Karengail
- Comment
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!