Nikon D3100 w18-55mm F3.5-5.6G VR
I've wanted to get my hands on a D3100 since the day it was announced, because it is a major upgrade over preceding entry level DSLRs from Nikon. There are some exciting additions over older models, such as an all new Nikon designed 14MP CMOS sensor, liveview, 1080p video recording (@24FPS), a new drive model switch, and add to that continuous auto focus while recording video. If you have any questions about the D3100, that you haven't seen answered in the preview, then feel free to ask them and I'll do my best to answer in my next few posts on the camera. For my initial impressions read on on.
Introduction:
The Nikon D3100 is a light weight camera body, and the newest entry level model in Nikon's DSLR range of cameras, coming in as a replacement for the D3000. The D3100 has been given some major upgrades over the earlier entry level models, first of all in terms of a new 14MP CMOS sensor, which is in place of the 10MP CCD sensor that had been in Nikon's entry level cameras from the release of the D40X back in 2007. Another major change that Nikon introduced with the D3100 is the addition of liveview, Nikon's first entry level DSLR with this feature, and 1080p movie recording. Upon release the D3100 was the only Nikon body to have 1080p video recording, although with the release of the D7000 shortly there after that changed. Another first for the D3100 was auto focus while recording video, a feature also shared by the D7000.
For all intensive purposes the Nikon D3100 is going head to head against the Canon Rebel T2i, and Pentax K-r, at least for the time being anyway. The D3100 does have some major advantages over the T2i and Pentax K-r, such as a lower price and auto focus while recording video. On the other hand the T2i has some higher end features; manual control while recording video, more external controls, mirror lockup, bracketing, depth of field preview and an external microphone port. The T2i also has a 18MP CMOS sensor vs. the 14MP sensor of the D3100, and the Pentax K-r has even less at 12MP, although the difference in resolution is very small in practical terms. How is the D3100 compared to the T2i and K-r, at this point I cannot say. Those are the kind of question that I will try to answer in my full review. I'll start off by saying that I cannot directly compared the D3100 against the Pentax K-r, for various reasons. I will compare the results of the D3100 against the images I took with the Rebel T2i when I tested it earlier this year.
Build Quality, Controls and Ports:
The D3100 is very light weight, 501g in total, and is made of industrial strength plastics (polycarbonate) in order to achieve that. The body is also smaller than the D3000, and D40 before it, but not by much. Overall the body feels well made, although it does feel different than earlier entry level models like the D40 and D60. My first reaction was that the plastic is of a lower quality, but I'm not going to toss it around to find out. The grip on the camera is improved over earlier entry level models, it is deeper and is more comfortable thanks to a soft rubber covering. The camera is a little small in my average sized male hands, my pinky finger almost feels like it wants to slip under the body, but that isn't a big deal to be honest.
The control layout on the back of the D3100 is very similar to that of the D3000 before it, short of two new buttons and a switch. The first change is the addition of the liveview switch and movie recording button on the back beside the 3" LCD. I like this button, switch combination far more than the way Nikon had these functions mapped out on the D90 and D5000. The second new button is the "i" button on the lower left side of the body. The addition of a separate info button on the back of the camera makes it faster to change settings, but as a result all the buttons on that side of the body got smaller. Another addition is the speaker, located under the 4 way controller, so that you can listen to recorded audio during movie playback.
The next big change on the D3100 over previous entry level modes is the addition of the drive mode switch, which is a feature that I am extremely happy to see, and is one of the reasons I decided to upgrade my backup body to the D3100 from my D40X. The drive mode switch allows you to quick change between single, continuous, timer and quiet shooting modes without diving in the menu. The mode dial is slightly taller than on the D3000, otherwise the controls on the topside are unchanged from the D3000.
On the grip side of the body you'll find the SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot, which works just like any other SD card slot before it. Of course you can now use the high capacity (and price) SDXC cards, which at this time can hold 64GBs. Unless you plan on shooting video all day it seems very unlikely that you'll need a card that large, since an 8GB SDHC card holds over 400 RAW NEF files, or around 900 fine jpeg files. I'm using 8GB Class 10 SDHC cards in the D3100 for the duration of the testing period.
Finally we move onto the bottom of the camera body, where the battery bay and tripod socket are located. The battery bay has a small retaining clip inside, so you don't have to worry about the battery falling out when you open the door, although it does slide down making it easier to remove. The D3100 uses the new EN-EL14 battery (also used by the Coolpix P7000), which is rated for 550 shots with the D3100 (1.7V, 1030mAh, 7.7Wh). Don't expect to get that many shots on a charge until the battery has been cycled (charged and discharged) 5-10 times, because it is only after 5-10 charges Lithium Ion batteries reach their peak operating condition. The camera comes with the new MH-24 charger, which has an integrated plug, which means you no longer have to drag the power cord around with you.
