I said most of what I have to say about the new lenses that have been released today by Nikon, in my post yesterday. That said I do have a few thoughts on them, but I'll get to that a little later. The direction Nikon took with the new D3100 and lenses is a good sign from my point of view. All these new lenses may be why we have seen a shortage of some other gear, as ramping up production for a new camera and four lenses would take a good deal of resources.
The Nikon D3100 has a lot of firsts for a Nikon DSLR, let alone an entry level DSLR. One of the features of the D3100 that I like is the switch beside the model dial for changing the drive mode. Being able to change from single to continuous, timer and Q (Quiet) mode without diving into the menu system makes using the entry level camera even easier. I expect that we could see a similar dial on all entry level Nikon DSLRs from now on (Meaning D5000 replacement). Sadly the D3100 still uses the same low res 3" LCD of the D3000, not that it is bad mind you.
Nikon has also added liveview, and video to the entry level D3100, making it Nikon's first entry level camera with those features. Video is limited to 10 minutes clips at 24FPS, (1080p video length is likely limited due to file size limits of the FAT32 file system), but that should be more than enough recording time for most situations that this cameras target users will need. With the addition of Liveview and Video Nikon has added a new button and a switch to the back of the D3100. The switch turns on liveview and the button starts movie recording, rather than hitting the OK button as on the D5000, D90 and D300s.
Support for the hotshoe mountable GP-1 GPS unit from Nikon has been added, along with the same wired cable release as the D5000 and D90, which was a bit of a surprise, and was not mentioned in any of the rumors leading up to the camera's release. An even bigger surprise was dropping support for the wireless IR remote, which every consumer Nikon DSLR has supported since the D70 back in 2005. The D3100 also uses a new battery, which seems like an odd decision, but it may have been necessary for the support of high definition (1080p) video. The new EN-EL14 is higher voltage, but maintains the same 1030mAh charge of the EN-EL9a.
I get a good laugh when I see a new entry level model released by Nikon, because each time a number of individuals start mumbling about how the camera doesn't have a built in AF motor. I'm not sure why people think that Nikon will ever release an entry level DSLR with such an AF motor, considering the continually decreasing number of non AF-S lenses in Nikon's lineup. I'd much rather see Nikon add metering support for non-CPU lenses to an entry level model than an AF motor. Then of course come the complaints that the camera doesn't have auto bracketing support, which maybe be somewhat legitimate complaint, considering how many people are getting into HDR photography.
As for lenses, just a few quick comments. I think the lens that will draw up the most controversy will be the 85mm F1.4G. I say that because many people were hoping the lens would have VR. I am not surprised that it does not have VR, as none of Nikon's AF-S primes, aside from the 85mm F3.5G VR Micro, have VR technology. I was not at all shocked by the lack of VR, and one can only imagine how much more the lens would cost with it.
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