D5100 owners !!

[photonewbie23]

I recently bought a d5100 and I've been playing with it trying to get to know the camera ... So far I really like it I just want to hear what all the other previous and current owners think about the product ... The pros and cons?

 

[photographyfan]

Congrats on your new acquisition! The D5100 is a camera that is loved by so many.

Here are some pros and cons of this camera - kind of a summary from various users. The 3 inch LCD screen which can be pulled out and swiveled is very useful, not only because it's convenient, but also because it helps to shoot from unusual angles. That there are only a very few dedicated controls in this camera is not a big favorite. I have read that some users love that the Nikon 5000 does a great job of shooting in low light conditions. Overall, the image quality is excellent, and the battery life is also quite good. So overall, I think you are going to have fun with this one. Good luck!

 

[Mello]

I love mine. One thing I learned that could help you out if you shoot manual is that you can program the "fn" button so it controls ISO. Huge time saver, keeps you from diving into the menu to change it.

 

[Designer]

I love mine. One thing I learned that could help you out if you shoot manual is that you can program the "fn" button so it controls ISO. Huge time saver, keeps you from diving into the menu to change it.

Since there is only one "fn" button, it is vexing to decide how to program it. Re-setting it for another function is easy, but there is still only one at a time.

 

[Designer]

The pros and cons?

Pro: There is a lot more capability built into the camera than most beginners can comprehend all at once.

Con: The DX sensor, no AF motor in body, only one adjustment wheel, to name a few.

 

[TheFantasticG]

Con: The DX sensor, no AF motor in body, only one adjustment wheel, to name a few.

Funny, I consider the DX sensor a pro, not a con.

 

[mwz]

I enjoyed the wireless remote sensors (back and front). Made for easy release while messing around with flashlights, large groups (incl me) and such. Swivel screen also great. Lightweight and small, great for travel.

Having to dig into the menu to activate the remote mode, and that it would reset after just a few mins of down time... Not so great. Would be nice if it had a virtual horizon too (maybe it does haha).

Overall I LOVED learning on this body, but my lenses quickly (11 months) outgrew the capabilities of the sensor so I upgraded to FX.

Have fun and blast away!

 

[Solarflare]

Hmm this could give an endless list...


Mostly I bought the D5100 for the lesser weight and the flipscreen, over the D7000.

The flipscreen indeed is great. I still say this is a feature I kind of want to have on my future cameras. However, its unfortunately a very unpopular, if not to say completely unknown, to higher quality cameras. Apparently because people think its "fragile". Cameras are fragile anyway ! Lenses are made of GLASS, for heavens sake ! And the flipscreen means I can flip it around and protect the monitor. Also the flipscreen allows me to see all kinds of crazy angles easily - thats why I want it, after all.

What I didnt realized though is that DSLRs are Phase AF cameras. To actually see something on the monitor, you have to enter lifeview, which means the mirror goes up so there actually is an image on the fotosensor. When the Mirror is up, the phase AF is off, too. So the camera has to use a contrast AF instead, like compact cameras. This has the advantage of being reliable - contast AF doesnt need calibration. But it has the disadvantage of being much slower, because Phase AF can tell into which direction focus has to move and by how much, while Contrast AF only knows if its in focus or not.

Thats why the D5100 takes a freaking 2 seconds to focus in lifeview. Which means I use this much less often than before.

Synergetic advantage of the flipscreen: no controls to the left side of the camera (well except sadly the Menu button). Much more ergonomic, in my opinion.

Little weight definitely is great, too.

And I have to say photographically the D5100 proved mostly to be a wonderful tool. I got great photographs especially with my 35mm f/1.8 even wide open, and my 55-200mm f/4-5.6 near 55mm f/4. The later also showed some really creamy Bokeh, like in the example picture in the Wikipedia article about Bokeh. Wide angle is a problem though. I use the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 for that and it isnt really that much wide angle plus it has plenty distortions at 18mm.

And the AF, maybe there is even better, but it worked 95% of the time. I could even do sports quite nicely with the 55-200mm, even if Ken Rockwell says this is not a good lens for that, and it probably isnt, but I have no comparison hehe. Okay definitely not 95% success rate with Sports, more like 80-90%. And it wasnt motorsport or anything like that, just regular people sport (basketball etc).


