Nikon D3100 Review

 

Introduction

The Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera is an Entry Level Digital SLR Camera with advanced features.  The D3100 is compact in size and weight compared to other digital SLR cameras on the market today.  While the D3100 is marketed toward beginner Digital SLR users it packs the punch for both novice and advance users as well.

The Nikon D3100 features a “guide mode” which is perfect for entry level digital SLR camera users.  The guide mode was first introduced with the Nikon D3000 model.  When you select guide mode from the rotary switch on top of the camera the D3100 guides you through all of the basic Digital SLR settings while you are taking a picture.  This feature can teach you what each setting does and what the correct setting is for the situation you are in.  Guide mode is perfect for those users who are new to photography who want to learn more about manual settings on the fly.

Another feature that caters to entry level Digital SLR cameras is the option of Auto mode.  When you choose Auto mode from the rotary switch on top of the camera you the camera will act just like a point and shoot camera.  All settings will be chosen automatically including the built in flash.  So, if you ever run into the situation where you want someone else to take a picture and don’t want to take the time to setup all the manual settings, then just switch to auto mode and you will still get great quality pictures.  This mode also comes in handy when you just don’t have time to make all the manual settings and just want to let Nikon’s sensors compute what the right settings should be.

The D3100 also offers 6 great preset profiles that you can quickly choose from the rotary dial on top of the camera.  Each of these settings will automatically choose the correct aperture and shutter speed for a given situation.  Here are the 6 available presets:

• Night Portrait – Used for taking pictures at night or low light conditions
• Close Up – Used for taking close up shots of plants, insects, or macro objects
• Sports – Used for fast action shots and moving objects
• Child – Used for taking pictures of children or pets who might move around a lot
• Landscape – Used for vivid detailed landscapes shot during the day
• Portrait – Used for taking portrait pictures to create soft natural skin tones
  

While, the D3100 does have a lot of entry level features on it, don’t let that fool you into thinking it doesn’t have a lot of manual controls as well.  You can easily avoid using any of the entry level features by selecting the manual modes.  The D3100 has four other manual settings that give you complete control of the camera.  There are P (Programmed Auto, S (Shutter Priority Auto),A (Aperture Priority Auto), and M (Manual) modes which allow you to set the camera exactly how you want.  Each of these settings are applicable in different situations.

The Programmed Auto mode (P) gives you the least amount of manual controls of the four settings.  The aperture and shutter speed is automatically chosen for you for the optimal exposure in most situations.  However you can adjust the shutter speed and aperture combination with a quick scroll of the command dial which is conveniently accessible to your right thumb.  This will in effect change your “f” numbers up and down to change the depth of field without changing the exposure.

The Shutter Priority Mode (S) allows you to choose the choose the shutter speed you want and let the D3100 choose the correct aperture to match the correct exposure.  This setting can be very useful when you want to either take pictures of fast moving objects or take pictures in low light conditions.  If you want to take pictures of moving objects such as your child running you will want to set a fast shutter speed to freeze that moment in time.  If you want to take a picture of the moon at night then you would take a picture with a slow shutter to give the camera time to get the light exposure.  You can quickly change the shutter speed while taking a picture using the command dial which is accessible with your right thumb.

The Aperture Priority Mode (A) allows you to choose the aperture of the camera while the D3100 will automatically choose the correct shutter speed to reach the proper exposure.  You can quickly change the aperture while taking a picture using the command dial which is accessible with your right thumb.  This is very useful when you want to create a certain depth of field in your photograph.  By choosing a large aperture you will lower the depth of field which will in effect focus on one depth and blur all other depths.  A low depth of field allows you to focus on one object which is perfect for taking a photograph of a single object or person.  By choosing a large aperture you will increase the depth of field and make the entire photograph in focus which is great for landscapes.

The Manual Mode (M) basically allows you to take complete control of the camera.  You can set the aperture, shutter speeds, exposure, and all other settings available to you in the camera.  There is no automatic exposure calculations in this mode so you are on your own.  By playing with the camera in this mode you will soon find out how much the camera actually does automatically.  However with the Manual setting it gives you free reign to take a picture however you like.

One of the disadvantages of SLR cameras in the past was that you can only use the view finder to take pictures and the LCD screen was just used to change options or look and edit pictures.  This is the case because the image had a direct path from the lens to the view finder so that the view you see from the view finder is the same as the image you are taking.

