Nikon D3100 OR Canon EOS 1100D

[Abhi.Naik]

Hi,
I plan to buy an Entry-level DSLR. I don't have any experience when it comes to DSLRs, as I have just used Point and Shoot Cameras before. Considering my budget I have to choose between Nikon D3100 and Canon EOS 1100D.
Can you please tell me which one would be better?
I'm looking forward to using my camera for mostly Night-Photography, Portraits, Macro and Landscapes. I won't be using it much for video.

From what I've researched,

D3100 lacks Auto-Bracketing and Inbuilt Auto-Focus Motor. But it has Full-HD Recording. There are few more differences like, the 1100D has fewer focus points (9 v/s 11 in D3100), and has better Remote capabilities.

As I'm a beginner, I wouldn't know for sure, but I might be interested in HDR Photography later.

Considering all these factors, can you please advise me on what would be the best buy for me? Also, can you explain in simple terms how the presence or absence of Auto Bracketing will affect my HDR, if at all?

Thanks.

 

[fjrabon]

lack of autobracketing just means you have to be quick with your exposure compensation controls. But it's not hard. It literally involves pushing a button while turning a wheel. You can pretty easily fire off 5 shots at a range of exposure compensations within 7 seconds of one another, which is usually good enough for HDR. It's annoying that it's not on the D3100, because clearly the only reason it's not is to give people another reason to buy the D5100. But I really don't find it as a major drawback to the D3100.

I find the remote a bigger issue on the D3100, though it's mostly a convenience thing. It'd be nice to just pull a wireless trigger out of the bag and use it instead of hooking a wired trigger up, but really that's not a very big deal to me.

If you're doing night photography, in my opinion the D3100 blows away the lower level Canons in low light photography. It's probably the biggest difference to me between the low level Canons and the low level Nikons.

The inbuilt focus motor just depends, it's becoming less and less an in issue, as most new lenses you buy for Nikons have built in focus motors anyway. It's almost hard to find the ones you'd need the camera's focus motor for. Sure, it'd be nice if the D3100 had an in camera focus motor, and then all of Nikon's lenses were cheaper, but it is what it is. For someone starting off I wouldn't really worry about this though. The people that this is more of an issue are people who already own lenses that don't have focus motors built into the lens. For someone starting out, not a big deal in my mind.

edit: for clarity, I'm saying I can usually get 5 shots at different exposure compensations in a total of 7 seconds. A little over a second per exposure. I can sometimes do it faster, but if I get too quick with it, I just induce camera shake. 5 in 7 seconds is actually doing it while attempting to be slow and steady.

 

[Abhi.Naik]

Thanks. I was a little worried about the HDR thing.
Most of the reviews and side-by-sides I've read, show D3100 as the winner. But they state the reasons as 'High Quality Video' and other Video related stuff. But if it's good enough for Photographs, that's nice.

 

[KmH]

I don't often use exposure compensation to make bracketed exposures for HDR. I usually just change the shutter speed.

By the way, it is a violation of TPF rules/regs to post the same thread in multiple forum sections, so it's possible a moderator may merge yours..

 

[fjrabon]

I don't often use exposure compensation to make bracketed exposures for HDR. I usually just change the shutter speed.

It depends on which mode you're in I guess. If you're in Ap priority mode, it's easiest to just use exposure comp. If you're in full manual mode, it's easiest to just change the shutter speed. For a full beginner, I think ap priority mode with exposure comp is probably the easiest route. It's basically six of one, half dozen of the other, as if you're in ap priority mode, changing the exposure compensation just changes the shutter speed, while keeping aperture and ISO constant.

 

[Abhi.Naik]

I don't often use exposure compensation to make bracketed exposures for HDR. I usually just change the shutter speed.

By the way, it is a violation of TPF rules/regs to post the same thread in multiple forum sections, so it's possible a moderator may merge yours..

Ok thanks. I didn't know about that rule.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Nikon D3100 has better image quality than Canon 1100D, and the Nikon D3100 is one generation in front of Canon 1100D. Canon 1100D's image quality can only compete with Nikon D3000's. But image quality is not all. You can do HDR without problem. Don't worry.