Nikon D5100 DSLR Camera First Glance

More and more people are getting into DSLR cameras because the quality over a pocket point and shoot is so much greater. It used to be at least $1000 to get a low end DSLR, but now you can get a high quality camera from Canon, Sony or Nikon for example for less than $1000 easily. The Nikon D5100 is aimed at the lower-mid end of the spectrum, and looks like it's going to be very popular.

The D5100 has so many great features crammed into it, it's hard to believe it's under $900 complete with an 18-55mm lens. Some of the features include a 16.2MP CMOS sensor, a 3" rotating LCD screen, in-camera HDR and HD video with continuous auto-focusing!

The D5100 works with all Nikkor lenses, but will auto-focus only with AF-S and AF-I lenses as it doesn't contain an AF motor inside the body. This shouldn't ever pose a problem, just make sure that you buy this type of lens when upgrading.

The HD movie capability includes continuous auto-focus, which is really incredible when you think about it. This is a DSLR camera, and it can be used as a camcorder as well... very cool. Yes many DSLRs can shoot video, and even HD. BUT can those cameras auto-focus when shooting video or do you have to focus manually? Make sure you find out before you buy!

HDR is awesome, but I've been having a hard time getting it to work with my point and shoot camera. In-camera HDR does all the work for you! Two bracketed exposures are taken back to back, and then the camera combines them into a single HDR image that shows enhanced details from shadow and highlights. These shots typically look amazing and really give a "WOW!" factor to your photos.

Many people are resolution crazy.... Just because one camera has a higher megapixel (MP) count does not mean it's better.

Image resolution means the maximum size possible; for this camera it's 16.2 MP (megapixels, or thousands of pixels) or 4928 x 3264. That's a HUGE image! If you post an image online, typically it's only about 400 x 300; and the size of your entire desktop on your computer is probably about 1024 x 768. So what this means is that the pictures taken by this camera at max resolution are about 4 times bigger than you can see at 100% on your computer screen!

Please note that a bigger image does not automatically mean a better image. If you have a crummy camera with a crummy lens but it takes big pictures it doesn't mean they are good.

Image quality on the Nikon D5100 thankfully is excellent. Nikon works at keeping consumer level camera quality high so that they can compete with Canon and Sony in the ever expanding marketplace. Nobody wants to put out a low quality $900 camera, that's for sure.

Is the Nikon D5100 worth buying? Yes, it is! The camera has such a great list of features, quality lenses, and is easy to just pick up and use. These days I find myself recommending Nikon DSLRs over Canon and Sony, and I see no reason to not give the D5100 a big thumbs up as well.