Nikon D5100 Review

April 26, 2011 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

The Nikon D5100 is a new 16.2 megapixel DSLR camera that can record Full HD movies at 1920x1280 pixels / 25fps with stereo sound. A high-resolution 3-inch vari-angle LCD monitor makes it easier to compose your shots from difficult angles, while the extensive ISO range of 100-25600 should cope with virtually all lighting conditions. A 4fps burst shooting mode, 11-point autofocus system with 3D Focus Tracking, High Dynamic Range mode, Active D-Lighting and seven different special effects for stills and movies complete the Nikon D5100's headline specs. The Nikon D5100 costs £669.99 / $799.95 / €777 body only, or £779.99 / $899.95 / €904 with the 18-55mm VR kit lens.

Ease of Use

The new Nikon D5100 slots in between the existing D3100 and D7000 models, not only in terms of feature set and functionality, but also in terms of size and weight. It isn't quite as compact and lightweight as the D3100 but neither is it as bulky and heavy as the D7000. In comparison to its predecessor, the D5100 is about 10% smaller and lighter than the D5000. The right-hand grip slightly deeper and therefore slightly more comfortable for photographers with large hands and/or longish fingers than on the D5000. There's also a handy rubberised thumb rest on the back of the body.

The D5000's 12 megapixel CMOS sensor has been superseded by a 16.2 megapixel CMOS chip (the same sensor as used in the Sony A55), capable of providing a Live View feed, recording Full HD video and capturing full-resolution stills at 4 frames per second for around 100 highest quality JPEGs or 20 RAW images.

The sensor can clean itself by way of high-frequency vibrations that will, at least in theory, shake off any non-adhesive dust particles that may have settled on the low-pass filter during a lens change. You can specify, via an option in the Setup menu, whether you want sensor cleaning to take place at shutdown, startup, both or neither, with the default being 'both'. The cleaning process pleasingly has no practical impact on startup times, which were near instant. The new image sensor is complemented by the more powerful EXPEED 2 processing engine and a larger buffer as well.

The 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. It also adds the very important advantage of Vibration Reduction. Nikon bodies don't offer any form of in-camera image stabilisation, unlike similar models from Sony, Pentax 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. Furthermore, there is a Quiet Shutter Release mode, in which the mirror is raised fairly slowly to further reduce the sound it makes. This does, however, introduce some shutter lag, which usually isn't worth the few decibels of difference versus what is already an impressively quiet shutter.

Nikon D5100 Nikon D5100
Front Rear

The Nikon D5100 follows conventional DSLR design in having a shooting mode dial on the top of the camera, which allows you to select either one of the advanced modes like Manual, Aperture- or Shutter-priority, or a number of scene modes. The Exposure Compensation button is thoughtfully positioned next to the shutter release. Hold down this button with your right forefinger and spin the control wheel on the top-rear of the camera with your thumb to adjust its settings - simple and intuitive.

New to the Nikon DSLR range is the Effects shooting mode. This provides 7 different filters that can be applied to both still images and movies, following the trend first set by Olympus and their Art Filter range. The Night Vision effect is particularly worth of mention, pushing the camera's sensitivity to a whopping ISO 102,400, although a monochrome rather than colour image is recorded.

For stills, you can enter Live View mode to preview the effect or simply use the optical viewfinder. For movies, the recording is slowed down (dependant upon the chosen effect) as the camera uses a lot of processing power to apply the effect, leading to footage that can have a rather staccato feel. Note also that the camera sets virtually everything in the Effects mode - exposure, shutter speed, white balance, ISO, file type and quality - so its only creative in terms of the arty effect that's applied. Five of the same effects can be applied to an image or movie that you've taken, though, so you can have the best of both worlds (albeit without the luxury of a preview).

