For the opportunity Nikon D5100 body camera review Many thanks to Sergey Svirida.
Nikon D5100 review
I want to write everything at once about the Nikon D5100 - it's just awesome multimedia harvester, which manages to squeeze just the prohibitive image quality. In this review, information is only about the camera itself Nikon D5100 body. Very often, the Nikon D5100 is sold along with universal lenses, and this set is called Kit. Usually in a set Nikon D5100 Kit such lenses as:
- Nikon 18-105mm f / 3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor
- Nikon 18-55mm f / 3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor (or one of its 3 modifications)
- Nikon 18-200mm f / 3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkorcan be met very rarely
- Nikon 55-200mm f / 4-5.6 AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkoras optional included
- Nikon 55-300mm f / 4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor as optional in kit
The best option is an 18-200mm lens, it is enough for all occasions - from a wide angle for a landscape or a small apartment, to photographing birds and bunnies. If you still need to start somewhere, then the kit lens 18-55m is quite suitable, and do not believe that the kit lens is so terrible, just important how to take pictures, and not on what technique. For portrait shooting, I advise you to look towards the lens Nikon 50mm f / 1.8G AF-S Nikkor, and as a good sharp fast aperture fixed lens for every day can act Nikon 35mm f / 1.8G AF-S DX Nikkor.
View of the Nikon D5100 camera from different angles
Nikon D5100 - This is an amateur SLR camera from Nikon, a highly updated version of the Nikon D5000. The camera can shoot Full HD video and take pictures at a speed 4 frames per second.
Sample photo on Nikon D5100
Important points:
Matrix Nikon D5100 matrix based Nikon D7000. The matrix Nikon D7000 can give out a picture high dynamic range, excellent color reproduction and low noise at high ISO. The Nikon D5100 does the same. When I took the first test shots on Nikon D5100 and ISO 6400, I was just amazed at the image quality. The result was really very juicy and lively picture, and this is at 16,2 megapixels, because in this review there are many night photos as examples. ISO camera can be set from value 100 to 25,600, values ISO 12.800. и ISO 25.600. are denoted as Hi1 и Hi2, I do not recommend shooting at such high ISO.
Nikon D5100 installed CMOS 16.2-megapixel sensor. Yes, the Nikon D5100 has as much as 16,2MP, which is the same as that of Nikon D7000 and full frame Nikon D4. More megapixels can only be found in the very expensive Nikon D3x, Nikon D800,D800E, D3200, D600, D5200 (at the time of writing). The number of megapixels is not a serious indicator of the quality of a photograph, but still, the more the better. If you are chasing megapixels, I advise you to pay attention to my note Battle of Megapixels. I shoot 6.2 megapixel without any problems Nikon D40I advise you to go to the review page Nikon D40 and make sure that even at 6.2MP you can get an excellent image result.
Nikon D5100 uses a sensor manufactured by Sony, the same sensor is found in cameras:
- Nikon D7000
- Pentax K-30
- Pentax K-5
- Pentax K-01
- Sony a580
- Sony A55
- Sony NEX-5N
Photo on Nikon D5100 - saturated colors of the camera
Actually, the matrix is the heart of the camera, and the better it is, the better your photographs will be. Nikon D5100 has the same matrix size as the more advanced ones Nikon D7000, D90, D300s. The Nikon D5100 APS-C sensor available, which means that the matrix is 2.25 times smaller in area than the matrix of full-frame SLR cameras, such as Nikon D700 or D3s. This entails an effect. crop factor. When using lenses from full-frame cameras, the viewing angle will be narrower than on film or in a full frame. More details in the article Crop Factor.
Sample photo on Nikon D5100
Other important points that really affect the operation and functionality of the camera
- Large rotary display. The display has 921.000 points. Nikon D5100 uses the same number of pixels as the camera D3, D3s, D3x, D700, D300, D300s, D90, D7000, D3200 и Nikon D5200
- Very fast EXPEED-2 processor, with which the camera shows excellent speed.
