Best Buy Nikon D5100 Black Friday Deals 2011

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Black Friday Overviews : Nikon D5100 Black Friday Deals

Reviewed by Shawn Barnett, Mike Tomkins, and Zig Weidelich

Based around the same 16.2MP DX-format CMOS image sensor and EXPEED 2 image processing as featured in the prosumer D7000, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday offers similarly good image quality in a more affordable, approachable body. ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to 6,400 equivalents by default, but can be extended as high as 25,600 equivalent if desired.

Compared to its predecessor, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday makes a number of important changes, and it also includes several features which are unique among the company’s Digital SLR lineup. Despite being the company’s first SLR to feature a side-swiveling LCD display, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday has a smaller overall body design than that of the D5000. Unlike the earlier camera’s bottom-swivel display, the side-swivel is a versatile design that allows the live view feed to be seen when framing self-portraits.

The Nikon D5100 Black Friday is also Nikon’s first SLR to include in-camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging capability. A single press of the shutter release captures two shots, with the first intentionally underexposed, and the second overexposed. The two are then combined in-camera to yield a final exposure with much wider dynamic range than is possible in a single exposure.

Also new for the Nikon D5100 Black Friday is a Special Effects mode applicable to both still and movie capture. The selection of effects available includes what Nikon is calling Night Vision mode, which allows shooting at ISO sensitivities up to 102,400 equivalent, with a limitation that the resulting image or movie is monochromatic.

As well as capturing still images at a rate of four frames per second, the “Nikon D5100 Black Friday” can record high definition video at resolutions up to 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, using MPEG-4 AVCHD / H.264 compression. Full-time autofocus is available in the D5100′s live view and video modes, including a face detection function which can locate up to 35 faces in a scene simultaneously. Note, though, that the Nikon D5100 Black Friday features an AF-S lens mount, and hence cannot autofocus with screw-drive lenses.

 

Black Friday Reviews : Nikon D5100 Black Friday Deals

The Nikon D5100 is a little late to the market, but it’s quite welcome. While we liked the preceding D5000 model, its larger size and especially the bottom-hinged swivel screen didn’t make it our favorite, among an overwhelming number of recent Nikon digital SLRs that fairly knocked our socks off. That’s changed with the Nikon D5100 Black Friday, as it pushes most all the right buttons. It’s also better aimed at the Canon T3i, its major competitor.

Walkaround. Unlike the T3i, the Nikon D5100 is smaller than its predecessor, about the same width and thickness, but noticeably shorter, which makes a nice, tight package, reminiscent of the Nikon D40, one of our favorite digital SLRs. Measuring 5.0 x 3.8 x 3.1 inches (127 x 97 x 79mm), the Nikon D5100 Black Friday is larger than the D3100′s 4.9 x 3.8 x 2.9 inches (125 x 97 x 74mm), and smaller than the D5000′s 5.0 x 4.1 x 3.1 inches (127 x 104 x 80mm). Weight is slightly reduced compared to the D5000: 19.9 ounces (565g) for the new camera, 20.7 ounces (588g) for the old (with battery and card, without lens).

The grip, while nicely sculpted inside for the pads of the fingers, isn’t quite as deep as we’d like, causing our fingers to bottom out before they have a good hold on the camera. I can normally adjust my grip by wrapping the heel of my thumb around the back, but the 3-inch articulating screen makes that more difficult, as it’s pushed most of the controls far to the right on the back, leaving little room for that maneuver. As a result, I hold it more loosely than most SLRs. The Nikon D5100 Black Friday‘s grip is made for smaller hands, as my medium hands are generally able to adjust to almost any size grip.

Notice also in the three-quarter shot above the placement of the Function (Fn) button just left of the Black Friday Nikon D5100 logo, the mic and speaker holes just above the logo, and the large rubber port door on the right. This door covers the Accessory, AV Out/USB, HDMI, and Microphone ports, and opens as easily as it closes snugly.

Sensor. On the inside, the Black Friday Nikon D5100 is based around the same 16.2-megapixel, DX-format (23.6 x 15.6mm), CMOS image sensor that previously featured in the D7000. The Nikon D5100′s imager has a total pixel count of 16.9 megapixels, a pixel size of 4.78µm, and yields maximum image dimensions of 4,928 x 3,264 pixels. Two lower-resolution options are also available–either 3,696 x 2,448, or 2,464 x 1,632 pixels. The Black Friday Nikon D5100 can capture still images as .NEF-format compressed RAW files, JPEG compressed files, or as both types simultaneously. Unlike the prosumer D7000 model, the Black Friday Nikon D5100 does not provide an option for uncompressed RAW files.

Processor. The Nikon D5100 uses 14-bit analog/digital conversion, and output from the CMOS sensor is handled by an EXPEED 2 image processor, as featured previously in the D3100 and D7000. Compared to the previous generation EXPEED, the latest generation EXPEED 2 offers improvements in processing speed, image quality, and power consumption. (Note that Nikon repeatedly tells us that EXPEED 2 isn’t necessarily the same processor in each camera; it’s a processing set that’s applied via various configurations of processors, which varies by camera.)