The second button sitting next to the shutter release is labeled 'info'. This button is arguably at the heart of the Nikon D5100's ease-of-use, as like its predecessor the camera lacks the monochromatic status LCD of the D90, so Nikon had to provide a different way to check vital shooting information without having to look into the viewfinder. Enter the info button - pressing it displays virtually all of the camera's main settings on the large rear screen. Pressing the button on the rear of the D5100 then allows you to interact with and set the onscreen options, with 14 available in total.

The articulated screen has been greatly improved over the previous D5000, now being hinged at the side rather than the bottom. This fully articulated design is a much more flexible solution, allowing the screen to be folded out from the left side of the camera and folded inwards to protect it when not in use. The screen is also bigger at 3 inches and higher resolution too, with 920k dots, so there's nothing to complain about in this department. The anti-glare coating has also been improved, so that the screen is now usable most of the time outdoors in strong daylight, although it still struggled a little with reflections.

Nikon D5100 Nikon D5100
Front

Top

The D5100's Live View is accessed in a different and arguably less intuitive way than on the D5000 or the D3100/D7000. Instead of a dedicated Lv button on the back of the D5000 or a combined switch / button on the D3100/D7000, the D5100 has a fore-finger operated spring-loaded switch on top of the body that is pushed downwards and toggles between turning Live View on and off. Positioned next to the Shooting Mode dial, it allows you to enable Live View whilst holding the camera at arms length with one hand, or to turn it off as you hold the camera up to your eye. 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 Lv switch and the mirror flips up, the shutter opens and the rear screen displays the scene as seen through the lens. There is a red rectangle in the middle, which you can move practically anywhere in the frame. When in manual focus (MF) mode, you can magnify into this rectangle in a number of steps by repeatedly pressing the button marked with a loupe icon, but this magnification seems to be at least partially interpolated. This means that you cannot see detail down to the pixel level, unlike some competing cameras.

Fortunately, MF is not the only focusing option in Live View, at least as long as you are taking stills. Contrast-detect auto-focus (CDAF) is also available and, while slow, it tends to be accurate. As with the D5000, CDAF can also be used in connection with face detection. 'Face-Priority AF' had no problem finding and keeping track of human faces as long as they were facing the camera, but acquiring focus was another story - very, very slow.

Live View must also be entered to shoot movies. After pressing the Lv 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. As with Live View, contrast-detect AF is possible whilst shooting movies, although as with still images there's an audible whine as the camera refocuses and it's still too slow to focus on any fast-moving subject, so much so that we suspect most serious users will use manual focusing instead. 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 Lumix GH1/2.

You can set both the aperture and the shutter speed during movie recording, although the slowest shutter speed is limited to 1/30th second, plus exposure compensation and AE-Lock can also be set. Out of the box the D5100 can only record monaural sound via its built-in microphone with three different levels of sensitivity on offer, but stereo recording can be recorded using an optional external microphone. The maximum size of a single video clip is 2 gigabytes which, given that movies occupy about 100 megabytes of storage space per minute, would theoretically translate into about 20 minutes of continuous recording, but – apparently because of certain legal regulations in the EU –, Nikon decided to limit the clip length to 5 minutes for high-definition movies.

Nikon D5100 Nikon D5100
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The D5100 has a proper through-the-lens optical viewfinder with a magnification of 0.78x, on par with most of its rivals. 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. Two warning signs - telling you that the battery is running low or you have forgotten to insert a memory card - may also appear in the form of overlaid icons when appropriate. Below the finder is a traditional monochromatic status bar showing practically all relevant shooting information (including the ISO sensitivity, if so specified in the menu).

As stated above, the Nikon D5100 has 11 auto-focus sensors, out of which only the central one is a cross type. The other ten are of the line variety, consequently being only sensitive to either vertical or horizontal detail, but not both. In practice, this did not turn out to be a real problem, with the camera typically locking focus on the subject quickly and easily, no matter which AF point was selected. In the viewfinder, the active AF point appears in red, which is easy to see. Selecting the active AF point is done by way of the four-way pad - except if you choose Auto Area AF - again a simple and intuitive solution. 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. The Drive Mode / Fn button can be reprogrammed to perform ISO selection or white balance adjustment (or one of a few other functions such as file quality specification), but the others still have to be set through the main info screen, called up by pressing the i button top-right of the rear display. With practice, performing adjustments via this screen becomes fairly quick and easy, but it's not as efficient as the older D90's dedicated controls.

