Nikon D3100

Clearly destined to be a popular camera. The only way you will get
higher resolution in a Nikon is to buy a D3x. Plus light weight and
really cheap at less than $700, including a lens.

Favorite features:

Autofocus while taking movies and in Live View.
Lighter than the D40.
1920x1080 video.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell wrote:
Clearly destined to be a popular camera. The only way you will get
higher resolution in a Nikon is to buy a D3x. Plus light weight and
really cheap at less than $700, including a lens.

Favorite features:

Autofocus while taking movies and in Live View.
Lighter than the D40.
1920x1080 video.

I'm a bit disappointed. I don't want video in a serious camera body,
and don't care if a video capable dslr has a small viewfinder, no
in-body focus motor, and the crappy low-res rear LCD.
But I do want a small inexpensive 1080p/24 video camera with F-mount,
but with capability for an external mic. input for my son who plays lead
guitar in a band, has has some experience using a high-end HD video
camera for producing music videos, and a growing interest in still
photography.
AFAICT, this D3100 is internal mono microphone only. Of course for the
music videos, the sound is edited in the studio later, so it doesn't
/really/ matter, but it's enough to put me off this model.
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how well
this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer feature.

Me wrote:
C J Campbell wrote:
Clearly destined to be a popular camera. The only way you will get
higher resolution in a Nikon is to buy a D3x. Plus light weight and
really cheap at less than $700, including a lens.

Favorite features:

Autofocus while taking movies and in Live View.
Lighter than the D40.
1920x1080 video.

I'm a bit disappointed. I don't want video in a serious camera body, and
don't care if a video capable dslr has a small viewfinder, no in-body
focus motor, and the crappy low-res rear LCD.
But I do want a small inexpensive 1080p/24 video camera with F-mount,
but with capability for an external mic. input for my son who plays lead
guitar in a band, has has some experience using a high-end HD video
camera for producing music videos, and a growing interest in still
photography.
AFAICT, this D3100 is internal mono microphone only. Of course for the
music videos, the sound is edited in the studio later, so it doesn't
/really/ matter, but it's enough to put me off this model.
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how well
this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer feature.

If that works well, I might be interested.

"Me" wrote in message
...
[]
I'm a bit disappointed.
[]
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how well
this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer
feature.

My disappointment is that there isn't a swivel LCD - as soon as you have
live view having the swivel increases the versatility quite a lot - e.g.
for low-angle macro shots. Leaves me wondering when the 5100 will be
coming out (with the external microphone input for Paul).

David

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:15:26 +0100, "David J Taylor"
wrote:

"Me" wrote in message
...
[]
I'm a bit disappointed.
[]
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how well
this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer
feature.

My disappointment is that there isn't a swivel LCD - as soon as you have
live view having the swivel increases the versatility quite a lot - e.g.
for low-angle macro shots. Leaves me wondering when the 5100 will be
coming out (with the external microphone input for Paul).

David

Tsk tsk.... even the latest and greatest dSLRs haven't learned to
incorporate the best features for the utmost in creative photography that
have been used on superzoom cameras 8 years ago. I guess I'll have to
correct that oft typed phrase of "it takes at least 3 to 5 years to see the
latest technological innovations on superzoom and compact cameras get
implemented into dSLRs." To 6 to 8 years, to be more accurate.

Keep hoping!

Keep being disappointed!

The rest of the world has moved on to better designs from THIS century. A
10th of this century is already over, and you're still hanging onto camera
designs invented in the beginning of the last century. A CENTURY, 100
YEARS, AGO. I wonder, will it take another half of a century before you
wise-up, wake-up, and give-up hope and move on?

David J Taylor wrote:
"Me" wrote in message
...
[]
I'm a bit disappointed.
[]
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how
well this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer
feature.

My disappointment is that there isn't a swivel LCD - as soon as you have
live view having the swivel increases the versatility quite a lot - e.g.
for low-angle macro shots. Leaves me wondering when the 5100 will be
coming out (with the external microphone input for Paul).

But it does have hdmi out, and for video work, I expected that an HDMI
connectable mini 6-8" monitor with visor, mounted to the flash bracket
or removable as required might be the way to go - if the video feed is
fast enough - I know with my D300 (not 300s), the lag on video feed
through HDMI in LV mode is pretty bad, and that's just 720p, but
obviously the camera is not designed for video.
The mini-monitors I've seen aren't actually HD native, usually 800x480,
so internally scale the HD signal.
Anyway, I'll wait to see what Nikon comes up with in future - the D3100
is not for me.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:47:34 +1200, Me wrote:

David J Taylor wrote:
"Me" wrote in message
...
[]
I'm a bit disappointed.
[]
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how
well this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer
feature.

My disappointment is that there isn't a swivel LCD - as soon as you have
live view having the swivel increases the versatility quite a lot - e.g.
for low-angle macro shots. Leaves me wondering when the 5100 will be
coming out (with the external microphone input for Paul).

