Nikon D5300 DX-format Digital SLR Kit w/ 18-55mm VR II and 55-300mm VR Lens Kit (Black)

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I love this camera! I am just a beginner who finally decided to take the plunge and get a DSLR. I went back and forth between this and a Canon T4i and finally chose this after a lot of research and reading tons of reviews. I mostly liked how small and comfortable it is, and the reviews seem to point to better image quality over the Canon, with no anti-aliasing filter and better low-light performance. I liked that it had built-in WiFi and GPS. I did struggle mostly with not wanting to give up the touch screen on the Canon, and that is something I really wish this camera had. Overall I have been very pleased with my decision and have been taking tons of pictures. I find the battery life to be quite decent- I have gotten a couple of spares and always keep one handy. I did get the 18-140 kit lens based on the reviews. I was fairly satisfied with it for a while but did find I wanted more reach and ended up buying the 50-300 telephoto which I really do love and find I can get much better close-ups and detail than with the kit lens. I mostly like to take pictures outdoors of ducks, squirrels, birds and nature in general. The picture quality is outstanding. Colors are gorgeous and the pictures are sharp and beautiful. The auto-focusing is quick and precise and even when zoomed in or heavily cropped I am still thrilled with the results. I do have arthritis and ergonomics is important to me. I love how this camera feels- It feels solid and well-built but it is also lighter in weight than a lot of comparable models. The grip is perfect for my hand and I can swing this camera by my side just holding it by the grip and it feels perfectly secure. I take it pretty much with me everywhere because it fits easily inside my purse as well. I did have an issue with something smelling like burning rubber and the unit was quickly and easily replaced by Amazon so that was no problem, really. I have owned this camera for over a year and have been quite happy with it. I am not thrilled with the video but cant say Ive really given it much of a chance. The internal focusing noise drives me crazy but I am told an external mic would alleviate that. The flash works OK but I rarely use it because I just prefer natural light. I will hopefully be getting a speed-light, but just not in the budget yet. I have found that if I go into the menu and change the flash compensation to -2 or -3 that the pictures come out a lot better. without looking so washed out. I have come across a few issues but there are a lot of things I need to learn, so dont know how much is the cameras fault and how much is user error, but sometimes I press the shutter and nothing happens! This drives me crazy because I feel like there is plenty of light and why wont it take the picture?!! I also have found that it is sometimes because I am too close and it is not able to lock focus, which again means nothing happens when you push the shutter button. I think as I said, most of that is because of user error or improper settings, so I just have to keep learning. I often will just throw it in to auto mode and then I am able to get the shot. I guess this camera refuses to take a bad picture! I will say that auto mode does work quite well and I have taken some beautiful pictures in auto. This camera is way beyond point and shoot but if someone wants to use it that way, I think they will be thrilled with the results they get. I do want to address the problem of WiFi connectivity that most reviews say is fairly dismal. It will pair, load a few pictures, then disconnect. It is quite maddening, because you have done everything the manual says to do and it just doesnt work. l am happy to say however, there is a simple solution which I came across randomly while searching the web and it works like a charm. You must first set your phone with airplane mode ON and then turn WiFi ON. This is not covered in the instructions given by Nikon but it totally works and WiFi connects perfectly and stays connected as long as you need it. I have not tried to use the GPS because of the negative reviews. They all seem to point to it being mostly useless and a huge battery hog. I havent tried it and probably wont, so you are on your own with that one. I think overall this camera is fairly user-friendly. One thing I really like is that Nikon has this handy dandy little ? button that is extremely helpful. Pressing it brings up