The rear controls on the older D5000 that were positioned in a vertical row to the left of the LCD screen have now been scattered, seemingly almost randomly, to the right of the D5100's larger, folding screen. While we can understand the need to relocate them to accomodate the 3 inch LCD, the positioning of the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons in particular isn't very intuitive, being operated with your right-hand thumb, and right next to the Delete button. As the D5100 isn't a very complex camera in terms of the number of external controls, it thankfully doesn't get too confusing, but is something to consider from an ergonomic point of view.

For the images that you've already 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, colour adjustments, image resizing, image overlay, in-camera raw processing, quick auto retouching, straightening of crooked pictures, lens distortion correction, fisheye, colour outline, colour sketch, selective colour, miniature effect, and perspective control. Many of these functions make it unnecessary to buy specialised computer programs or plug-ins and spend hours in front of a computer to achieve a desired/popular effect.

The Nikon D5100 is powered by a proprietary EN-EL14 Lithium-ion battery (the same as the D3100), good for 660 shots, and records videos and image files on SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. As we noted in our D5000 review, we would really have liked to see Nikon add a second card slot for Compact Flash cards, so that owners of higher-specified Nikon DSLRs who buy a D90 or D5100 as a second body can use their existing memory cards. It also lacks the dual-SD slots of the D7000. As far as connectivity goes, there are USB/VideoOut and Mini HDMI ports as well as an accessory terminal for the connection of a wired remote or a GPS unit, all sheltered behind a door on the left side of the camera, when viewed from the back.

In summary, the Nikon D5100 is a versatile and compact DSLR that is well suited to beginner and more experienced shooter alike, with the fully-articulating screen a welcome addition for videographers. Now let's take a look at the D5100's image quality...

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16.2 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

The Nikon D5100 produced images of outstanding quality during the review period. The D5100 produces noise-free JPEG images at ISO 100-1600, with ISO 3200 also looking pretty good. ISO 6400 only shows a little noise, while the fastest settings of ISO 12800 and 25600 are quite a lot noisier and suffer from softening of fine detail and a loss of saturation, but the images are still perfectly usable for small prints and resizing for web use. The images were a little soft straight out of the D5100 at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting for JPEG files. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and bulb mode allowing you to capture plenty of light. Red-eye was not a common occurrence with the built-in flash, and when we did encounter it, it was very moderate and easily cured by setting the flash to red-eye reduction mode. Active D-lighting managed to squeeze most of the dynamic range captured by the sensor into the JPEGs the camera produced.

Noise

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Nikon D5100 and the ISO speed can be adjusted in 1/3 EV increments. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and RAW on the right.

The Nikon D5100 also has ISO Sensitivity Auto Control, activated from the shooting menu. If set to On, the camera will automatically adjust the sensitivity if proper exposure cannot be achieved at the value chosen by the photographer. The user can put a limit on the maximum sensitivity selectable by the camera.

JPEG

RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The file quality settings available on the D5100 include Basic, Normal and Fine for JPEGs, plus you can also store your photos in Nikon's proprietary raw format (NEF).  Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Fine (5.61Mb) (100% Crop)

Normal (4.22Mb) (100% Crop)

   

Basic (1.47Mb) (100% Crop)

RAW (16.3Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes by changing the Picture Styles.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Flash

