Photography Reviews

9 Easy First Steps Into the World of DSLR Photography with the Nikon D3100 Camera

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  1. Don’t allow the big step from a compact camera, or to your first-ever digital camera, deter you from your growing interest in photography. The Nikon D3100 DSLR was designed specifically for you, with small, easy steps for the beginner with some experience or the absolutely new beginner.

    Read real customer reviews of the Nikon D3100 DSLR here.

  1. What you’ll like immediately is the solid, but comfortable feel of the D3100’s body in your hands. Nikon purposely made it compact and light, so it wouldn’t be much different than your compact camera experience, but also introduce you to the DSLR shape. The D3100 is just 4.9” W x 3.8” H x 2.9” D (124.46mm x 96.52mm x 73.66mm) and the body weighs only one pound (455g). Purchase the D3100 with the 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6 VR kit lens and you’ll only add another 9.3 oz. (265g). It’s a combination you can carry all day for family outings and fun with your friends.

The body may be mostly made of plastic parts, but they are manufactured from a tough, durable grade of plastic, so you can use the D3100 in even the most rugged and unforgiving shooting environments.

  1. Nikon also made sure the external body controls, buttons and switches were equally easy to use and convenient. Those that you will definitely appreciate include a drive-mode lever on the top of the body plate. You’ll have no trouble setting and checking the selected drive mode. Look for a spring-loaded lever on the back of the body that activates the Live View mode with a quick thumb movement. Within that lever is a red button, which is your one-touch control to start video recording. What a convenience!

Just as easy to find and use is a shooting mode dial also on the top plate of the camera body. With it, you can choose manual, aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes as well as various scene modes. Another quick control point is the exposure compensation button, which Nikon wisely placed next to the shutter release. With the exposure compensation button depressed with your right forefinger, your thumb will easily reach the nearby control wheel to fine-tune exposure settings.

Instead of looking at the viewfinder to see critical shooting data, Nikon gave the D3100 a simply info button. When pressed, all the data appears in the large rear screen.

  1. If all these various shooting modes and information seem a bit daunting and confusing, Nikon has saved the day by including an extremely handy Guide mode. Think of it as your onboard “teacher,” which will provide complete and easy-to-follow instructions about what all this information means and its effect on your digital photos. Better yet, the Guide mode matches the information with reference photos, so you also have visual aids to improve your understanding.

  1. The Nikon D3100 also provides you with a thorough introduction to the auto-focus (AF) concept with a system of 11 auto-focus sensors, or points. These are seen when looking through the viewfinder. Half-depress the shutter release and you can select any of the 11 points for the single-point AF mode. This camera’s robust AF system also includes auto area, dynamic area and 3D tracking AF modes.

  1. Although the Nikon D3100 was designed primarily for taking still photos, you’ll be happy to see that it also shoot video, 1080p Full-HD, in fact, at 24, 25 and 30 frames per second.

  1. Even though the D3100 is a beginner’s camera, its image quality is extremely important if you expect to enjoy your first DSLR experience and improve your digital photography abilities. Third-party tests reveal that the D3100 produces excellent still photos and video. One of the factors that will make your images so sharp, clear and color saturated is the quality of the ISO sensitivity. You’ll be able to shoot at the “normal” ISO setting of 100 as well as the higher sensitivity of ISO 800 with almost no digital noise. This means you can shoot in low-light situations without a flash and still have great-looking photos. This is particularly important when you want to make large prints from your photos.

  1. As mentioned above, purchasing the Nikon D3100 with the 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6 VR kit lens is a smart consumer choice. First, the lens gives you a 3x zoom factor, which is the equivalent of 27–82.5mm in the 35mm format. Second, the lens has built-in image stabilization technology, so you can shoot more hand-held photos and movies at slower shutter speeds.

  1. The Nikon D3100 with the kit lens is available from B&H Photo Video for only $596.95. This includes a special of $50 off the regular price of $646.95; however, this special offer is only good through February 28, 2012. Order yours today at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Nikon+D3100&N=0&InitialSearch=yes.

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