Nikon D3100 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Auto Focus-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
Nikon D3100 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Auto Focus-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
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- Includes 3x 18-55mm Zoom-NIKKOR VR Image Stabilization Lens, EN-EL14 Battery, MH-24 Battery Charger
- 14.2 Megapixel DX-format CMOS Image Sensor
- Full 1080p HD Cinematic Video with full-time autofocus and sound lets you record cinematic-quality movies in HD
- Featuring Nikon's Guide Mode with intuitive controls and on-board assistance helping you take better pictures every step of the way
- 3 monitor with One-Touch Live View shooting & movie capture
Brand : Nikon
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,DSLR Cameras
Rating : 4.6
ListPrice : US $649.95
Price : US $649.95
Review Count : 1210
Nikon D3100 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Auto Focus-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (Discontinued by Manufacturer)
- This Nikon D3100 is a phenomenal deal for non professionals, the rest of us people that want to take family and travel shots. I\'ve owned DSLRs since 2004, starting with a Nikon D70 and then moving to D40, D200 and Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black) and Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) . Those are all excellent cameras, but this Nikon D3100 is better than all of those in one crucial area, the area that matters: it takes excellent pictures without having to fiddle with the settings between shots. Yes, the other cameras are better in other respects: They have more buttons to change settings without delving into menus, they are bigger (is that a plus?), heavier (another plus?), and have better specs (1/500 flash sync speed for D70 and D40), but in the end I would have to fiddle with the settings to get the best results: change the white balance, fiddle with the ISO (my Canons would default to ISO 400 for flash shots, why? Who knows. That meant disabling auto ISO and choosing ISO settings manually), the exposure (+0.7 indoor, 0 outdoor), and so on. D200 was noisy at higher ISO, D70\'s pictures tended to be cool (i.e. not warm), 40D had cool custom buttons (C1, C2, C3, very cool), but I found its ergonomics worse than XSi or any Nikon; why place the on/off switch at the bottom of the body? Who knows. Fortunately, new Canons have fixed this).This D3100 also makes the D3000 and D5000 obsolete. The D3000 is slow and noisy at high ISO. The D5000 only shoots 720p (not 1080p), no autofocus in movie mode, less resolution. Old technology.What sets the D3100 apart from all the other cameras above is this: set the camera in P (program) mode, auto white balance, -0.3 exposure compensation, slow flash sync mode (for people shots), auto distortion correction on (great!), auto chromatic aberrations correction on (great!), and you are set; now you can concentrate on the only aspect of photography that matters: composition, i.e. framing your shot in the best possible way. There must be a photography mantra that says, \"thou shalt buy the D3100, and the D3100 will set you free.\" Now this is if you shot jpeg. If you shoot raw, you can then use a program like DXO, Aperture 3 , or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 to further play with the pictures. My workflow with the XSi was to shoot raw, then use DXO to batch process all the pics according to two settings: people (low contrast, no saturation added) and landscape (contrast, saturation, etc.). DXO would then batch-remove lens distortion, chromatic aberrations, vignetting, apply custom curves, change white balance when necessary, and apply its (almost magical) auto lighting settings to make the shots pop. For now DXO does not have a custom module for the D3100 (still too new of a camera), so I\'m shooting jpeg for now. Once DXO adds the module for the D3100, I\'ll takes shots in both raw and jpeg fine and compare the jpegs straight out of the camera with the raw images processed with DXO. I\'m curious to see the comparison.This is great, not only for you, but also for your non-photographer spouse; my XSi took phenomenal shots, but I had to know how to set it. Can you imagine me going to my non-photographer wife and say, \"okay, when you take indoor shots of our kids, set the camera on A mode (Canons expose for ambient light in A mode and adjust flash for fill, that\'s great), +0.7 exposure compensation, ISO 400 or 800, white balance on cloudy, and shoot.\" My wife was lost at \"okay.