Pros
- Well-rounded feature set
- Beautiful 3-inch articulated LCD
- Top-notch image quality (still and video)
- Excellent low-light/high-ISO performance
- Full time AF in Live View and video
Cons
- Requires AF-S lens with built-in AF motor
- Live View and video AF aren't lightning-fast
Bottom Line
The latest addition to Nikon’s expansive DSLR line, the 16-megapixel D5100 fits neatly between the entry-level D3100 and the more sophisticated D7000.
Images (click to enlarge)
The latest addition to Nikon’s expansive DSLR line, the 16-megapixel Nikon D5100 fits neatly between the entry-level D3100 ($700 with kit lens) and the more sophisticated D7000 ($1200, body only). An update to the 12-megapixel D5000, this new $800 (body only, price as of June 15, 2011) model offers some features that may entice current D5000 owners to upgrade, including full 1080p high-definition video, a bigger and better articulating LCD screen, larger burst-mode capacity, expanded ISO, full-time autofocus in video and Live View, and special effects for still and video capture.Basic Features
As expected, the D5100 employs manual, semimanual, and auto exposure modes, along with 16 scene modes. You can use Nikon’s Picture Control system (presets for Landscape, Monochrome, Neutral, Portrait, Standard, and Vivid, with adjustable sharpness, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue) in conjunction with the program auto, semimanual, and manual modes for fine-tuned image capture. Automatic distortion control, Active D-Lighting (which helps maintain details in shadows and highlights), Long Exposure, High ISO Noise Reduction, Multiple Exposure, Interval Shooting, and a new HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode are among the included standard options.
The D5100 is slightly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, measuring 5.0 by 3.8 by 3.1 inches and weighing 19.7 ounces (body only), and its body is well balanced and comfortable to hold. As always, we recommend that you budget for the highest-quality lens you can afford for the best results. However, the D5100 doesn’t have an AF motor, so to use autofocus you’ll need an AF-S lens with a built-in motor.
For the most part, the D5100 is easy to operate. Most of the controls are clearly labeled and make sense for anyone who has used a DSLR. The D5100, unfortunately, has no dedicated ISO button, so it might make sense to program the Function button for ISO adjustments--it’s more efficient than using the interactive LCD menu to make changes. Nikon has added a convenient Live View lever adjacent to the mode dial, and it has positioned the direct video record button within easy reach near the shutter release. Be careful around the four-way multiselector pad on the rear panel, however: It’s great for manually selecting focus points, but accidentally depressing the selector will move the focus point when you’re not paying attention.
What's New and Notable
Built on the same, higher-resolution sensor that the D7000 utilizes (which means the D5100 can also take advantage of the ultrahigh-speed SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-I card), the D5100 is clearly a solid step up from its predecessor. But the camera has a number of specific improvements that add to its appeal. Here are some of the most compelling new features.
Adjustable LCD screen: The new, 3-inch, high-resolution (921,000 dots), vari-angle LCD screen is a huge improvement over the D5000’s display. Both size and resolution have increased, and the LCD is now side-hinged (versus bottom-hinged), providing more flexibility for video and Live View shooting. The LCD can also fold into the camera body for protection.
Low-light shooting: Like the D7000, the D5100 has a native ISO that ranges from 100 to 6400 and is expandable to 25,600, versus the D5000’s native range of 200 to 3200 (which was expandable to 100 and up to 6400). Despite the D5100’s additional megapixels and increased ISO options, the camera handles image noise very well when shooting at settings as high as ISO 1600--both with and without the built-in noise reduction. As with the D7000, shooting in RAW mode and processing the image in Adobe Camera Raw delivers the best results.
Nikon has added some new special effects to the D5100, including a Night Vision mode that, appropriate to its name, boosts the ISO to 102,400. This mode shoots in black-and-white only, and you get significant noise, but it’s usable if a little light is available and you need a stealth mode.
Special effects: The included special effects in the D5100, while not groundbreaking, add some fun and creativity to the camera. In addition to Night Vision, you get a Miniature effect that simulates a tilt-shift lens and can make objects look like small models and scenes like dioramas. Color Sketch is self-explanatory, and Selective Color converts an image to black-and-white but retains up to three user-selectable colors. Live View must be enabled to set up the special effects; but once you've selected options, you can shoot images using the viewfinder.
You can activate special effects during video capture, as well. And, except for Night Vision, the new effects can apply to still images in playback (retouch menu), along with others such as Fisheye and Color Outline. You can save a copy of the adjusted image so that the original remains unaffected.
Video mode and Live View: The D5100 now offers full HD video, with multiple options: 1920 by 1080 at 30 frames per second or 24 fps, with two quality (high and normal) settings for each. The same four frame rates and quality options are available for 1280 by 720 video capture. You can shoot lower-resolution video of 640 by 424 at 30 fps at high or normal quality, as well.
Full-time autofocus is available in both video and Live View modes, but although its function in both modes is generally more responsive than that of other competitive DSLRs, it isn't lightning-fast.
Performance, Image Quality, and Video Quality
In PCWorld Labs subjective image tests, the D5100 earned a word score of Very Good for exposure, Good for both color and sharpness, and Superior for distortion. Click on any of our test images to view them at full size.
In my hands-on tests, I found that the D5100 produced excellent still images, particularly when I used manual controls and selected and adjusted the appropriate Picture Control settings. Natural-looking but well-saturated colors were the norm, and exposures, even under challenging conditions, were almost always accurate with good dynamic range. Implementing Nikon's D-Lighting often made the latter even better.
Even with the bump in megapixels from 12 to 16, the D5100 can easily handle the new, expanded ISO range without much strain, all the way up to ISO 1600. When in doubt, RAW capture and processing will help keep image noise to a minimum, and details intact.
The AF-S 18-55mm VR lens bundled with the camera ($900 for the kit) is capable of producing surprisingly crisp images for a kit lens. Chromatic aberration was often visible, however, along high-contrast edges.
Video quality didn’t disappoint, producing footage that equaled or exceeded that of other DSLRs in this camera's class. In our subjective lab tests, the D5100 earned a word score of Good for video quality and Fair for audio quality.
Colors were pleasing and videos were generally sharp--once the D5100’s autofocus locked in. Shutter roll may occur when you're panning quickly, but that issue isn't unique to the D5100. Overall, the camera produced some solid video. Audio quality is good, and although we didn’t have one to test, the ME-1 stereo microphone($180) should be beneficial if you’re serious about capturing live sound.
You can view the test footage (both bright-light and low-light) that the PCWorld Labs used for video-quality tests below. Select 1080p from the drop-down menu in each player to see the highest-quality footage.
This month's D5100 commercial showcases what the camera can do in the best-case scenario. The commercial, starring who else but Ashton Kutcher, was filmed with the D5100 in full HD. Sure, it’s a marketing thing, but the ad's creators used a full, professional rig. The director of photography was Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Iron Man), so novices won't be able to reproduce this type of quality. Still, it’s an interesting example of the D5100's video chops.
Buying Advice
The Nikon D5100 is a solid option for photographers looking for a highly capable, fairly user-friendly sub-$1000 DSLR. Although it doesn’t have all the bells, whistles, and speed of the D7000, the D5100 delivers an excellent feature set and image quality that rivals or exceeds that of the competition. Current D5000 users may want to step up to the new model due to a number of notable improvements.
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