The pop-up flash on the D5100 has several settings including Auto, Fill-in flash, Red-eye Reduction, SlowSync, Red-eye Reduction with Slow Sync, Rear-curtain Sync and Off. The mode of operation can be TTL, Auto or Manual, and there is Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) available as well. Note however that unlike the D90, the D5100 cannot control wirelessly slaved system flashes. These snaps of a white ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5m using the kit zoom.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (82.5mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (82.5mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are a couple of portrait shots. The built-in speedlight caused no red-eye effect in this test.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Nikon D5100 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well for exposure times of practically any length, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. There is an optional long-exposure noise reduction function that can be activated to filter out any hot pixels that may appear when extremely slow shutter speeds are used. Do note that this works by way of dark frame subtraction, which effectively doubles the exposure time. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds, aperture of f/11 at the ISO 100 sensitivity setting. We've included a 100% crop for you to see what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation

The Nikon D5100 does not offer body-integral image stabilisation, but the kit lens bundled with the camera features Vibration Reduction, Nikon's proprietary lens-based optical stabilisation system. This allows you to take sharp hand-held photos at slower shutter speeds than with lenses that lack this function. To illustrate this, I took two photos at both ends of the zoom, with VR turned on and off. At a shutter speed of 1/3 second - which is very slow for this focal length - the photo taken with VR was still commendably sharp, but the one without VR was decidedly blurred, as the 100% crops below clearly show.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Image Stabilisation Off (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation On (100% Crop)

1/3 sec / 27mm
     
1/3 sec / 82.5mm

D-lighting

D-lighting is Nikon's dynamic range optimisation tool that attempts to squeeze the full dynamic range of the sensor into JPEGs. The available settings are Off, Low, Medium, High, Extra High and Auto. The following examples demonstrate the differences between the various settings.

D-lighting - Off

D-lighting - Low

   

D-lighting - Medium

D-lighting - High

   

D-lighting - Extra High

 
 

HDR

The Nikon D5100 has a HDR mode with three levels of manual exposure and an Auto setting. The camera only combines two shots, one under and one over exposed, to produce the final image, and it's only available when shooting JPEGs.

HDR - Off

HDR - 1EV

   

HDR - 2EV

HDR - 3EV

Picture Controls

Nikon's Picture Controls are akin to Canon's Picture Styles in being preset combinations of sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation and hue. The available choices are Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait and Landscape. The following examples demonstrate the differences across these options.

Standard

Neutral

   

Vivid

Monochrome

   

Portrait

Landscape

Effects

New to the Nikon DSLR range is the Effects shooting mode. This provides 7 different creative filters that can be applied to both still images and movies.

Color Sketch

Miniature Effect

   

Selective Color

Silhouette

   

High Key

Low Key

   

Night Vision

 
 

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon D5100 camera, which were all taken using the 16.2 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Nikon D5100 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Nikon RAW (NEF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

The Nikon D5100 can record Full HD video in the MOV format. This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1280 pixels at 25 frames per second. Please note that this 13 second movie is 33.5Mb in size.

Product Images

Nikon D5100

Front of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Front of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

 
Nikon D5100

Isometric View

 
Nikon D5100

Isometric View

 
Nikon D5100

Isometric View

 
Nikon D5100

Isometric View

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

 

Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Info Displayed

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

 
Nikon D5100

Rear of the Camera / Live View

 
Nikon D5100

Top of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Bottom of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Side of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Side of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Front of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Front of the Camera

 
Nikon D5100

Memory Card Slot

 
Nikon D5100

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Nikon D5100 successfully bridges the gap between the beginner-friendly approach of the D3100 and the more complex D7000, with the latter's fantastic 16 megapixel sensor being the icing on the proverbial cake. The D5100 does have a few minor handling issues, most notably the positioning of the Live View switch and the secondary controls on the rear, and it could also be seen as being neither simple enough for complete beginners or feature-rich enough for more experienced users. All in all, though, the D5100 delivers excellent still and moving pictures with the minimum of fuss in a lightweight package and is a serious rival to the Canon EOS 600D and the Sony A55.

In addition to the excellent image sensor, the free-angle, tilting and folding LCD screen is the real highlight of the D5100, opening up lots of creative possibilities for both stills and video. Full 1080p HD footage is another fantastic feature on what is a relatively cheap DSLR, although full-time auto-focusing in Live View mode is still a painfully slow experience and not well-suited to fast-moving subjects. The new Effects modes can be used to add a creative flair to your images, although the inability to manually control the camera's key settings means that applying the effect during image playback is often the better route to take.