\" Sure the custom modes on the 40D would have helped, but the 40D is old technology; can it take 1080p video? I didn\'t think so. Plus, what lens are you going to use with the 40D? The 17-55 IS? Great lens, but who wants to spend $1,000 for a non-weather sealed 17-55 dust collector (google Canon 17-55 and dust)? Will 17-55 be enough for your telephoto shots? Your kids\' baseball games? Didn\'t think so. What about the Canon 18-200? Sub-par quality, noisy, overpriced.Back to the D3100. Auto white balance (the second most important thing after composition) works great, even indoor (no cloudy setting necessary), the only changes are extreme situations (outdoor shade, or indoor fluorescent or tungsten lights at night, but that is true with every camera. Why that is is beyond me; can\'t they make smarter cameras that account for these situations as well?); movie mode is excellent; yes, the mic is mono, but that\'s okay for family use (and that\'s why you buy this camera; if you are pro, you landed on the wrong page); if you really want to push it, you can use this camera for video, your iphone/ipod touch for audio with an app like FourTrack, and then sync video and audio in post with the excellent Singular Software Dual Eyes program. Your choice. Matter is: DSLR video can look awesome if used the right way, but keep in mind its limitations: jerky camera horizontal panning will give you the infamous jello effect (courtesy of the CMOS sensor), so pan slowly. You\'ll also have to play with autofocus vs manual focus settings sometimes; I\'ve used the camera in autofocus; it has worked great so far.What lens(es) should you use with the D3100. You should sell the (excellent) 18-55 that ships with the camera. Quality is good, but not enough reach. You can sell it for $140 or so. Take the money and use it toward a more useful lens. What lens? The target market for this camera is moms and dads that want to take shots of their kids; even advanced amateurs like me don\'t want to travel with a camera bag full of primes and heavy zoom lenses that you have to swap every 10 minutes; this is 2010 (almost 2011), for crying out loud; choose a single zoom and enjoy life and photography; I would use the excellent but underrated Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras , the excellent (but expensive) Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX ED VR Nikkor Wide-Angle Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras , or my choice, the jack-of-all trades, the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S ED VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DX-Format Digital SLR Cameras . Yes, yes, if you check sites like Photozone, they will tell you that the optical quality of the 18-200 is not as good (or consistent) as the 18-105 or the 16-85, but it\'s good enough for moms and dads bitten by the photography bug. A great shot of your kid at 200mm is better than no shot with either of the other two lenses. The optical superiority of the 16-85 disappears at 135mm or 200mm, simply because it can\'t do it. The 16-85 and the 18-200 are about the same price. The 18-200 will set you free. It won\'t help you if your kids play baseball at night (too slow), but you\'ll have to live with it, unless you are willing to drop $2,000 on a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon Digital SLR Cameras . Sure, we\'d all like a 16-300 VR VIII lens with a 20-stop VR reduction, constant 1.4 aperture, with optical perfection, weighing only 500 gr. and below $1,000, but alas our engineers are not as good as the random mutation and natural selection that gave us our eyes ;-0My settings:Display mode: detailed photo info > check RGB histogram and data > Done (why? You want to check if you are clipping the red, green, or blue channels)Transition effects: OFFSet picture control: portrait (for people shots)Landscape: for, well, landscape shots: increase sharpness to 4 (D3100 shots are unsharpened by default)Image quality: raw + jpeg fine (or jpeg fine, if you don\'t want to mess with raw)White balance: auto (I played with the settings to A1, A2, A3, but images were to yellowish for my taste, as if my kids had jaundice). Auto works fineAuto ISO: onMin shutter speed: 1/30 (1/15 if you have steady hands)Max ISO: I set 800, you can push to 1600 or even 3200 (your choice)Standard ISO: 100Active D-Lighting: on (it works well)Auto distortion control: on (Great)Movie settings: 1080 24p. You can also do 720 at 30p for less jerky movementsInfo display format: i prefer classic black (your choice)Auto info display: offImage comment: your choice. I have my name, copyright (haha), and phone numberBeep: off (please)AEL-AFL button: I only lock exposure, not focus.My accessories:67-to-77 ring adapter (if you have the 18-105 lens)72-to-77 ring adapter (if you have the 18-200 lens)77mm haze filter. I use the best, The B+W 77mm UVA (Ultra Violet) Haze MRC Filter #010 one. You don\'t want to use a cheap fIlter on top of a $350 or $650 lens.77mm circular polarizer fliter; again I use the best, the B + W 77mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Coated Glass Filter . This filter is for your travel shots. It will make blue skies bluer and will remove reflections from that gorgeous Maui ocean. This is an expensive filter at $180 or so; you don\'t have to get it right away, unless you are going to Maui soon.Why 77mm filters? Because you don\'t want to go nuts buying filters of different sizes for your lenses. If buy the 67mm filter for your 18-105 lens and later decide to upgrade your lens to the 72mm 18-200, you are screwed. It\'s cheaper to buy a $5 lens ring adapter to 77mm and use 77mm filters. It\'ll keep you sane too.Remember why you purchase this camera: you want to enjoy photography; enjoy it then.