Although the Nikon D5100 Black Friday features the same sensor and nominally the same EXPEED version as in the D7000, its burst shooting rate of four frames per second is a third slower than the D7000′s six frames per second, as you might expect given its more affordable pricing.

Lens mount. Like the D3000 before it, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday sports an AF-S lens mount that lacks an in-body autofocus motor, which would support older AF lenses whose focus mechanisms were driven from the camera. These lenses have what looks like a little screwdriver slot on their mounting flange that couples with a protruding, screwdriver-looking shaft on the camera body, driven by a motor in the camera body to adjust focus.

More recent Nikkor lenses have motors built into the lens body, which tend to be both faster and quieter than the old-style drive system, as well as allowing the camera body to be lighter, smaller and cheaper. These newer lenses–of which there are now over 40 types–carry an AF-S or AF-I designation in their name, and they are the only types of lenses the Nikon D5100 Black Friday can autofocus with. CPU-equipped lenses lacking built-in focus motors can be used in manual focus mode, and type G or D lens types will also support full 3D color matrix metering for more accurate exposures, particularly when flash is being used. (You can tell CPU-equipped lenses by the set of five electrical contacts arrayed on the top side of the lens flange.)

Helpfully, the Black Friday Nikon D5100 can automatically correct for lens distortion in-camera.

Viewfinder. The Nikon D5100′s pentamirror viewfinder has the same 17.9mm eyepoint as that of the D5000, but mirrors that of the D3100 by dropping the on-demand grid display function of its predecessor, instead opting for a more traditional display with red LED indication of AF points. Magnification is approx. 0.78x and frame coverage is approx. 95% horizontal and vertical. The diopter is adjustable from -1.7 to +0.7m, and the Black Friday Nikon D5100 uses a Type B BriteView Clear Matte Mark VII focusing screen.

Autofocus is unchanged from the system used in the Nikon D5000, although the viewfinder indication differs. The D5100′s autofocus system is based around an 11-point Multi-CAM 1000 phase-detection sensor module that’s previously appeared in the D3000 and D5000, among others. The Multi-CAM 1000 module offers 11 focusing points, of which the center point is a cross-type sensor. Detection range for the D5100′s AF system is -1 to +19 EV (ISO 100, 68°F / 20°C). While the AF sensor itself is unchanged, Nikon has updated the viewfinder point display. In the D5000, the approximate AF point locations were indicated with dense black marks in the viewfinder. For the Nikon D5100 Black Friday, these have been replaced with much fainter markings, each illuminated by red LEDs in the center. Like its predecessor, the Black Friday Nikon D5100 includes 3D tracking capability that follows moving subjects from point to point as they traverse the frame.

Exposure modes in the Nikon D5100 Black Friday include Auto, Program, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, Flash Off, Scene, Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close-Up, and Effects. The Scene mode position on the camera’s Mode dial groups the D5100′s scene modes together, rather than their meriting individual positions on the dial. Scene mode choices have been pared down just slightly, and now include Night Landscape, Party / Indoor, Beach / Snow, Sunset, Dusk / Dawn, Pet Portrait, Candlelight, Blossom, Autumn Colors, Food, and Night Portrait.

The D5000′s Silhouette, High key and Low key scene modes have now been relocated to the new Effects position on the Mode dial, which applies to both still images and movies. The Effects mode also includes new Night Vision, Color Sketch, Miniature Effect, and Selective Color options. We’ve seen similar functions to all of these on past Digital SLRs from Nikon or competitors, other than the Night Vision mode, which in particular bears a little explanation. This unusual mode raises the ISO sensitivity limit from its expanded maximum of 25,600 equivalents, all the way up to a whopping ISO 102,400 equivalent, but with a catch: you can only shoot monochromatic images in Night Vision mode. The Selective Color option is similar to that on Pentax’s DSLRs, and desaturates all but selected color ranges. Where Pentax’s function allows selection of two colors with a five-step control over how wide a selection around this color should be retained, the  “Black Friday Nikon D5100″ can select three separate colors, with seven-step selection control. Color Sketch provides a drawing-like effect, while Miniature Effect creates a graduated blur near opposing edges of the image frame, simulating a shallow depth of field and (if used well) creating a perception that the photo is of a model. This last effect slows the recording frame rate on movies, and so causes them to appear sped-up on playback.

Available shutter speeds range from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds in 1/3 or 1/2EV steps, plus a bulb position for longer exposures. The Nikon D5100′s shutter mechanism has a rated lifetime of some 100,000 cycles. Exposure compensation is available within a +/-5.0 EV range, in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps. The Nikon D5100 Black Friday also offers three frame exposure bracketing, with a step size between exposures of up to 2 EV.

Metering. Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering system employs a 420-pixel RGB light meter that covers most of the Nikon D5100′s image area. By way of comparison, higher-end Nikon models use a 1,005-pixel RGB sensor that just slightly more than doubles the metering sensor resolution, so the Nikon D5100′s less sophisticated sensor can’t always provide the same level of exposure metering accuracy as in the D7000 and other models using the newer 1,005 pixel sensor.