Tellingly, our biggest gripe about the D5100 isn't a very serious one, in that the illogical positioning of some of its controls, especially the Live View switch and the separate Movie Record button, probably won't stop the camera's target audience from enjoying it. The lack of a dedicated ISO button will definitely irk some users though, only being accessible via the reprogrammable Fn button, something that the previous D5000 suffered from and which should really have been fixed by now.

Ultimately the Nikon D5100 easily overcomes its few real weak points, offering a compelling mix of great image and movie quality, precise and quick auto-focusing, accurate metering and a fantastic LCD screen, all in a format that most users will find intutive and enjoyable to use. This is precisely what a DSLR that's competitively priced for the mass-market should deliver, and judged on that criteria, the Nikon D5100 is a very worthy winner of our Highly Recommended award.

4.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4.5
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 5
Value for money 4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Nikon D5100 from around the web.

whatdigitalcamera.com »

The Nikon D5100 updates the D5000 model, but continues to sit alongside the D90 in the range - quashing rumours that this latter model was to be replaced. The D5100 straddles the beginner and mid-level consumer market, merging entry-level 'fun' features such as Effects modes along with an image sensor pulled directly from the D7000 and many other features adopted from the D3100. Can the D5100 successfully fit snugly into the gap between those two cameras? The What Digital Camera Nikon D5100 review takes a look...
Read the full review »

ephotozine.com »

The Nikon D5100 is a newly designed camera improving on the Full HD video of the D5000 and introducing a new horizontally swivelling 3inch screen, and a new more compact body, that is 10% smaller than the D5000. It also introduces a new "creative effects" mode with 6/7 new filters, as well as a built in "merge to HDR" function, much like the feature you may have used on a computer to merge two (or more) different exposures to create a "High Dynamic Range" photo.
Read the full review »

dpreview.com »

The arrival of the D5100 appears to signal the completion of Nikons refresh of its non-pro DSLR lineup. Its feature set and pricing mean that it sits very comfortably between the beginner-friendly D3100 and the high-end D7000 - it's clearly aimed to attract the attention of enthusiast photographers without cannibalizing sales of is sister models. A camera maker can judge the success of its market positioning by seeing how many people are wondering 'which model is right for me?' on discussion forums - and we think a D3100/D5100/D7000 progression would minimize such doubts. The official line is that the D90 maintains its position in the range, but both its naming and overlap with other models suggest that its role is now more one of historical interest than future significance.
Read the full review »