- The specification is in the product listing for everyone see, so I won\'t review that, other than to say that this camera is a good specification for the price. I\'ll aim this review towards detailing my experience with using this camera. People looking at this model are likely comparing it to the similarly priced Canon model. Both brands are quite comparable, so at this level of the market it is really a matter of personal preference as to which brand you choose - and the current deals and discounts on offer. I choose the Nikon D3100 camera with the kit 18-55mm lens over the Canon model because I got a large discount off the second lens I wanted - the 55-200mm. (I see now that Amazon sells the camera with this lens in addition to the 18-55mm as an option, but this wasn\'t an option back when I bought then.) I thought with these two lenses I would have an adequate kit to get started in DSLR photography, although either a 35mm or 50mm prime FX lens is next on my wishlist. (FX lenses work fine on a DX body such as the D3100, although with a 1.5x effective focal length boost so I can somewhat future proof my lens purchases in the event I eventually upgrade to a better camera body.)I bought my camera and lenses back in April 2013 and decided to use it for several months before I reviewed them. I was heading on a trip a month later that I wanted this camera to accompany me on, and also wanted time to get to grips with the step up from many years of just using point and shoots before I offered a public opinion. I had wanted a DSLR for years, but couldn\'t justify the cost to myself, (I have kids and feel guilty spending money on myself), and so I had already read several books that explained the science of taking photos in a fully manual mode with a DSLR but I had never so much as picked up a DSLR before buying one. From using both film camera and digital point and shoots I was already fairly experienced and proficient in the composition aspect of taking a photo as well as in using image processing software such as Lightroom, Photoshop (Elements) and Paint Shop Pro to improve my photos. Of course, with a point and shoot or a scanned film photo I was forced to edit lossy JPG files - and now with a DSLR I can process native RAW files, (.NEF format on the Nikon), and the results from this change alone are phenomenal! I was amazed by just how much detail can be found in a RAW file using Adobe Lightroom 5 from what looks like a flat white or black area in an over/under exposed area. I\'ll never shoot in JPEG again if I have an option to shoot in a native RAW format.When I had received the camera I read the manual from cover to cover while the battery fully charged. I then jumped in my car and headed off on a drive to somewhere fairly scenic but local(ish) to test out my new purchase. I was determined that I would rarely use the fully AUTO mode unless I wanted to take an unplanned rush shot of something I\'d miss photographing otherwise.My several hours that day out taking photos was a very educational (and fun) time for me, and certainly cemented my enthusiasm to learn more about photography that I had hoped I would have when taking the jump up to a DSLR. I toyed around taking photos of things with differing apertures in Aperture Priority mode until I was comfortable controlling the depth of field, (as best I could with the kit lens.) took photos of things both close, and the mountains far away, at varying focal lengths, confirming for myself various aspects of photography I had read so much about but hadn\'t been able to practice and experiment with before fully, (e.g. bringing the background scenery closer while keeping a foreground subject a constant size.) Back home that evening I went out in the back yard and mounted my new camera on an old tripod I have with the 55-200mm lens and took photos of the moon and my house in the dark until I better understood shutter speed settings and how different ISO settings affect the photos I take. Again, this was all stuff I\'d read about, but never really fully had practical experience with regard to my own photographs before. My kids were also willing models so I could experiment with portraiture.photos using different settings until I achieved the effects I wanted or could achieve with just the kit lens and it\'s lack of a large aperture (small f-stop).Over the next few weeks before the family trip I planned to take this DSLR on with me, I picked the camera up and experimented daily. I took better photos every day and started to instinctively know what settings to use in full manual mode - my first guesses became increasingly correct, or were otherwise a pretty good starting point to fine tune when I had set the camera incorrectly for the conditions or photo I wanted.This is a tremendous camera to learn with and takes fabulous photos. My family went on the trip overseas. I took close to 3000 photos in the weeks we were traveling. Granted, I used the camera in a continuous shooting mode almost exclusively -- taking several photos of the same scene to try to guarantee a good shot - especially when photographing movement or people, so the total figure was bumped up somewhat.If I\'m taking photos left, right and center, I do now cheat a little and use Aperture Priority mode quite a lot so I just control the depth of field and let the camera do most of the rest, (although I retain control of the ISO as the camera seems to do a poor job in auto mode sometimes.) If I am planning a photo that I want to be proud of, I will still switch to full manual mode for the satisfaction that I am \"making\" a photo rather than just \"taking\" a photo. Oftentimes though, when out and about, one of the semi-manual modes (Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority modes) are all that is required to get the shot wanted and are a time-saver to use. Okay, I admit it - I sometimes use Auto-mode now too...I hope others decide to take the plunge from a point-and-shoot camera to a DSLR and ignite a similar passion for photography. I\'m very happy with my purchase.
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