To fix the problem of not being able to use the LCD to take a picture Nikon came up with a feature called Live View.  Live View allows you to use the LCD to view your pictures and video as you would with a regular point and shoot digital camera.  Nikon has seamlessly integrated this feature in with the flip of a lever.  By flipping the lever you can switch in and out of Live View so you can choose to use the view finder or the LCD screen to take pictures.  Now you can just set the camera to live view before handing off to someone else and they can take a picture just like they would any other point and shoot camera.

The Nikon D3100 also has a video camera mode that can be recorded in full 1080 HD at 24 FPS.  The videos can also be recorded in 720 at 30 FPS, 720 at 25 FPS. 720 at 24 FPS, and 640 at 24 FPS.  The one thing that is lacking is a microphone jack for recording higher quality audio.  For most people the video should  be quite sufficient.  I personally don’t use video my SLR cameras for video, but it is a nice feature to have.

Changing to video mode is actually quite easy.  All you have to do is flip the live view switch and then press the record button to start shooting video.  The video features an auto focus tracking system in which it can keep focus on an object.  You can also turn auto focus off and focus manually while you are shooting video to get the exact look you want.  If you are pretty crafty at shooting videos you can make some pretty high quality videos using this camera, especially if you have some nice lenses.

 

Specifications

Lens

Nikon D3100 comes either with the 15-55 VR Nikkor Kit lens.  There are some packages that come with both the 15-55 VR lens and the 55-500 VR lens.

The Nikon D3100 does not have an AF motor in the body of the camera.  This means that you will need to purchase lenses with an internal AF motor inside the lens itself.  Look for lenses that say AF-S to get the correct lens for this camera.  This lack of the AF in the body is also in the D5000, D3000, D60, D40, and D40x models.

Auto Focus

• 11 area TTL phase detection
• Nikon Multi-CAM1000 autofocus module
• Detection range: EV -1 to +19 (ISO 100 equivalent, at normal temperature)
• Manual focus [M], Electronic range finding supported

View Finder

• Optical fixed eye-level
• Pentamirror type
• Built-in dioptre adjustment
• Eye point: 18 mm
• Frame coverage 95%
• Viewfinder magnification approx. 0.8x with 50mm lens at infinity
• Focusing screen: Type B BriteView clear matte screen Mark VII*

Metering

420-segment 3D, full-color Matrix meter, center-weighted or spot

TTL exposure metering using 420-pixel RGB sensor
• Matrix :3D color matrix metering II (type G and D lenses); color matrix metering II (other CPU lenses)
• Center-weighted: Weight of 75% given to a 8mm circle in center of frame
• Spot: Meters 3.5 mm circle (about 2.5% of frame) centered on active focus area

Metering Range

• EV 0 to 20 (3D color matrix or center-weighted metering)
• EV 2 to 20 (spot metering)

Built in Flash

• Auto, Portrait, Child, Close-up, Night portrait
• Auto flash with auto pop-up,
• Manual pop-up in P, S, A or M modes
• Guide number approx. 12/39 at ISO 100 (m/ft)
• Guide number approx. 13/43 at ISO 100 (m/ft) in manual mode

Flash Modes

• Auto, Portrait, Child, Close-up: Auto, auto with red-eye reduction; fill-flash and red-eye reduction available with optional Speedlight
• Night portrait: Auto, auto slow sync, auto slow sync with red-eye reduction; slow sync and slow sync with red-eye reduction available with optional Speedlight
• Landscape, Sports: Fill-flash and red-eye reduction available with optional Speedlight
• P, A modes: Fill flash, rear-curtain with slow sync, slow sync, slow sync with red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction
• S, M modes: Fill flash, rear-curtain sync, red-eye reduction

Flash Compensation

• -3 to +1 EV
• 1/3 steps

Shutter

• Electronically-controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter
• 30 to 1/4000 sec (1/3 EV steps)
• Flash X-Sync: up to 1/200 sec
• Bulb

Sensor

• 23.1 x 15.4 mm CMOS sensor
• Nikon DX format (1.5x FOV crop)
• 14.2 million effective pixels*
• RGB Color Filter Array
• 12-bit A/D converte

Video

Movie Sizes

• 1920 x 1080 24p*
• 1280 x 720 30p*
• 1280 x 720 25p*
• 1280 x 720 24p*
• 640 x 424 24p*

Video Outputs

NTSC or PAL selectable

LCD

• 3.0″ TFT LCD
• 230,000 pixel

Storage

• SD / SD HC / SDXC
• FAT / FAT32
• Supports firmware update via SD card

Battery

Lithium-Ion battery pack EN-EL14

Weight

With no battery: 455g (1.0 lb)

With Battery: 505g (1.1 lb)

 

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