As well as Matrix metering, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday provides center weighted (75% weight for circle) and spot modes. The center-weighted circle defaults to 8mm. The spot metering circle is 3.5mm, or about 2.5% of the image frame, and meters at the center of the frame when the focus point is automatically selected, or from the manually selected focus point otherwise. Working range for the D5100′s metering system is from 0 to 20 EV for matrix and center-weighted metering, or 2 to 20 EV for spot metering (ISO 100, f/1.4 lens, 68°F / 20°C).

Scene Recognition System. With the same AF and metering arrangement as the Nikon D5000, the Nikon D5100 Black Friday likewise retains Nikon’s Scene Recognition System, which uses information from the 3D Color Matrix Metering system to compare what it sees in the image to a database of 30,000 photos. Details on similar images in the database are then used when determining focus, exposure, i-TTL flash exposure, and white balance, allowing the Black Friday Nikon D5100 to make better decisions overall.

The autofocus sensors are another piece of the Nikon D5100′s SRS puzzle, each aspect informing and tuning the other. Finding and focusing on eyes rather than foreground objects, or even foreheads and noses, is one particular benefit of the overall integration. Another is improved 3D tracking of objects as they move across the image area. The RGB sensor may not be able to help focus on an object, but it can add a set of data for the Nikon D5100 Black Friday to use while tracking a subject with the autofocus system. For example, if a red object is traversing the frame from left to right, and growing in size as it does so, the Nikon D5100′s SRS would add this information to the AF-sensor data to help it tune the focus more quickly.

Sensitivity. The Nikon D5100′s sensitivity range is greatly expanded since its predecessor, with standard limits of ISO 100 to 6,400 equivalents, while ISO 12,800 and 25,600 equivalents are available when ISO expansion is enabled. By comparison, the Nikon D5000 offers a standard range of ISO 200 to 3,200, while its expanded range was ISO 100 to 6,400. As mentioned previously, this upper limit can be extended even further to ISO 102,400 equivalent in Night Vision mode, but with a catch: this mode is limited only to monochromatic capture, so if you want to shoot in color, you’ll need to stay at ISO 25,600 or below. An Auto ISO option is also available, if you prefer to leave the decisions up to the camera.

White balance. The Nikon D5100 Black Friday provides no less than 14 white balance modes, including an Auto mode, 12 presets, and a manual position. Presets include Incandescent, Fluorescent (Sodium-vapor, Warm-white, White, Cool-white, Day White, Daylight, and High Temp. Mercury-vapor), Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, and Shade. In addition, the D5100 can bracket white balance when shooting in JPEG mode. With bracketing enabled, the camera saves three copies of each image–the default, plus one with a warmer tint, and one with a cooler tint.

Picture Control. As you’d expect, Nikon has included its standardized Picture Control system in the Nikon D5100 Black Friday, so that camera settings for sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue can be finely adjusted and ported to other Nikon digital SLRs that support the system. The D3 was the first camera compatible with the option, and all Nikon SLRs since, including the D5100 follow the standard. The Nikon D5100 has six presets called Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, and Landscape, and up to nine custom presets can be defined, named, saved, and copied. Sharpness can be adjusted in ten steps, along with an Auto setting; contrast, saturation, and hue can be adjusted in seven steps, while hue is adjustable in three steps. There is also a five-step “Quick Adjust” setting, which exaggerates or mutes the effect without having to adjust each slider individually. When Monochrome Picture Control is selected, Hue and Saturation are replaced by Filter Effects and Toning respectively. Filter Effects offers Off, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Green settings, while Toning offers B&W, Sepia, Cyanotype, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue Green, Blue, Purple Blue and Red Purple settings. Note that Picture Controls are only active in Program, Aperture-priority or Shutter-priority and Manual exposure modes, as the Scene modes already apply preset image adjustments. Of course, the Nikon D5100 also offers sRGB and Adobe RGB settings, in a separate Color Space menu.

 

Nikon D5100 Black Friday Conclusion

Pro:

Con:

Excellent image quality and high ISO performance, very similar to the D7000 Excellent dynamic range, especially from RAW Compact body Versatile left-hinged swivel LCD with high resolution Records 1080p movies at up to 30fps Dedicated movie record button Chromatic aberration automatically reduced in JPEGs Optional Auto Distortion Control In-camera HDR function with adjustable step size Active D-Lighting (can be combined with HDR) Interesting filter effects Good battery life for a compact SLR Good burst speed and buffer depths for consumer model External stereo mic jack Adjustable mic sensitivity Supports GP-1 GPS unit Dual IR remote receivers, plus support for wired remote Supports new UHS-I cards Impressive print quality HDMI output

No support for screw-drive autofocus Somewhat weak flash with narrow coverage Built-in flash does not support wireless operation No dedicated ISO button No control over shutter speed or ISO for movies, though aperture can be set before recording begins Warm Auto and Incandescent WB in tungsten lighting No on-demand grid option in viewfinder Slightly soft images at default settings HDR function doesn’t auto-align images HDR only takes two image instead of three or more from competing implementations No eye detection to automatically turn-off LCD

 

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