A. Walls
This purchase was a disappointment. The D3400s shutter release failed a couple of months after making the purchase. The camera is now back with Nikon; who knows for how long. But that is a camera issue and, though disappointing, not the reason for this review. I wanted to tell you about the equipment bundle and make a suggestion. Looking at the product photographs, I thought this would be a great deal, saving me a ton of money on the accessories that I would otherwise have to buy. It wasnt. Start with the flash... made by Vivitar, this cheap plastic flash took forever to cycle and had a tendency to discharge randomly, both on and off the camera. The extendable upper sleeve extended right off the body and wouldnt go back on. Utterly useless. Went back and bought a decent i-TTL speed flash, which works very well. Next, the tripod... cheap, lightweight, mostly plastic. Another useless accessory. Too lightweight to prevent camera vibration, even indoors. One of the legs appeared bent and would not extend. Even with the head tightened, the camera would gradually tilt downwards. I ended up replacing it with a used, but solid, Manfrotto (excellent tripod). The bag... tiny, cheaply made, and largely useless. I know it shouldnt matter, but the bag has a plastic/metal badge, "VidPro", on the front. Apparently, a leftover, bottom-of-the-line camcorder bag. Ill keep it, in case I ever buy a bottom-of-the-line camcorder, but had to buy a camera bag that was made for a DSLR and lenses. Remote shutter release never worked once, even with a new battery. Replaced it with a Nikon remote which works perfectly. One other point you should consider when buying this camera - it does not have a port for attaching a cabled shutter release and it is not wifi capable - both of which I needed but didnt think to check for before buying. The flash storage is OK but I decided to replace the two cards the kit provided with one high-speed, large capacity card that would allow me to shoot bursts of RAW images. The little cleaning kit was awesome. Bottom line--- The camera itself was fine, when it worked. Not so much after 8 weeks. By the way, I did contact the seller by email, within a couple of weeks of purchase, but they never responded. I hate Amazon affiliates that dont live up to Amazons standards on things like customer service. But I digress... I wholeheartedly recommend that you avoid buying this camera, as a kit, from this seller. I paid $579 for this bundle, which included a camera/lens combo that Amazon sells for as little as $400. So I spent about $179 on a bunch of dirt cheap, after-market rubbish that all had to be replaced. If you are thinking about buying this bundle, dont. Buy the camera and lens from a reputable dealer (maybe one that responds to customer enquiries?) and then purchase the accessories you need, when you need them.