In the tripod socket on the D3100 is centered with the lens mount, so the camera will work just fine for shooting panoramas. As noted on the bottom of the camera body, the D3100 is made in Thailand.
The Viewfinder:
The optical viewfinder is an important part of any SLR camera, which is why I'm mentioning it now. The D3100 may have a liveview function, which operates like the auto focus system on a point and shoot camera, but you'll get the best results by using the optical viewfinder, at least when hand holding the camera. The D3100 has a pentamirror viewfinder (meaning it uses a series of mirrors rather than a full prism) with 0.8x magnification and 95% coverage. 95% frame coverage meaning 5% of what will be seen in the final image is not visible in the viewfinder. Having 95% coverage is common for entry level DSLR cameras, and is perfectly acceptable for most users. To get a Nikon DSLR with a 100% viewfinder you would have to buy a D7000, D300s, D3s or D3x. The viewfinder of the D3100 is the same size as the one found in the D3000 before it, and is slightly smaller than the one found in the D40, D40x and D60, although you wont be able to tell by looking, as the difference is insignificant. The viewfinder itself is clear and surprisingly bright.
Along the bottom of the viewfinder you'll see important shooting information such as, shutter speed, the lens aperture setting, the number of frames remaining, exposure and flash compensation, and flash readiness. In manual mode a meter will appear in this area as well. If you enable the rangefinder it tells you how close you are to achieving focus, this is a great tool to use when manual focusing. The D3100 does not display the set ISO in the viewfinder by default, and there is no setting that will allow you to do so.
Also displayed in the viewfinder are the 11 auto focus points, which unlike earlier models are not shown with large black boxes that flash red when active. Instead only a small dot within the auto focus area lights up. There are still light etchings on the focusing screen that show the focusing area. The advantage to this is that the viewfinder is less cluttered, and likely a little brighter. The disadvantage is that it can be a little harder to tell which focus point you are using, and in low light conditions it looks as if more than one focus point is active, although that is not the the case, unless you are using auto area focusing mode (more on this later).
Metering and Auto White Balance:
The meter performs very similar to the D3000, which isn't bad. The Matrix Metering mode tends to aim at exposing for shadow areas. This works well when you use Active D-Lighting, but not as well without it. As a result I tend to use center weighted metering with the D3100, and just about any digital camera for that matter. I'll have more to say about this after I've had more time with the camera. Like all other Nikon DSLRs you can choose from Matrix (Evaluative) Metering, Centered Weighted and Spot metering.
One interesting thing of note, auto white balance performance is rather good indoors compared some some other DSLRs, and point and shoots that I have tested in the past.
Auto Focus:
The D3100 uses the same 11 point auto focus system first introduced with the Nikon D200 in 2005. The system has seen refinements over the last five years, such as the addition of 3D colour tracking in 2008 with the release of the D90. The same system, with tracking, was also used in the D3000 and D5000. The big difference between the implementation of the auto focus system in the D3100 compared to those earlier cameras is what you see in the viewfinder.
I find performance of auto focus in the D3100 to be very similar to that of the Nikon D90, which is good overall. The center focus point is cross type, and thus is more accurate for some subjects, so keep that in mind. I've noticed that the area of focus is not necessarily lined up with the dot that lights up, at least on my unit, so I try to focus based on the area, rather than the dot itself. That can be hard to do in low light though, as only the dot lights up, rather than the focus area, as on previous cameras with the Multi-cam 1000 focusing system.
Image Quality and Low Light Performance:
I am not going to make any definite comments on image quality at this point, but I am impressed with the slight increase in resolution over the D300. Although the difference in resolution isn't very large, the increase does help increase the sharpness of fine details, and has a visible improvement in resolution over the 6MP D40 or 10MP D40X, D60 and D3000.
As for low light noise performance, there is a big improvement over the 10MP entry level models, like the D3000. From ISO100-800 images are basically noise free. ISO1600 is very usable, and with noise reduction any of the native ISO settings are fine. The high settings show noticeable colour noise, especially ISO 12800. That being said, I'd rather be able to shoot at those ISO sensitivities than not, because earlier entry level models maxed out at ISO3200 as a high setting. There is a slight improvement over the D90/D5000 and D300s in terms of noise, but I'll have to do more testing to be sure. The results of those tests will be seen in my full review of the camera.
Sample Image Gallery: Right now there aren't many sample images, but I'll be adding more during the testing period. For now there are just a few high ISO test shots I've taken on my test set. Most are take at ISO1600, but there is one at ISO12800 as well.
Current Thoughts:
Overall I like the D3100 so far, it seems like a well made camera without any immediately visible flaws. I'll be adding more thoughts on the camera as I put the camera through my usual battery of non scientific tests; in other words, real world testing. I should have my full review of the camera ready within the usual four week window that I allow for product testing. I'll also be testing the Nikon 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G VR along side the D3100, so a review of that lens should follow shortly after that of the camera.
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