Gentlemen, you have convinced me that the route to go for better pictures is the DSLR. I am looking at between two enry level cameras the Nikon D3100 and D5100. There are some comments on the D3100 posted on this site but I could not find any comments on the D5100.

Does anyone have any experience with the D5100. Is the extra $200 in cost over the D3100 worth it?

Thanks again,

Jim

REad here http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/

Ken is a pretty straight shooter when it comes to cameras and usually has a good perspective on comparing two similar cameras. I wouldnt just blindly do what he says, but he does have a good perspective on stuff. If you catch him the right moment he can also be irreverent and un-pc as hell, which for me, at least works to his benefit.

The relatively small difference between the Nikon 3100 and the 5100 should be relatively easy to justify going for the 5100. But the real budget questions come into play when you start thinking about getting the most out of the camera, and that means good lenses. With a Nikon using DX format lenses, if you want just one lens to keep the budget and the weight down, buy the 18-200mm. It covers just about everything. If you like superwide angle (great for trophy photos, indoor/party photos, natural world and landscape photos), add the 10-24mm. With those two lenses you cover everything from super wide to the equivalent of a 300mm in 35mm format, with Vibration Reduction to boot on the long lens.

Baxter and Wink, thank you for the advice and I checked out Ken Rockwell site.

Wink, I think I am going with the nikon 5100 with its standard lens 18 to 55 and I think I am going with the 55 to 300.

The challange is to see if I can take good photos.

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshot03:
Baxter and Wink, thank you for the advice and I checked out Ken Rockwell site.

Wink, I think I am going with the nikon 5100 with its standard lens 18 to 55 and I think I am going with the 55 to 300.

The challange is to see if I can take good photos.

Take thousands, it won't cost any more than taking almost none.

I recently got a d5100 and I like it a lot, but it's my first dSLR, and I have no experience with the 3100.

There's pretty good reviews posted here:

http://www.dpreview.com/produc...products=nikon_d3100

quote:

Baxter and Wink, thank you for the advice and I checked out Ken Rockwell site.

Wink, I think I am going with the nikon 5100 with its standard lens 18 to 55 and I think I am going with the 55 to 300.

The challange is to see if I can take good photos.

You have a great platform for some good work. Now get practicing and learn to use it. Be sure to give us a full update when you get back.

Have Fun.

My suggestion is to get whatever camera you feel comfortable with, but body only.

Then get a decent lense, one with VR.

I no longer buy any lenses that have no stabilizer.

Just got the new Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM for my Canon 7D.

Looking forward to using it on safari later this year.

The D5100 is nice but it's TINY if you have big hands it may be a bit fiddly to use.
I'm not convinced the 16 meg sensor is all that good, I still think the 12.3 in the D5000 / D90 and D300 is superior.
I've used the D7000 a bit and that's the same sensor, I was going to get one, but not now, nice camera great functions but I think 12/14 meg is the limit for a small sensor so I'm sticking with the D5000 for now.

The other thing is the lack of Focus Motor in the body, so you need AF-S lenses with a motor inside if you want all the auto functions.
There are some great AF-S lenses but they are the more expensive ED glass, the 35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4 and the new 50mm 1.8 are not brilliant, still good but not top stuff.

If you do go for a D5100 ... DO NOT get the kit 18-55mm it's not much good really, the kit 55-200 is not bad, the 55-300 DX is good for the price but not a patch on the 70-300vr, for not much more.

My favorite lens for the Nikon DX cameras is the 16-85 AF-S, great for daytime walkabout, but not much use in low light being F3.5 at 16mm.

I know everyone just shoots at a Million ISO these days, but I still find 800 is about as far as you can go with any of the DSLRs and get really clean images.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
My suggestion is to get whatever camera you feel comfortable with, but body only.

Then get a decent lense, one with VR.

I no longer buy any lenses that have no stabilizer.

+1

I got the same two lenses that you mentioned above in my Nikon, and I wish I had taken the 18-200 VR as my first lens because as a newbie to it I seemed to always have the wrong lens for what I wanted to do and the lens was/is not the limiting factor in the quality of the pics I take.

K