- Nikon D5100 uses 11 focus pointsfor which the focus module is responsible Nikon Multi-CAM 1000. The same module is on such cameras as Nikon D90, D3100, D3000, D80, D200 and D5000. Focusing is accurate. Focusing speed is highly dependent on the lens and shooting conditions.
- Measurement exposure implemented using a 420-pixel sensor, the same as that of Nikon D80, D90, D60, D40x, D50, D5000 and D3100. The camera measures the exposure perfectly, the only one, because Active is on D-lighting the camera sometimes exposes the frame.
- The shooting speed is 4 frames per second. This is just a little less than 4.5 fps for a more advanced Nikon D90. 4 fps is enough for any type of shooting. Even a full-frame professional Nikon D800 can shoot a maximum of 4k \ s. Personally, I always have enough even 2.5 frames per second on my old woman Nikon D40. A high rate of fire is needed only for certain situations. A high rate of fire requires a large frame buffer and a fast memory card. For example, when I reviewed the Nikon D5100, the camera used a slow 8GB SD flash drive. Since I was shooting in RAW for review, the camera was very slow after 2 seconds of shooting in fast mode. Due to the fact that RAW files from the camera weigh about 15mb, I had to wait a very long time until the files were written to the memory card. Indeed, the whole charm of fast continuous shooting at 4 fps can be estimated by shooting only in JPEG.
- Frame buffer when shooting in RAW format is 11 frames. This is as much as that of Nikon D90 when shooting in RAW. How much the camera will slow down during serial shooting will greatly depend on the buffer capacity. In an earlier model Nikon D3100, frame buffer is 13 pieces in RAW.
- Attention: Nikon D5100 Nikon's first amateur camera to use RAW with 14 bit color depth. This is very good news for fans of processing RAW photos. Unfortunately, like all Nikon amateur cameras, the D5100 does not have a choice of RAW compression levels or a choice of color depth.
Example photo on the Nikon D5100. Snowy glass.
- Full HD movie shooting 1980 * 1080, with maximum quality you can shoot videos up to 20 minutes long. Believe me, 20 minutes is enough for the video. You can choose different shooting modes in different quality. Another important detail to shoot video on the desired aperture, you first need to install it, and therefore already enable Live View and start recording. When Live View is on, aperture change is not available.
- Convenient menu and overall camera ergonomics. At first, it might seem that controlling the camera with one hand is difficult, but then you can quickly get used to the control.
Example photo on Nikon D5100 at high ISO
- A bunch of useful additions - automatic correction of distortion, aberration, Active D-lighting, Breckening, Live View, Timelapse, etc. Important! Automatic correction of distortion and chromatic aberration is removed only when shooting in JPEG.
- The camera has one great feature - HDR. HDR takes two frames with different exposures and saves them in one file. Very comfortable and interesting. The HDR function is not available when shooting in RAW. The HDR function is conveniently programmed with the FN button.
Example photo on Nikon D5100 at very high ISO
- A little about the shortcomings - this is an amateur camera, because in the camera no many features from more advanced or professional cameras. Personally very important to me fast flash sync, flash command modeFine tune focus manual exposure metering and availability focus motor - Nikon D5100 doesn't have them. Highly I consider “picture braking” a strong drawback when sighting through Live View and approaching the image area 1 to 1 (or similar) - the picture slows down quite a lot. There is no such effect on Nikon D90. Such an approximation helps to very accurately sharpen the desired focus point.
All sample photos on the Nikon D5100 from this review were shot in RAW -> JPEG, without processing, only resized to 720 * 477 pixels with imprinted EXIF in order to be able to judge the shooting parameters. Please note that at high ISO photos are more or less acceptable.
Example photo on the Nikon D5100. Loss of juiciness of the color gamut when raising ISO
Recommendations
In order to speed up focusing, use the optical viewfinder. When focusing in Live View, the focusing accuracy will be very high, but the speed will be very slow, since the camera and the lens will need to measure contrast at different focusing distances and only then put the lens in the desired position. When focusing through the optical viewfinder (through the eye), the camera is much quicker to cope with focusing. It is for this reason that older cameras such as Nikon D300, D300s, D700 etc., there are two Live View shooting modes. These are tripod mode and hand mode. In hand-held mode and Live View on, when you press the shutter button halfway, Live View turns off and autofocusing occurs through the phase sensors, after a successful focus is achieved, Live View turns on again.