a mini-tutorial on whatever function you happen to be messing with at the time. I have found this to very useful indeed, and for a newbie it is fabulous to just be able to get an instant explanation without having to go searching through the menus or look something up in the manual. The rest of the buttons seem well-placed and easy to learn for the most part. The only problem I have with button location is that I often hold the camera in a way that my right thumb hits the right arrow of the "trackball" and causes my focus point to move to the right. I do this ALL the time and it is quite annoying. It is a simple matter to hit the middle of the trackball and bring the focus point back to the middle but it is frustrating how often this happens. The auto-timer/burst/remote shutter button is kind of hard to locate as it is in an obscure spot hidden down on the left hand side of the front, but I am getting faster at finding it when I need it. I can say I am quite happy with the image quality and color rendering as well as ease of use and handling. I do not have enough experience to do any kind of meaningful comparisons, but for me it is the best camera I have ever owned and the more I learn, the more I enjoy it. I think it makes a great beginner camera, although it might be overkill for a beginner. Possibly the d3300 would be a smarter choice due to being much cheaper and a little lighter. They both have the same 24.2MP 23.5x15.6 mm APS-C sensor and expeed 4 processor. I do like the articulating screen on this camera, which the d3300 doesnt have. The D3300 does have in-camera panorama stitching which I think would be cool to have, but Nikon has omitted it on this camera. It can of course be done in post, but I still would like to have it in camera. There are a number of creative modes available which might be fun, but Ive not played around with them so cant really comment on them. I did see a video made in the "toy" mode which was kinda cute, so I might try that. I do have to say that I am quite pleased with the beautiful pictures I have taken with this amazing camera, even with my limited expertise. The quality blows away any camera I have used in the past and being able to capture something beautiful to enjoy and share is after all, the whole reason for all of it. I am now and intend to always remain an amateur who just wants to capture the best images of life as I see it, and this camera has shown itself to be a good partner in that endeavor. I am extremely pleased with my decision to buy this camera and very happy with Amazons customer service and promotional financing. I expect to enjoy this camera for many years to come and would recommend it to anyone trying to learn digital photography. I only wish it had a touchscreen!

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I got this camera as an upgrade to my beloved D5100 so the bar was pretty high and so this review is often D5100 vs. D5300. Ill be frank. The D5300 outclasses the D5100 so substantially that it has utterly obsoleted the D5100. Ignore those who say that the D5300 merely provides an opportunity to pick up a D5200 or D5100 for a bargain price. No. The D5300 is now the ONLY camera in the Nikon D5xxx line. It has changed the game. Dont bother counting pennies, this camera is underpriced at full price. The fact that I am sincerely comparing images from this $800 camera body to my D800Es images truly says it all. Please allow me to just get into the Pros and Cons: PROS: 1) PHENOMENAL IMAGE QUALITY! AT LOW ISO THE D5300S IMAGES ARE ON PAR WITH THE BEST CAMERAS IN THE WORLD AND THAT IS NO EXAGGERATION WHATSOEVER. I cant believe there is still a debate going on about the efficacy of Anti-Aliasing filter removal. Im sorry, but the difference is so noticeable there is no debate. And moire was a myth even on the D800E, which I do also own. I guarantee you that you will find more moire in a D5100s or D7000s images than you will on the D5300. Color and saturation from the D5300 are exceptionally good versus ANY camera at any price point. Now, I will still take the D800Es images over the D5300s but it is not at all night & day. They are actually surprisingly close at low ISO. EDIT 2013-12-09: Photographing cats a lot I am catching a little false color on shiny fur. Nothing of concern to me though. 