What I miss is:
- Hyper Speed Sync. Cant use fill flash in bright sunlight. Thats my only photographic complaint.

- Viewfinder performance. I wear glasses, and I cant see the full frame of the picture I'm taking at any point. Always any part of it that I want, but not everything at the same time. One of the main reasons why I am often thinking of getting some bigger camera with a better viewfinder.

- Weathersealing. Whenever it rains I get a really bad feeling and dont want to get my camera out. Not good.

- Dual card slot with backup mode.

- Second command dial would be nice.

- Lifeview button is way weird. Bad solution.

- The Auto ISO of Nikon is mostly great, but it doesnt get disabled when you enter full manual mode. This is kind of counter intuitive and makes menu diving every time one wants to use manual mode necessary. Okay, I dont do that one too often anyway.

- Dunno, more efficient use of the controls available would be nice. For example, I never need the info button on top, or the movie mode button. Would be nice to be able to reconfigure those to something else.

- The menu button, that I need quite often, is very hard to reach. Bad.

- In general, the menu system could use quite some work. Theres a nice up/down/left/right button there, but the menus are all just 2D.

Con: The DX sensor, no AF motor in body, only one adjustment wheel, to name a few.

I dont think these are relevant disavantages. No AF means you cant use certain old lenses. All new lenses are AF-S (well or PC-E and that means they are manual only anyway) and no motor also means less weight. Yay !

Having to dig into the menu to activate the remote mode, and that it would reset after just a few mins of down time... Not so great. Would be nice if it had a virtual horizon too (maybe it does haha).

Unless its hidden in the retouch menu, there definitely is no horizont in the D5100.

 

[pooh83]

Hi All,

This is my first official post and I had got a Nikon 5100 not long ago too...

As I am still a newbie to photography, this camera does really serve very well in taking shots of my family members.

Just that sometime i find that i have some difficulty focusing and cant seem to snap the button like stuck...

- Just purchased a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G lens 2 days ago after comparing to the 55mm 1.8/G


Yeah !

 

[brian_f2.8]

The pros and cons?

Pro: There is a lot more capability built into the camera than most beginners can comprehend all at once.

Con: The DX sensor, no AF motor in body, only one adjustment wheel, to name a few.

Agreed, the only thing I'd like to add is that it's great for walking around with. When I bought my D3, it was too big to Cary around for casual shooting. I wish I got a D700 with a grip. I'd use the grip for sports, and no grip for every day fun.

Hopefully Nikon will go all fx and all motor drives.

 

[tissa]

Pros: a lot
Cons: doesn't have a commander mode (thus wont work with a flash if you use if wirelessly unless u have a flash trigger or use it in a slave mode); wont autofocus with lenses other than AF-S (and they are more expensive)

 

[KmH]

wont autofocus with lenses other than AF-S (and they are more expensive)

That is not entirely true.
Many of the AF lenses that don't have a focus motor in them, like the AF-S lenses do, actually cost more because they are higher grade lenses.

Plus a lot of the AF-S lenses also have VR, which because of it's complexity adds much more cost to a lens than a simple focus motor does.
One also has to factor in that virtually all new lenses Nikon introduces are AF-S lenses.

.....AF-S.....
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

.....AF.....
Nikon 35mm f/2D AF Wide-Angle Nikkor Lens for Nikon 35mm and Digital SLR Cameras

A lot of the older AF lenses with no auto focus motor that Nikon still offers new, were previous generation pro grade glass, open to wide apertures, and are not inexpensive:
Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

 

[c_pass]

I love my 5100, even though I'm looking to upgrade soon... It served it purpose to introduce me to photography...

Cons for me would be 4 fps, and no internal motor

 

[DBA]

I love my 5100, even though I'm looking to upgrade soon... It served it purpose to introduce me to photography...

Cons for me would be 4 fps, and no internal motor

Ditto. New (to me) D7000 should arrive next week, in hindsight I wish I would've just gone with it from the start.

In unrelated news, I have a D5100 for sale.

 

[photonewbie23]

Well here I am a couple of weeks later And I couldn't be any happier with my d5100 , I'm still learning new things about it on a daily basis ... Great camera overall