New Nikon D3100 – Nikon’s Cheapest DSLR Has Hottest Specs

Nikon’s D3100 is their new entry-level DSLR. The more I look at the specs the more amazed I am at what they’re putting into this camera.

Autofocus Video

Two years ago the Nikon D90 was the first DSLR with video. Then Canon slowly ate Nikon’s lunch, upgrading their video-enabled DSLRs with HD video. With the D3100 Nikon has pulled ahead of Canon, not to mention every other video-equipped DSLR in the world.

The D3100 has HD video along with a feature no other DSLR had until now – continuous autofocus. With other DSLRs the video would autofocus when you started shooting, but if the subject moved closer or farther away from the camera it wouldn’t change focus unless you stopped shooting, re-focused, and started shooting again. The D3100 will update focus as needed, just like a video camcorder.

Amazing High ISO Performance

Nikon has been very good at getting clean images out of high ISOs. The D3100 pushes the boundaries out another notch, with ISO support from 100 to 128,000.

Nikon Creative Lighting System

The D3100 can serve as a commander (master) flash. In the Nikon Creative Lighting System that means it can remotely trigger off-camera remote flashes, such as Nikon’s SB-600, SB-800, and SB-900, using infrared communication, complete with automatic through-the-lens (TTL) metering for the off-camera flashes.

Prior to the D3100 the Nikons that could act in commander mode were all professional or prosumer cameras costing a thousand dollars or more. The D3100 has a suggested retail price of $699 and that price includes a lens. For the first time you can step into the CLS game with Nikon’s cheapest DSLR.

What Is It Missing?

• Autofocus motor for older AF lenses. If you don’t have any AF lenses it isn’t that much of a loss, since Nikon now has a nice selection of AF-S lenses that have silent, ultrasonic motors. Not having the motor in the camera helps keep it small and light. The lack of a focus motor does mean you can’t use the cheap and excellent 50MM/1.4 AF or the not cheap but very cool 10.5mm fisheye.
• Exposure bracketing, which is useful these days for doing HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos.
• Depth of field preview. Most people would never miss it.
• Some high-end features, like a pentaprism instead of a pentamirror, top LCD with exposure settings, and a higher-resolution, 1 megapixel rear LCD like the D90.
• High speed FP flash sync. And the maximum sync speed is only 1/200th of a second, which is slow compared to the 1/500th of my D40. Right now I’m leaping into flash photography with both feet, so this is the main bummer for me.

I’m going to hold out for the next model (probably called the D7000) to get a couple of those features. I also like the D7000 specs a bit more as far as frame rate and number of focus points in the autofocus system. If you’re buying your first DSLR, or upgrading and older model (I’m still using a four year old D40), the D3100 is an amazing DSLR for the money. What it offers for the money bodes well for the next round of Nikon bodies.