Photo at Nikon D5100 at low ISO in low light
If desperately needed maximum frame buffer, then you need to turn off all functions that reduce the number of photos in the buffer. I think you will be surprised when in paragraph 5 it is written about 11 frames in the buffer, but in reality there will be less of them. The number of frames that the buffer can fit is shown in the lower right corner of the viewfinder when you press the shutter button halfway. Usually, with noise reduction turned on for high ISOs and slow shutter speeds, as well as when active D-lighting the number of frames in the buffer drops sharply. Therefore, by disabling these functions you can get the claimed 11 frames. Well, if you do not need RAW, then in high-quality JPEG with advanced settings enabled 16 frames - and this is for 4 seconds of continuous shooting. It is unlikely that someone takes a burst of longer than 4-5 seconds.
Photo on Nikon D5100
When you place the camera in a case (in a photo bag), turn the display with the dark side out, and the LCD monitor in the middle so that the monitor does not scratch during transportation. If shooting in JPEG, I recommend turning on noise reduction at high ISOs and slow shutter speeds. For a saturated picture you can use Active D-lighting in HIGH mode. You can also configure the FN programmable button, which is located next to the flash up button. I usually program the FN button for the ISO control function.
Sample photos on Nikon D5100 using a lens Nikon 50mm f / 1.8G AF-S Nikkor. Photos without processing.
Don't know what to choose?
Usually, a person who wants to buy a camera of this level stops at 2-3 Nikon models. it Nikon D3100, Nikon D5000, Nikon D5100, D5200. I recommend taking a simpler model Nikon D3100, which can do the same thing as the D5100, but its price is much less. D5100 is more suitable for those who like to shoot in poor lighting conditions at high ISO. Saturation and image quality on the D5100 and D3100 very similar to low and medium ISO. Of course newer Nikon D5200 in many ways beats the Nikon D5100.
| D5000 | D5100 | D5200 | |
| Exit time | June 2009 | April 2011 | November 2012 |
| RAW color depth | 12 bit | 14 bit | 14 bit |
| Number of megapixels | 12,20 | 16,08 | 24,00 |
| Burst Speed | 4 fps | 4 fps | 5 fps |
| Minimum ISO | 200,00 | 100,00 | 100,00 |
| Minimum Extensive ISO | 100 (Lo1) | - | - |
| Maximum ISO | 3200,00 | 6400,00 | 6400,00 |
| Maximum Extended ISO | 6400 (Hi1) | 25600 (Hi2) | 25600 (Hi2) |
| Video length max. qualities | 5 minutes | 20 minutes | 20 minutes |
| Video | 1280 x 720 24fps | 1920x1080 30fps | 1920 x 1080 60i |
| Sound | mono | mono | stereo |
| Display | 2.7 inches, 230.000 points | 3 inches, 921.000 points | 3 inches, 921.000 points |
| Focus module | Multi-cam 1000 | Multi-cam 1000 | Multi-CAM 4800DX |
| Number of Focus Points | 11,00 | 11,00 | 39,00 |
| Measurement exposure | 420-pixel RGB sensor | 420-pixel RGB sensor | 2016-pixel RGB sensor |
| Memory cards | SD,SDHC | SD, SDHC, SDXC | SD, SDHC, SDXC (UHS-I) |
| Weight without battery, g | 550,00 | 510,00 | 505,00 |
| HDR | no | Yes | Yes |
I do not recommend buying an older Nikon D5000, it does not have autofocus when shooting video, and it is quite difficult for an ordinary user to focus on sharpness manually.
By the way here a list of all CZKs from Nikonmaybe he will help in choosing.