2) Focus point spread (area of image with AF sensor coverage) is MUCH greater than in FX ("full-frame" sensor size) cameras. The D5300s AF point coverage extends left-right top-bottom much farther than FX cameras. I would estimate the D5300 covers probably double the area that FX cameras do and this is an ENORMOUS advantage. I always leave my D800Es focus point glued to Center because the AF coverage is only in the center area anyway so why bother with the other 50 AF points when they just dont cover anything? I actually do use my focus points on my D5300 because they cover the frame pretty well. Id still like to see even more coverage, but vs. the FX bodies, APS-C cameras have a tremendous advantage. 3) Minimum shutter speed in Auto ISO now has AUTO setting that adjusts based on focal length! This is SO much better than a fixed shutter speed regardless of lens length. 4) Hard to quantify but the HDR images look much nicer than the D5100s and the Extra High setting is intense and beyond the D5100s abilities. I have not been able to verify this but it *appears* as though there is now image alignment for the 2 photos used for the HDR image as my handheld HDR shots nearly never look like 2 images whereas they often did on my D5100 at full or nearly full magnification. HUGE improvement! 5) Great-for-DX and pretty-good-versus-FX ISO performance. Ill put this to bed right now; the D800E smokes the D5300 for high ISO performance. Sorry, this is a different league. However, the D5300 substantially outperforms the D5100 at ISO 1600+. The improvement in the D5300 over the D5100 is readily noticeable. 6) Much more intuitive i Menu. The D5100s i Menu being J-shaped was ridiculous and totally awkward. I never got used to it after thousands of photos. The D5300s standardized 2-lines-across-the-bottom Nikon style is a drastic improvement. 7) GPS! I dont know what Nikon was thinking with that clunky expensive GP-1A. Did anyone ever buy one? The D5300s internal GPS works great and hooks up quickly and Im big on geotagging so I am super stoked to have this on a REAL camera! EDIT 2013-12-09: I spent a day in the country (wide open clear sky) with this camera outside of my normal metro town area and despite using A-GPS data, it took somewhere between 30-60 minutes to get GPS lock. Surprised, disappointed. But that was the only time I have had trouble with hookup. 8) Nikons had truly exceptional built-in flash performance since at least the D90. The D5300 does not disappoint and bests or matches its predecessors at any price point. This could be a result of image processing more than flash performance but whatever it is, using flash is a joy, not something to dread. 9) The red body paint color is super-gorgeous! Its like a candy apple red Corvette color and it is way sexy. 10) The new bigger, higher-pixel screen is REALLY nice. It is not insignificant like many reviewers dismiss it as. I like it a LOT. :) 11) EN-EL14a battery with 19.4% more capacity is a nice treat and helpful when running GPS and/or the silly WiFi. I have not spent a full day shooting hundreds of photos with the D5300 yet but I have shot perhaps 100 shots in a day with GPS on and flash here and there and a lot of reviewing and in-camera editing and not gotten below 2/3 battery level in a day. EDIT 2013-12-09: GPS was on from about 8:45am to 5:30pm, WiFi was off all day, I shot 362 photos (almost all were 14-bit RAW+Large Basic JPEG so roughly only about 170-190 shutter clicks) and probably 15 of those photos had flash, 2 minutes of video, edited 6 photos and had a couple of review sessions during the day. Battery level fell to 1/3 remaining. Not bad but could be better. If youre a heavy shooter and will use GPS and/or pop-up flash, carry a spare battery. 12) Heres a gem for the old-school film guys like me. ;) Or a little "secret treat" for digital-era photographers with a true creative streak. In Manual exposure mode, the "T," or "Time" setting has returned! Want to take a 5-minute or 5-hour exposure but you left your plug-in intervalometer/timer at home? Lol, as if you even have one... No problem. Turn your shutter speed dial all the way past 30-seconds, past Bulb and click on into good ol Time at the end of the dial. Press the shutter button to open shutter, let your wristwatch or phone tell you when exposure time is up and then press shutter button again to close the shutter. Seriously?! Yes, seriously. How cool is that?! I miss this so much and guess what? Even my D800E does not have T and the D5100 does not either. According to the Nikon info page for the D5200 (Yes, D5200. Not a typo), T is there but you need the ML-L3 remote to use it. CONS: 1) EDIT 2013-12-09: I have found that focus points other than THE Center focus point are