Specifications

 
Type Single-lens reflex digital camera
Lens mount Nikon F mount (with AF contacts)
Effective angle of view Approx. 1.5 x lens focal length (Nikon DX format)
Effective pixels 16.2 million
Image sensor 23.6 x 15.6 mm CMOS sensor
Total pixels 16.9 million
Dust-reduction System Image sensor cleaning, Image Dust Off reference data (optional Capture NX 2 software required)
Image size (pixels) 4,928 x 3,264 (L) 3,696 x 2,448 (M) 2,464 x 1,632 (S)
File format NEF (RAW): 14 bit, compressed JPEG: JPEG-Baseline compliant with fine (approx. 1 : 4), normal (approx. 1 : 8), or basic (approx. 1 : 16) compression NEF (RAW)+JPEG: Single photograph recorded in both NEF (RAW) and JPEG formats
Picture Control System Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape; selected Picture Control can be modified; storage for custom Picture Controls
Media SD (Secure Digital), SDHC, and SDXC memory cards
File system DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) 2.0, DPOF (Digital Print Order Format), Exif 2.3 (Exchangeable Image File Format for Digital Still Cameras), PictBridge
Viewfinder Eye-level pentamirror single-lens reflex viewfinder
Frame coverage Approx. 95% horizontal and 95% vertical
Magnification Approx. 0.78 x (50 mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, -1.0m-1)
Eyepoint 17.9 mm (-1.0m-1)
Diopter adjustment -1.7-+0.7 m-1
Focusing screen Type B BriteView Clear Matte Mark VII screen
Reflex mirror Quick return
Lens aperture Instant return, electronically controlled
Compatible lenses Autofocus is available with AF-S and AF-I lenses. Autofocus is not available with other type G and D lenses, AF lenses (IX NIKKOR and lenses for the F3AF are not supported), and AI-P lenses. Non-CPU lenses can be used in mode M, but the camera exposure meter will not function. *The electronic rangefinder can be used with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or faster.
Type Electronically-controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter
Speed 1/4000 - 30 s in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV; Bulb; Time (requires optional ML-L3 remote control)
Flash sync speed X=1/200 s; synchronizes with shutter at 1/200 s or slower
Release mode Single frame, continuous, self-timer, delayed remote, quick-response remote, quiet shutter release
Frame advance rate Up to 4 fps (manual focus, mode M or S, shutter speed 1/250 s or faster, and other settings at default values)
Self-timer 2 s, 5 s, 10 s, 20 s; 1-9 exposures
Metering TTL exposure metering using 420-pixel RGB sensor
Metering method 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 8-mm circle in center of frame Spot: Meters 3.5-mm circle (about 2.5% of frame) centered on selected focus point
Range (ISO 100, f/1.4 lens, 20 °C/68 °F) Matrix or center-weighted metering: 0-20 EV Spot metering: 2-20 EV
Exposure meter coupling CPU
Mode Auto modes (auto; auto, flash off ); programmed auto with flexible program (P); shutter-priority auto (S); aperture-priority auto (A); manual (M); scene modes (portrait; landscape; child; sports; close up; night portrait; night landscape; party/indoor; beach/snow; sunset; dusk/dawn; pet portrait; candlelight; blossom; autumn colors; food); special effects modes (night vision; color sketch; miniature effect; selective color; silhouette; high key; low key)
Exposure compensation -5 - +5 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV
Bracketing Exposure bracketing: 3 frames in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV White balance bracketing: 3 frames in steps of 1 Active D-Lighting bracketing: 2 frames
Exposure lock Luminosity locked at detected value with AE-L/AF-L button
ISO sensitivity (Recommended Exposure Index) ISO 100 - 6400 in steps of 1/3 EV. Can also be set to approx. 0.3, 0.7, 1, or 2 EV (ISO 25600 equivalent) above ISO 6400; auto ISO sensitivity control available
Active D-Lighting Auto, extra high, high, normal, low, off
Autofocus Nikon Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus sensor module with TTL phase detection, 11 focus points (including one cross-type sensor), and AF-assist illuminator (range approx. 0.5-3 m/1 ft. 8 in.-9 ft. 10 in.)
Detection range -1 - +19 EV (ISO 100, 20 °C/68 °F)
Lens servo Autofocus (AF): Single-servo AF (AF-S); continuous-servo AF (AF-C); auto AF-S/AF-C selection (AF-A); predictive focus tracking activated automatically according to subject status Manual focus (MF): Electronic rangefinder can be used
Focus point Can be selected from 11 focus points
AF-area mode Single-point AF, dynamic-area AF, auto-area AF, 3D-tracking (11 points)