Photo on Nikon D5100
Prices for modern Nikon cameras in popular stores can look at this link.
Comments on this post do not require registration. Anyone can leave a comment. Many different photographic equipment can be found on AliExpress.
Conclusions
Nikon D5100 gives a very good picture one click on the shutter button. Camera for photo lovers who just need a good result in a photo without unnecessary troubles. Full HD and a swivel display makes the camera even more attractive. Given that the camera has a matrix of very high quality Nikon D7000then Nikon D5100 can be used by advanced amateurs as well.
Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Hello Arkady, tell me: I have a Nikon d5100 from 18-55; I want a fix, but I don’t know what to take for amateur use 35 / 1,8 or 50 / 1,8
35tk review https://radojuva.com.ua/2011/03/obzor-nikkor-af-s-35mm-f1-8-dx/ there are examples of photographs and a description of the nuances of the lens, and in the review 50tki https://radojuva.com.ua/2012/02/obzor-nikon-50-mm-f-1-8-g-af-s/ there are examples of photos and descriptions of the lens - just look and make the most correct choice for you.
The most universal fix is a 50mm lens as it corresponds to human vision.
50mm “matches human vision” only on full frame cameras. On the crop it will be 35mm. Or am I wrong?
Crop will be 75
Oleg meant that 35mm on a crop would correspond to “human vision”!
Set the maximum sharpness in the settings, is it always better to maximum or is it an extreme? So I think, why should someone minimal if everything is unsharp.
Good afternoon, Arkady. Please help, I have a Nikon d5100 lens 18-55 I can’t make a portrait of a person so that the background is blurry only on small items in mode A and aperture of 5,6. Answer me please.
At 18-55 it is impossible to blur the background when photographing a person in full growth. More details here - https://radojuva.com.ua/2012/01/dof-best-lens-photo/
Switch the camera to mode A, unscrew the maximum focal length (55 mm), open the aperture as much as possible (rotating the dial), the distance to the subject is about 2-3 meters, the distance to the background is 4 meters or more. Now it turns out?
Arkady! Please tell me how to bring objects closer in the shooting mode on the Nikon D5100, with the Nikon Nikkor AF-S 50mm f / 1.8 G lens. Is it even possible to zoom in on the subject if I photograph from far away? If so, how to do it? On the lens, the rubber ring adjusts only sharpness. Thanks in advance for your reply.
This cannot be done with the 50 1.8 lens, for this you need a zoom lens, for example this - https://radojuva.com.ua/2010/12/obzor-nikon-18-105-otzuv-nikkor/
Hello ... tell me where everything about lenses and focus is well described? I think to take 50mm1.8 very much from him like the pictures and for a start 18-55 or 18-105 ?? the zoom is especially unnecessary, but I would like to shoot several objects in sharpness with an interval of 3-5 meters, and then it doesn't matter…. an example of your wedding photo, where people are in a limousine ... and nature, exactly what would be more capture at the edges, like a courtyard or a forest, a river in the distance ... what do you advise? I doubt so far with the camera 5100 or d90, in the case of d90 you have d80, in d90 like the matrix is noisy ?? Recently I bought a soap dish with a fool, which I gave to my parents sx230, and from my old f540 the pictures turned out better in terms of noise…. painfully sharp he shoots .. pictures of color that are sprinkled with sand))) under normal illumination and ISO100)) thanks for your patience but painful))
Selection materials can be found here - https://radojuva.com.ua/2013/01/what-camera-nikon-shoud-i-buy/
Hello Arkady!
I choose my first SLR camera. I plan to photograph a little bit of everything, but macro photography is especially attractive, I really like to photograph flowers, leaves, stamens and various insects. At the moment, I have the following choice:
Nikon D5100 Kit (18-105 VR) or instead of a whale lens
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f / 1.8G or
Nikon AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 40mm f / 2.8G
Perhaps you should not buy only macro objects, can it be limited to cetaceans and buy macro lenses?
I also read your review about the Pentax K-30 and I really liked it, can save some money and take it. But with what lens I have no idea.
