate.
Live View must also be entered to shoot movies. After pressing the live button and optionally presetting the aperture and focus, you can start recording video by pressing the new Movie Record button on top of the camera next to the shutter release. The camera records full high-definition, wide-screen video in 1920x1280 pixel resolution, at a frame rate of 25fps or 24fps, in AVI format using the motion JPEG codec. Although the D5100 can automatically focus during video recording, it's just not fast enough to warrant regular use or to rival cameras like the Panasonic Lummox GH1/2.
The Nikon D5100's 11 auto-focus points are permanently marked on the focusing screen, whereas the compositional grid lines can be called up via a menu option. In low light, the AF sensors are helped by an AF assist lamp located on the front plate of the camera.
The Nikon D5100 only has one control wheel and there are no dedicated buttons for controlling ISO sensitivity, white balance, metering or AF mode. For the images that you've already captured, the Nikon D5100 offers a broad range of retouching tools, including post-capture D-lighting (useful if you forgot to turn on Active D-lighting before capture), red-eye correction,
trimming, monochrome conversion, different filter effects, color adjustments, image resizing, image overlay, in-camera raw processing, quick auto retouching, straightening of crooked pictures, lens distortion correction, fisheye, color outline, color sketch, selective color, miniature effect, and perspective control.
photo quality with a good noise profile, a streamlined shooting design for both photo and video, and a broad, practical feature set contribute to the Nikon D5100's strengths.
Despite the higher-resolution sensor, the D5100 delivers visibly better image quality at all ISO sensitivities than
Unlike the earlier camera's bottom-swivel display, the side-swivel is a versatile design that allows the live view feed to be seen when framing self-portraits.
The D5100 is also Nikon's first SLR to include in-camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging capability. Nikon D5100 User Report.
Unlike the T3i, the Nikon D5100 is smaller than its predecessor, about the same width and thickness, but noticeably shorter, which makes a nice, tight package, reminiscent of the Nikon D40, one of our favorite digital SLRs. Measuring 5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 inches (127 x 97 x 79mm), the Nikon D5100 is larger than the D3100's 4.9 x 3.8 x 2.9 inches (125 x 97 x 74mm), and smaller than the D5000's 5.0 x 4.1 x 3.1 inches (127 x 104 x 80mm). The Nikon D5100's grip is made for smaller hands, as my medium hands are generally able to adjust to almost any size grip.
