Nikon D3000 Review – With 18mm-55mm Lens – An Entry Level dSLR

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Ideal for people who are new to dSLRs, control panel is user friendly.

Thumbs Down:

Pretty basic on features.

Inside the Trunk:

Included accessories body cap, eye cup, shoe cap, eye piece cover, neck strap.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Nikon D3000 is a 10.2 mega pixels camera, light sensitivity options include ISO auto (100-1600), ISO 100-1600, ISO 3200. Image format options are RAW + JPEG, NEF(RAW), JPEG and resolution options are 1936 x 1296, 2896 x 1944, 3872 x 2592. Flash modes include red-eye reduction, rear curtain sync, flash off mode, slow synchro, fill-in mode, auto mode.

Shooting programs night portrait, portrait mode, sports mode, landscape, close-up, children. Special effects include monochrome, landscape, portrait, neutral, vivid. It has an optical image stabilizer. Maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 second and minimum shutter speed is 30 seconds. Exposure modes include I-TTL program flash, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, automatic, program, manual, bulb. The camera has a 3 inch TFT LCD with 230,000 pixels. Connectors on the camera include USB, composite video output and the is a slot for SD memory card. The camera is powered by a li-ion rechargeable battery.u

The camera has zoom lens – 18 mm – 55 mm – F/3.5-5.6 G Nikon AF-S DX VR, which has focal length of 18 mm – 55 mm, minimum focus range is 11 inches, lens aperture is F/3.5-5.6, has 3x optical zoom.

Additional features include scene recognition system (SRS), display brightness control, camera orientation detection, text input to EXIF header, highlight point display, digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, in-camera red-eye fix, built-in help guide, PictBridge support, histogram display, cropping an image, date/time stamp, direct print, DPOF support, AF lock, AE lock.

Razzle Dazzle:

dSLRs are not pretty looking cameras and it is mainly due to the bulging lens out of the camera. It is a bit heavier than other dSLRs and it has a solid grip. The camera is 5 inch wide, 2.5 inch deep, 3.8 inch deep and weighs 17.1 oz.

Inside Dope:

The next level after the simple point-and-shoot cameras is the dSLR which have advanced features. However a newbie might get intimated by the variety of options and features that a dSLR has to offer. There are manufacturers who make one of the best point and shoot cameras coming on to the dSLR’s territory. But they are not making full fledged dSLR devices because they are still retaining those simple basic features found on point-and-shoot cameras. D3000 is one of those devices and hence we will call this a entry level dSLR camera.

The Fn button is programmable and the features offered here are release mode, self timer, image quality, white balance, ISO sensitivity, Active D-Lighting menus. Other than this there is shutter button, power switch, info and exposure compensation buttons. The info button is used for back display toggle.

The top mode dial gives you options of aperture and shutter priority, program, manual and full auto modes. If you are too intimidated then you can choose the Easy operation mode where the camera removes the fuss of all the settings. The advanced mode gives you settings for the scenario that you have chosen and also allows you to change the settings if you want something different. For example you go in to sports scene mode when you choose Easy Operation/Distant Subjects the camera will tell you about what is done which we thought was really nice. Further the camera gives you option to adjust settings of release mode, AF area mode and flash.

We were a bit confused with the different buttons that Nikon had on the Nikon D3000. For instance you usually use the command dial to change the shutter speed but here it is adjusted through the muti selector up and down buttons.

Nikon lets us to play around with our photos by making movies out of our snaps. It also allows you to put a date stamp but we will recommend you not to use this feature because it will ruin the pictures and mostly the date of the camera is not correct which will certainly confuse when you look back at the photos over a period of time. Other than this there are lots of shooting features but we were disappointed that the D3000 didn’t have flash or simple exposure bracketing.

When it comes to speed, the camera starts up quickly but other speeds are same as D60. It wakes up and gets ready to shoot in just 0.2 seconds, shooting in bright conditions takes about 0.4 seconds and in low light conditions it is 0.8 seconds. It takes 0.6 seconds between shots and will increase to 0.9 when you activate the flash. The photo quality on the D3000 was very good and we were happy with the sharpness, exposure and color of the device.

Nitty Gritty:

Nikon D3000 isn’t one of the best in dSLR range. It still has the point-and-shoot feel, which doesn’t give much room to advanced features. If you are buying this, remember that this is only a basic dSLR camera. We have seen better dSLRs in the market with better photo quality and better features.