somewhat frequently inaccurate. Focus points at or near the left and right edges are rarely accurate and almost never dead-on. If you use ONLY the Center focus point, focus accuracy is quite good and consistent. As Center AF point AF-S is almost always how I shoot, this is not a deal-breaker for me but it is certainly a handicap. If you use multi-point AF tracking or regularly venture away from Center AF point, you had better experiment with different AF points at a local camera store before buying one from any store, Amazon included. I am beginning to think my camera may be defective and will likely send it to Nikon for repair or exchange it with Amazon for a new one. Honestly, I expect this to be a performance trade-off that Nikon will not remedy. Though $800 is not cheap, this caliber of image quality for $800 is going to come with trade-offs and I bet being forced to use Center AF point is one of those trade-offs. 2) EDIT 2013-12-09: I had a chance this past weekend to use Live View in some beautifully sunlit countryside. Sorry, even with truly ideal lighting Live View is horribly slow and constantly hunting. Dont use it for anything other than manual focus confirmation with screen zoomed for precise focusing. And focus VERY slowly as screen update time has substantial lag. Im not really concerned about video, but this camera cannot focus worth a darn for video. It really is that bad, sorry. 3) When reviewing a photo on my D5100 and even the D5200, I could just press the OK button to get into Retouch Menu and then get into RAW processing of that image in another click of OK. Boom, 2 presses of OK and I am RAW processing the image Im looking at. Well, not anymore. Now I have to press the "i" button to get into Rating/Retouch/Send Menu and then click OK to get to Retouch Menu and then another click of OK to get to RAW processing. Hardly a nightmare but takes an extra button press and, more importantly, is ergonomically awkward and more prone to mistakes. 4) Noisy Multi-Controller. I like having solid clicks, but man, clicking Up, Down, Left or Right on this Multi-Controller is literally enough to wake someone up. My gf grumbles at me for reviewing/RAW processing in bed because of that. Its also not so great in public areas as it intrudes on the conversations of neighboring tables, etc. Its really an irritating higher pitch that grabs attention. I know this complaint sounds whiny, but it truly is an intrusive noise problem. 5) WiFi is rubbish. You cant upload full-resolution images to your smart device via WiFi. And I dont believe (but I could be wrong about this) that you can WiFi upload at all to a PC. I wanted to have instant constant file backup via WiFi. Nope. 6) Slow RAW process Menu navigation. Perhaps its the sheer file size but things like scrolling Picture Control modes in RAW processing is very slow relative to the D5100. 7) Slow photo review after taking a picture(s). Takes too long for the D5300 to gulp down one or a few RAW+Large Basic JPEG shots (my standard resolution). 8) After assigning HDR function to the BKT button (D5100)/Fn button (D5300), activating HDR now requires holding the Fn button and turning the dial until you get the setting you want before letting the Fn button go. On the D5100 you set your HDR preference one time in the Menu and then activation via BKT button only took a single press. Now its a process. And my favorite setting (High) takes the most clicks (3 to the left or 3 to the right) to get to. The Auto HDR mode should simply be removed so we just scroll Low, Normal, High, Extra High and should be permanently Menu-set to facilitate 1-press activation a la D5100. 9) To get autofocusing you MUST use an AF-S or AF-I lens. D5300 body has no focus motor for AF or AF-D lenses. Metering requires a CPU lens. CONCLUSION: The D5300 is not a camera for sports, when rushed or in demanding conditions and you are gambling when you change away from Center AF point. Many consumer cameras like to claim performance in this fast-action realm, but no. If its not pro gear it will suck at sports and tracking a subject. Always has been and likely always will be the case. However, for general photography, landscape, portraiture/still life, macro, time-lapse, etc. the D5300 creates stunningly sharp and colorful images able to be painlessly enlarged to enormous proportions. I wouldnt hesitate to print 3-foot x 2-foot (that is 36x the size of a 4-inch x 6-inch) prints. And that would be essentially pixelation-free. 6-foot x 4-foot would still look fantastic.

