Tuesday, April 5, 2011

D5100 (D5000 replacement) came out of Nikon's closet today, and yes, it got better, baby. Way better!

The much-anticipated replacement for the defunct D5000 was unveiled today. A.K.A. the Canon Rebel T3i/EOS 600d killer, the new Nikon 5001 is a terrific gift to HDR aficionados, as it has auto exposure bracketing up to 4 stops apart or an automatic 2-shot HDR mode up to 3 stops apart. HDR mode may be used SIMULTANEOUSLY with Nikon's Active D-Lighting feature for even more dramatic HDR effects. Yay!
Automatic HDR
     Video has changed from motion jpeg to .mov H.264/MP4 yielding smaller file sizes, but also fewer key frames. MSRP is 20% less than the comparable Canon. Yeah, baby! Viewfinder has much finer resolution; it's now a swing-to-the-side-and-rotate articulated display. Eleven AF points instead of 9 on the D5000. Frame rate tops out at 30 FPS rather than the 60 FPS on the Canon. This lameness is why Nikon doesn't make camcorders. On the other hand the D5100 offers continuous AF in video mode; the Canon doesn't. (Since autofocus hunting wrecks the monophonic sound, Nikon offers a $179 stereo mini-shotgun mike which attaches to the hot shoe and which is insulated from lens noise.)
1/40 at f 3.5; 3200 ISO
Nightvision
     Unlike the Canon (and the Nikon D7000) the D5100 has no in-camera autofocus motor, it's DIY with Nikon lenses without built-in AF motors. Battery life is very good. Nikons meter in color, of course; Canons don't.
     Sensor is now 16 megapixels slightly trailing the Canon.
     Aksarbent like dis veddy, veddy much and probably won't wait for Santa.
     A Canon/Nikon EOS600D/D5100 comparison is here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

ShareThis