Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"The D5100 has a very similar 16.2MP CMOS sensor to the excellent one seen in the D7000 but, understandably, loses out on that camera's high-end build and feature-set. So there's no wireless flash control, magnesium alloy build or 39-point AF system but the underlying image quality is all but identical. As has become standard for a Nikon at this price point, the D5100 offers a single control dial, pentamirror viewfinder and no built-in autofocus motor. However, it gains 1080p video capability (at 30, 25 or 24fps), saved using the efficient H.264/AVC codec, and a 920,000 dot fully articulated LCD panel to help shoot it."

Nikon's D5100 looks like a very nice DSLR for the price and feature set. The 16 megapixel sensor from the D7000 certainly helps; with usable results up to ISO 3200, and for non-critical photos, even 12,800 (HI1) can be used with some post-processing. I am not too keen on the revamped layout to accommodate the articulating LCD however. Traditionally Nikon DSLRs have four to five buttons on the left hand side of the camera, where the hinge currently is located. The downside is slightly less refined controls compared to the D7000. Still, I hope Nikon eventually works out the UI for this line, because I would like to see the articulating LCD become standard; that way I can leave the right-angle finders at home!

Engadget has additional coverage if you want a mainstream tech review. Personally, I'm still baffled why 11 AF Points is a minus. In my time, we had just one, and walked both ways uphill in the snow to take photos!

In lieu of a full report, which is no longer interesting to me at this point, I decided to write up, point form, some of the interesting things I learned about the Nikon D5100 DLSR and ME-1 microphone - the things that aren't necessarily in the press release. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best to answer.

• The D5100 and ME-1 Stereo Microphone should be in-market by the end of April. The earthquake/tsunami in Japan didn't have an impact on the production of these products.
• The D5100 is compatible with UHS SD Cards, along with the usual SD, SDHC, SDXC
• Based on some of the impressive new in-camera creative features, I asked Nikon if there were any plans to roll out similar features to other EXSPEED 2-powered cameras such as the D7000 or D3100 via firmware updates. The answer was no. I think this is unfortunate - it makes little sense to have a new and powerful camera such as the D7000 lacking features that the D5100 has. And, certainly, the D3100-using crowd would love some of the new features.
• I asked about the in-camera HDR; it only uses two images, and typically for HDR you want three or more. Two images is the optimal number of images for non-tripod users according to Nikon. As in, three would be hard to do hand-held and too much ghosting would occur with more than two. There's no "tripod mode" for the HDR however, and worse, you can't use it with raw files. This is a simplistic, JPEG-only, two shot tool. You can, however, set it to +1/+2/+3 stops on the exposure - so your first photo is at +0 EV, and your next one is between +1 and +3. You also can't convert previously captured JPEGs. Lots of unfortunate limitations here, but let's face it, if you want high-quality HDR images, you're going to want to shoot three to nine images in raw format on a tripod and use dedicated software such as the ultra-awesome NIK HDR EFEX PRO (seriously, it rocks).

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Nikon has just announced the D5100, their latest DSLR. It replaces the D5000, a camera I previously owned. The Canadian MSRP is $899 for the camera body and 18-105mm lens; there's no body-only option at this time.

Something worth noting: the ME-1 Microphone is compatible with any Nikon that has a 3.5mm audio input jack, so you D7000, D300S, D3S, and P7000 owners who are looking for better audio might be quite interested in that product. Canadian MSRP on this microphone is going to be $159.99.

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