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I bought this to replaced my 8 years old D80. Im a very picky person, and I am impressed by this camera. Ive been considering SONY A6000, D5500, D7100, D7200. And finally decided to go with this camera. This is not a perfect camera. But budget wise, this is for sure a camera that have superior performance-to-price ratio. I use it with my one year old Nikon 18-200mm VR II lens. For the price of $496, I cant find another camera can compete with it. The A6000, its a very nice mirrorless camera. I pay serious attention to it. And I went to Bestbuy to test it out. What I like A6000 is its light weight and size. What I dont like much is when its length changes, it take like 1/4 second to show up in the OLED view finder. And A6000 doesnt have articular screen which equipped with D5300 that makes family portrait a lot easier. D5500, I dont see much different to D5300. The touch screen on D5500 is a nice but not must have. The higher ISO up to 25600 is technically nicer than the 12800 in D5300, but I doubt if I would shoot at such a high ISO. Other than that, I dont see much difference, and I know I aint paying $200 more for touch screen and higher ISO. D7100, it has Expeed 3 processor while D5300 has Expeed 4 processor. Yes it has better manual control and functions. But after having D80 (which has top screen and dual dial and better manual control than D5300) for 8 years, I have to admit that Im not a professional photographer but an enthusiast that enjoys the possibility to take photos thats better than a point and shoot camera. D7200, well, it has the same Expeed 4 processor while it comes with better manual control. But with $600 price difference, Id give up those extra manual control and get a all around D5300 for the ease of my pocket. Bottom line, D5300 is a decent camera for the price that no one can deny, yet its been announced for 2 years already but still maintains a 24MP clear and sharp production and relatively light and with functions that can make entry-level to enthusiast happy. The only thing I dont appreciate much is its GPS function, I wish it had a faster and more accurate lock up performance that doesnt require a A-GPS file to be updated very 14 days.

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Coming from a Canon, this camera took a bit of getting used to, but I love it! Ive researched cameras for a few months before buying this one, and found it to be the best balance between affordable and professional. It feels solid in my hands, produces excellent quality images that are sharp even at 100% magnification and it has decent low light capabilities. Im very happy to have decided on the zoom lens too. While it does make the camera quite heavy, its a joy to have a greater variety of options available. Ive covered a 3 day national conference with it shortly after buying this camera, with lectures in rooms with widely varying light levels, and great majority of the images came out great. Im sure that once I get to know all the settings better Ill be able to get the tricksier shots in a perfect range too. Out of the box, the dynamic range is wonderful, and color realistic and well balanced. Didnt have to charge it even once during that entire time either. Ive originally bought a Sony in a similar price range because of the lure of a Zeiss lens, but had to return it because of the really bad image quality... not sure if I got a lemon or all of them were that bad, but Im glad I did. Ive been a loyal Canon customer for decades, but their mid range cameras dont seem to have kept up with times regarding the quality and capabilities, and Im not a millionaire. I have a feeling Ill be holding on to this lovely Nicon for a long time to come, only to replace it with a newer generation when the time comes.

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Just received this yesterday and started shooting today. My first Camera other than an iPhone so I am a 100% novice, but wanted something I could grow with. Amazing photo quality! I will post the first day photos I captured today, all on automatic setting. I did not change any settings and I must say I am amazed at how well this camera adjusts for shutter speeds and aperture size. The auto focus on both works amazingly well and I dont see the need for any other lens JUST yet. This bundle came with a software CD called viewNX2 and Im not sure what it does other than shading and cropping...havent really spent time on it yet, but I do like the fact that it shows every spec/dynamic of each photo that you take...ie...shutter speed / aperture / focus setting / ISO / where the focus points were! The Bag is well made with a handful of different size Velcro pieces to allow the user to compartmentalize the space how they see fit. The bird photo was at 300mm. And the picture of my girls was about 230 mm. The holly tree branch was at 55mm on the 18-55. Again I dont know enough about photography yet to go manual, so these were all point and shoot.

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I bought this camera to replace my older D3000. The biggest reason I wanted this camera was the GPS and WiFi. While the WiFi works, it does not allow you to send pictures to your computer. I only works to send pics to your mobile device. While this came in handy while on vacation, it seems to be a very software related problem. Why Nikon made that design decision is beyond me. The second problem is the GPS. It may as well not be there... On a 10 day vacation to Ireland, it only locked on to satellites three times. If you are buying this for the GPS look elsewhere. The good news is that I found a VERY simple iPhone application that would keep a log of my location. The Nikon software that comes with the camera (worst interface Ive ever seen by the way!) will take that log and merge it with the photos based on timestamps. The app I got for the iPhone is "GeoApp". It was only a few bucks and well worth it. As for pictures, this thing is amazing! It would have been a 5 star camera if not for the GPS and WiFi issues.