Focus lock Focus can be locked by pressing shutter-release button halfway (single-servo AF) or by pressing AE-L/AF-L button
Built-in flash Auto, portrait, child, close up, night portrait, party/indoor, pet portrait, color sketch: Auto flash with auto pop-up P, S, A, M, food: Manual pop-up with button release
Guide Number Approx. 12/39, 13/43 with manual flash (m/ft, ISO 100, 20 °C/68 °F)
Flash control TTL: i-TTL balanced fill-flash and standard i-TTL flash for digital SLR using 420-pixel RGB sensor are available with built-in flash and SB-900, SB-800, SB-700, SB-600, or SB-400 (i-TTL balanced fill-flash is available when matrix or center-weighted metering is selected) Auto aperture: Available with SB-900/SB-800 and CPU lens Non-TTL auto: Supported flash units include SB-900, SB-800, SB-80DX, SB-28DX, SB-28, SB-27, and SB-22S Distance-priority manual: Available with SB-900, SB-800, and SB-700
Flash mode Auto, auto with red-eye reduction, auto slow sync, auto slow sync with red-eye reduction, fill-flash, red-eye reduction, slow sync, slow sync with red-eye reduction, rear-curtain with slow sync, rear-curtain sync, off
Flash compensation -3 - +1 EV in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 EV
Flash-ready indicator Lights when built-in flash or optional flash unit such as SB-900, SB-800, SB-700, SB-600, or SB-400 is fully charged; blinks for 3 s after flash is fired at full output
Accessory shoe ISO 518 hot-shoe with sync and data contacts and safety lock
Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) Advanced Wireless Lighting supported with SB-900, SB-800, or SB-700 as a master flash, or SU-800 as commander; Flash Color Information Communication supported with built-in flash and all CLS-compatible flash units
Sync terminal AS-15 sync terminal adapter (available separately)
White balance Auto, incandescent, fluorescent (7 types), direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shade, preset manual, all except preset manual with fine tuning.
Lens servo Autofocus (AF): Single-servo AF (AF-S); full-time-servo AF (AF-F) Manual focus (MF)
AF-area mode Face-priority AF, wide-area AF, normal-area AF, subject-tracking AF
Autofocus Contrast-detect AF anywhere in frame (camera selects focus point automatically when face-priority AF or subject-tracking AF is selected)
Automatic scene selection Available in auto and flash off modes
Metering TTL exposure metering using main image sensor
Metering method Matrix
Frame size (pixels) and frame rate 1,920 x 1,080, 30 p/25 p/24 p, high/normal 1,280 x 720, 30 p/25 p/24 p, high/normal 640 x 424, 30 p/25 p, high/normal A frame rate of 30 p (actual frame rate 29.97 fps) is available when NTSC is selected for video mode. 25 p is available when PAL is selected for video mode. Actual frame rate when 24 p is selected is 23.976 fps.
File format MOV
Video compression H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding
Audio recording format Linear PCM
Audio recording device Built-in monaural or external stereo microphone; sensitivity adjustable
Monitor 7.5-cm/3-in., approx. 921k-dot (VGA), vari-angle low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with 170 ° viewing angle, approx. 100% frame coverage, and brightness adjustment
Playback Full-frame and thumbnail (4, 9, or 72 images or calendar) playback with playback zoom, movie playback, slide show, histogram display, highlights, auto image rotation, and image comment (up to 36 characters)
USB Hi-Speed USB
Video output NTSC, PAL
HDMI output Type C mini-pin HDMI connector
Accessory terminal Remote cord: MC-DC2 (available separately) GPS unit: GP-1 (available separately)
Audio input Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5mm diameter)
Supported languages Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Battery One rechargeable Li-ion EN-EL14 battery
AC adapter EH-5b AC adapter; requires EP-5A power connector (available separately)
Tripod socket 1/4 in. (ISO 1222)
Dimensions (W x H x D) Approx.128 x 97 x 79 mm (5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 in.)
Weight Approx. 510 g/1 lb. 2 oz. (camera body only) Approx. 560 g (1 lb. 3.7 oz.) with battery and memory card but without body cap
Temperature 0-40 °C (+32-104 °F)
Humidity Less than 85% (no condensation)
Supplied accessories EN-EL14 rechargeable Li-ion battery (with terminal cover), MH-24 battery charger, AN-DC3 strap, EG-CP14 audio/video cable, UC-E6 USB cable, DK-5 eyepiece cap, BS-1 accessory shoe cover, DK-20 rubber eyecup, BF-1B body cap, ViewNX 2 CD, User's Manual

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