In general, I am at a loss, tell me, please, what to choose.
Arkady I want to buy a Nikon 5100 18-105VR but the plastic lens mount is very embarrassing for you to prompt about this. Thanks.
Usually I don’t remove the lens from the camera and don’t look at the mount, because it stops confusing me. In a review of 18-105, I indicated that there was nothing wrong with that.
Hello!
I am facing a choice of Nikon D5100 or Canon 600D.
I also considered the D90, but there is no lack of it in the form of the absence (I think so to speak) of the ability to shoot a full-fledged video. And it is necessary for the wife on the robot, albeit not often (((
1. What to choose ?!
2. Personally, I myself would like to learn the basics of photo art (I read literature), to improve. Question: will these cameras allow development as a photographer ?!
3. Will the quality of the photos be enough to place them in photo banks (this is for the future - to earn extra money to buy a whiter professional model) ?!
Thanks in advance!
I have an inadequate question. is it possible to check one carcass - Nikon D5100, without glass, for broken pixels ???
Yes you can. Remove in M mode at slow shutter speeds.
Hello!
I am facing a choice of Nikon D5100 or Canon 600D.
I also considered the D90, but there is no lack of it in the form of the absence (I think so to speak) of the ability to shoot a full-fledged video. And it is necessary for the wife on the robot, albeit not often (((
1. What to choose ?!
2. Personally, I myself would like to learn the basics of photo art (I read literature), to improve. Question: will these cameras allow development as a photographer ?!
3. Will the quality of the photo be enough to place them in photo banks (is it in the future - to earn extra money to buy a whiter professional model) ?!
Thanks in advance!
Hello! I want to change the d3000 to this device, I just watched the video in which the rotary screen was criticized, they say there are 1001 little things more and more likely that the screen will break soon, could you refute this idea? And is it worth it to re-pay for the warranty?
Hi! Nice site. Thanks. Well, a little bit of my story ..
After watching the beautiful pictures, I caught fire with a “real” camera. I read a lot, suffered for a long time and chose the D5100. Well, why? .. ”” More colorful pictures, sharpness, etc. ”” .. I unpacked .. I took 40 pictures in an apartment the weather is quite flying and it got dark already) Well, the lighting is not very clear, I tried different modes (with flash, without, autofocus and manual, with different focal distances, etc.). I load super pictures on my computer in anticipation .. Oops .. What is it? Where is the sharpness? It is not there or is there where it is not necessary .. The noises are such that ah .. With 40 pictures I rejected everything.
Yes, it can’t be .. there is something wrong .. I take my soap dish and take the same pictures. There’s no difference .. although no .. there’s a soap dish in favor of faster, easier and less marriage.
What did you expect? Well, I expected that a "SLR" is 6 times more expensive ... well, I thought that the pictures would be proportionally better ...
I begin to see clearly what is needed now - a tripod, good optics, flash, good lighting for pictures and a long adjustment for good frame quality.
So I think now .. But is this vaunted "SLR" really needed ..
Such is the story))) Your thoughts ..
I got the same nonsense with the D5100 right away. All photos are full of slag. Moreover, the instruction was written in such a way that I wanted to shoot the author! But I gained patience - a camera down in hand, and let's experiment. In practice, I studied all the troubles, and it started: I got my girlfriend with home sessions - a portrait, my favorite cactus turned into a professional model - close-up, I constantly take pictures from the window (neighbors already take me for a spy) - a landscape, etc. Well, little by little, the percentage of rejects decreased. You just need to understand the principles of photography.
“And a long setup for a good quality frame” - that's YES! You will get a good shot only after tinkering with the settings. There is also AUTO mode, but I would call it the SOAP mode - the corresponding photos are obtained
PS I bought myself a puff of Nikon SB-700, so the pictures generally began to fire! Now hands itch in the direction of the new lens, the 18-55VR almost does not blur the background
Don't mind bro
Sash, except (tripod, good optics, flash, good lighting), you need to align your hands, and at first you are just a “kettle”!