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For the price, you can’t beat it without jumping to an FX sensor. The articulated screen is truly an unique feature that allows for shooting from any angle or perspective you can dream up. The inclusion of WiFi and gps is also incredible. The camera creates its own hotspot that you can sync with your phone to pull images/video off it. The 24 mega pixel DX sensor is more than sufficient. It can be shot at night with as high as 2000 iso before I could see grain. Night shooting is more than possible. It’s fun. The inclusion of a designated record button near the shutter release is also a unique and impressive feature. All said and done, this camera runs laps around the 3000 series and almost compares to the (early realsed) 7000 models. It may have a few less focus points than the 7000s, but it’s the same sensor. I chose it over the 7000 line because the articulated screen is simply an incredible feature. As someone accustomed to film photography, the ability to looks “down into the camera” or close the screen inside the body (removing any digital display) while shooting in ideal. It’s a solid DX DSLR and worth consideration of amateurs and professionals alike.

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For those who like video go here for a quick look - https://youtu.be/AsyukB3j4zk For more details keep reading! Now Im coming from the Nikon D3100 which I used for all my YouTube videos up until now so Ill be comparing to that. Ill also be coming from a YouTuber point of view. If you need a professional review for your pro film or photography work please find a better review. Its amazing how much more you get with this camera considering it feels just as light as the D3100. Some of the extra features you get from this upgrade: Higher ISO Range Better ISO scaling (instead of jumping up 100 to 400+ ISO with every knob turn. You can go from 100 to 125 for example) 24MP sensor over 14MP (if you want to take pics that big) MIC port Better built-in mic(if you use that) Wifi More auto focus points(39 from 11) Movie Live View Mode Flip-out Viewfinder (and that viewfinder is slightly bigger as well) Cleaner Software Interface 1080p @ 30fps or 60fps ..too name a few Alright, so how have these upgrades helped my YouTube videos? The Flip-Out viewfinder not only helps me to find focus easier but it also helps me see when Im properly in the frame or not (like when Im telling people to check the description or cards above) without having to stop the video and play it back on the camera or check on my PC. With my D3100, I needed to use PC monitor as a viewfinder to make sure everything was in focus and center frame while showing a product or speaking. However, please note that the viewfinder on any DSLR camera will always be too small to guarantee focus in many situations. Focus on the viewfinder then shoot a few seconds of video then check on your PC to make sure youre actually in focus if you find yourself constantly slightly out of focus. Of course, you can always just buy a separate monitor thats made specifically to replace the DSLR viewfinder and show you the colors and focus properly which usually cost a couple hundred dollars or more but if youre happy with your current DSLR and just want a better viewfinder, I recommend going that route. The MIC port now gives me the option to record audio straight to the camcorder if I wanted to with quality mics. I do have other people in my home that shoot videos as well on other channels and they stay very close to the camcorder as they record cause they dont like using external mics. Now they can get better audio on their videos by plugging in a shotgun mic. Im personally a fan of the external audio I capture with my Zoom H1 and Giant Squid Lab lavaliere. Better ISO scaling and higher ISO range helps me get the lighting for my videos just right without creating noise in my shot. Lighting doesnt only depend on the actual physical lights but also on the DSLR capabilities. The D5300 allows for more minute changes to the ISO so I can go up by 25 ISO for a subtle bump in brightness to get my picture just right without having to jump up over 100 ISO than go fiddling with my F-stop, exposure, etc. like you have to with the D3100. This combined with the better sensor also helps when taking product shots outside in low light or anytime I dont feel like setting up the studio lights just for a few good pics. 1080p @ 30fps or 60fps is awesome. On my D3100 I was limited to 23fps which is not a bad thing considering most movies you see nowadays are shot in 24fps but I kinda like how motion looks on my videos in 30fps compared to 23fps. Combined that with the previous points on ISO and my videos are looking loads better. On another YouTube channel with my bro where we talk about local and world news, I shoot in 60fps cause theres a ton of motion from laughing