But it does have hdmi out, and for video work, I expected that an HDMI
connectable mini 6-8" monitor with visor, mounted to the flash bracket
or removable as required might be the way to go - if the video feed is
fast enough - I know with my D300 (not 300s), the lag on video feed
through HDMI in LV mode is pretty bad, and that's just 720p, but
obviously the camera is not designed for video.

Whereas the "lag" from real-image to the visual display on the articulated
LCD (or articulated EVF on an earlier camera I have) in my superzoom
cameras is as short as 23ms. ~1/50th of a second. (Verified and measured
through in-camera benchmark scripts.) 10 times faster than the average
human reaction time of 215ms, ~1/5th of a second. That's plenty fast
enough.

So much for that oft-quoted DSLR-Trolls' myth about EVF/LCD lag in
superzoom and compact cameras.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:32:53 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

On Aug 19, 11:23*pm, C J Campbell
wrote:
Clearly destined to be a popular camera. The only way you will get
higher resolution in a Nikon is to buy a D3x. Plus light weight and
really cheap at less than $700, including a lens.


$700 is a lot for an purely entry-level mini-DSLR.

Did you add in the glass to give it equivalent image quality to most
superzoom cameras? You didn't did you. A "kit" lens won't cut it you know.
I don't know of any kit lenses that will provide image quality as good as
most any superzoom camera. You have to add in about another $400 to $3,000
in glass to make that $700 functionally adequate. Why do you folks always
forget to add in that important little tidbit? Makes you feel better?
Thinking about the "entry level DSLR scam" for what it truly is is too much
for your mind to deal with? I think some people call "taking all REQUIRED
costs into account" as "reality". Can't deal with "reality"?

NOPE!

OH, It BURNS! It BURNS! That danged harsh glare of reality!

Superzooms Still Win wrote:
On Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:47:34 +1200, Me wrote:

David J Taylor wrote:
"Me" wrote in message
...
[]
I'm a bit disappointed.
[]
Hands on previews, but from what I've read, no real comment on how
well this AF in LV/Video mode operates. It should/could be the killer
feature.
My disappointment is that there isn't a swivel LCD - as soon as you have
live view having the swivel increases the versatility quite a lot - e.g.
for low-angle macro shots. Leaves me wondering when the 5100 will be
coming out (with the external microphone input for Paul).

But it does have hdmi out, and for video work, I expected that an HDMI
connectable mini 6-8" monitor with visor, mounted to the flash bracket
or removable as required might be the way to go - if the video feed is
fast enough - I know with my D300 (not 300s), the lag on video feed
through HDMI in LV mode is pretty bad, and that's just 720p, but
obviously the camera is not designed for video.

Whereas the "lag" from real-image to the visual display on the articulated
LCD (or articulated EVF on an earlier camera I have) in my superzoom
cameras is as short as 23ms. ~1/50th of a second. (Verified and measured
through in-camera benchmark scripts.) 10 times faster than the average
human reaction time of 215ms, ~1/5th of a second. That's plenty fast
enough.

So much for that oft-quoted DSLR-Trolls' myth about EVF/LCD lag in
superzoom and compact cameras.

So what? You're way off topic. I'm talking about an HDMI feed from the
camera to an external display, not to the articulated or fixed in-camera
LCD.
P&S superzoom cameras are completely useless for what I was intending.

If you are a long time Nikon user then the lack of an internal focusing
motor plus a small viewfinder is a deal killer. You will hate this camera.
I returned a d5000 because I thought I would be able to but could not
tolerate those limitations even just playing with the thing.
Upping the video resolution in the the 3100 without an external microphone
input is an utterly useless change.

More than increasing pixel count and video resolution Nikon needs to move to
14bit raw image capture. High end sensors are capable of 16 bit capture and
I would rather have that in a 10mb sensor than 12bit capture in a 14mb
sensor, regardless of video capability.
Comparing comparably priced Canon and Nikon APS-c dslrs the data coming off
a Canon sensor seems more workable presumably because of those two extra
bits of color information, entirely independent of pixel count.
Yes, I have done the side by sides with my own Canon and Nikons pushing data
through the Adobe converter at flat/everything off settings.
After decades of Nikon use I am starting to prefer the raw image quality
from my first Canon dSLR. The lenses are another issue (mostly not the high
end but what most of us really use).
The issue of sensor resolution and print size is totally misunderstood by
most of you posting to this newsgroup who probably do not do their own high
end digital printing and have no significant wet darkroom experience. LOL
reading your utterly irrelevant calculations. I have A3 size prints from
6-14mp dSLRS and I assure you none of you could tell which images are from
which sensor size due to the inherent leveling of image quality in the
printing process as compared to viewing enlarged sections of an image on a
monitor.


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