Vitaly Well, what kind of hands are needed to just click on the car? It was also done on a soap dish ... and it was not the correctness of the exposure that was considered, namely the sharpness and noise. And the proportionality of price and quality of the picture ... more was expected ..
I read somewhere - if you bought a "DSLR" with a whale, don't expect anything from the picture .. the quality will be the same as on a soap dish ... It looks like it is ...
Shannovy Oleksandr, before tim yak take the mirror in your hands, you need to read literature, forums, no less than 1000 photos of zrobiti, so that you can probably get a cob, and ni zrobiti 50-150 photos without knowledge and navigation and robust blues.
100% lies, I shot masterpieces at 18-55, everyone liked the screensaver on the computer, they were asked to tear it apart, it is just that it is written correctly and it is necessary to straighten your hands) because if you give the sniper an expensive rifle, it does not mean that he is 3 km away. will hit the target, you have to forgive everything and then beat like this here 1in1 ... good luck
Good day! I want to ask whether there will be a review of the 5200? ... it is too interesting to read your opinion)
I suffered for a long time with the choice of the camera and the price. There was a SONI soap dish. Took my wife NiconD5100. Comparisons - ZAPOROZHEZ-Mercedes Benz. Super camera. We went to the Carpathians. Out of 5 hundred pictures taken indoors, outdoors, at dusk, 5-10 pictures were rejected, and that is the human factor. I advise you to invest in a good thing once.
Pіdtrimuyu on all 100% Tezh vitratsya on the price of the camera i do not Skoda !!! More importantly, experiment and read !!!
and tell me the zoom on this nikon .. taom type 70-200, I'm confused in the markings
I wanted to find out from me something happened with Auto Focus on the Nikon d5100 camera, when I try to take a photo it starts to make some strange sounds and as if something is popping. And the focus doesn’t work, tell me what could be the problem?
Good afternoon, Arkady! My husband and I decided to buy a Nikon D5100, but we can’t decide on an 18-55VR or 18-105VR lens, as I understand it, there’s not much difference between them for family photos and travel. or is it still 18-105VR better?
Hi!
Anastasia! The 18-105 VR lens is more versatile (especially for travel) than the 18-55. Many experts call it the best whale lens. At least in this price segment)))
and also tell me whether it is possible to buy a camera in an online store? the price on the Internet for Nikon d5100 18-105VR is 22500 rubles, and in the store 25000 rubles. and higher.
Hello, Arkady, please tell me which lens is better to take for D5100, Helios-44-2 58mm F2.0 or Helios-81N 50mm F2.0 MC? i need for portraits
Tell me, is it worth taking an 5100-18mm Nikon D105 without warranty?
Hello, tell me please, is it worth taking a macro ring as an alternative to a macro lens? And is it possible to photograph with macro rings into the distance (without removing them)? Thanks.
Hello, tell me how to make the magnifier mode in the Nikon D5100 settings! ?? is it possible! ??
perhaps! you need to hold down the button at the same time, first view the photos, then press the OK button on the rewind disk and press the shutter button a bit and finally press the flash up button, and the camera automatically turns into a microscope with an increase of about 140-160 times.
I have been using this device for half a year already. The main advantage over lower line cameras such as the D 3000, D 3100 D 5000, a more powerful matrix, which makes it possible to shoot under darker conditions and take pictures with less noise. Up to ISO 1600, you will hardly see them. So, when buying, decide how and when to shoot. To Christina’s question I answer, for Nikon, Helios 81H is better. It does not require an adapter and the focus will be from 0,4 to infinity. On Helios 44-2 there will be problems with the adapter, it will be possible to focus only up to 2 meters. I myself use Helios 81N, the only drawback is the complete manual.
Hello everyone. Nice site. Arkady You are a good and kind person. Share your experience with everyone for free. Very commendable. I found a link about this unique camera, Nikon D5100. If anyone is interested in the capabilities of this DSLR, take a look, it may come in handy. http://www.nikon.ru/ru_RU/products/digitutor/d5100.page