to hand and head movements as were talking about each story so I shoot in 60fps. The user will actually see a bump in overall video quality from it as opposed to when its just me talking on my personal channel and 60fps doesnt matter as much. Movie Live View Mode is a god send for many but for me its just another nice option and I dont use it often. Youre limited to F1/30 or higher in this mode but you can now see immediate changes to your shot as you make them like when you change you ISO or change your F-Stop without having to come out of Live View and go back in. It can save me a little to a lot of time in some situations like when shooting outside and the lighting suddenly changes. The 39 auto focus points ensures that the camera focuses fast and the D5300 is noticeably quieter when taking a picture which improves the photography experience a lot. Alright, so no problems at all? Oh, there are a few problems. The MIC Port placement couldve been a little better. Due to the big flap over the port, if you plug-in anything to them, youre going to be blocking the viewfinder partially when its flipped out. Theres something strange going with one of the lighting settings (exposure, f-stop, iso) but I dont know which one cause as Im filming video the lighting suddenly changes very subtly every now and again and this is while Im on Manual mode indoors with studio lighting so Im not sure how thats possible. The button placement is quite different on the D5300 than the D3100 as well. The Function (Fn) button (which is set to be your ISO button by default), the "i" button, and every button that was on the side of the viewfinder on the D3100 has a new placement obviously due to the viewfinder flipping out and Im not exactly a fan of the new placement. The ISO button is slightly higher and closer to the flash button so I accidentally pop up the flash when trying to change ISO on the fly. I kinda did that already with the D3100 but it was not a big problem cause the button wasnt that close but its actually closer on the D5300 which is quite frustrating. The different shooting modes used to have a lever you slide back and forwards to switch between them (continues, single, timed, quiet shutter). Now you have an awkwardly placed button way down between the Lens release button thats difficult to reach without looking. At least, you have a remote mode now which I dont think the D3100 had at all. Alright, thats it. Thank you reading this and I hope it helped you a little in your buying decision.

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The camera itself works fine. However, this is advertised as brand new but mine came with stickers peeled off and everything had clearly been opened already. They also dont mention this is a gray market camera and not under Nikon warranty! I returned for these reasons and was charged for return shipping. Dont recommend buying this on Amazon.

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So far so good. I had a Nikon D5000 that got broken beyond repair and was looking for a replacement. Im grateful that Nikon makes their cameras compatible with all of their lenses (for the most part) because I didnt have to buy new lenses for this camera. It works well! I do like the old layout for the buttons on the D5000 better, but with more use I might change my mind. This camera came packaged and unopened, and new. It came with the manual, strap, all necessary cables, battery, and charger. You have to buy a memory card for it, which is inexpensive. I guess Im an intermediate photographer, even though my photography hobby started about 35 years ago with a 35 mm film camera and a lot of photography and dark room classes, and photographing a few weddings and senior portraits. Ive got a fairly strong knowledge of composition, light, ISO, aperature, and shutter speeds. Life got in the way and I didnt expand my hobby much, only using my cameras for snapping pictures of my family. Now Ive decided to dive in a little deeper and learn even more. I think this is the perfect camera for that and I believe it will be good for me for quite a few years. This feels very much like the D5000, but has more features and much better focusing. I like the way the menu for adjusting settings is set up. I was trying to decide between this one and the D7100 and dont feel like I am missing out by choosing this one instead. I like using manual settings a lot and changing the settings is fairly easy. Cant wait to play with it some more. I dont feel like this is a beginner camera because it is a good quality, but I believe a beginner could use it and learn all of its features with some reading and watching tutorial videos - or just playing around with it (but I think reading and watching tutorials will take you even further into knowing how it works and getting the best use from it).

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