After many years of film, mostly with Nikon slrs (currently an FE2) I'm finally mulling the purchase of a DSLR. I don't have a massive budget (one of the reasons I'm reluctantly leaving film) and I'm "no David Bailey", I just enjoy taking pictures - and I've realised that to take the kind of pictures I like with a little depth of field I need a bigger sensor than any compact can offer. I'm also used to the SLR form factor so a viewfinder-less CSC isn't for me.
Although my current lenses won't be compatible in any useful way, I'm still leaning towards another Nikon and have been looking at the obvious entry level choice, the D3100, which is just about affordable for me. Something about its more expensive brother, the D5100 has me slightly hooked though, and that's the idea of a screen I can fold away and basically not be bothered with when I'm shooting. I'll be using the viewfinder in my same old analogue way so to have a screen that gets out of my way and only needs to come out when it's actually useful - for instance using live view to frame a shot from waist level etc - would be a real boon for me and a lot better than the fixed, in your face (or more specifically pressed against the nose) screen of the D3100. Unfortunately I just can't see myself finding or justifying the extra money just for that - the D3100 is already a stretch.
So I was pretty much fixed on the D3100 but then I noticed my local independent camera shop appears to have new, boxed stock of the older D5000, with standard zoom, for £399 - a little cheaper than I can find the 3100 for. Obviously this is the D5100's predecessor and also has that tilting screen, although the body design is a little different and a little bulkier. It's 12mp versus the D3100's 14, and has nikon's Expeed rather than expeed 2 processor, whatever that means in practice. It's also less good at video, although I have to say that's of zero importance to me - I already have a video camera I barely use, and an iPhone that shoots pretty well if i really need it anyway.
So I suppose I'm asking - how else do the two compare - would I be mad to take the older camera over the D3100, and is £399 a fair price for it anyway? I appreciate I could get cheaper/better used but I'd sooner have something fresh..
Although my current lenses won't be compatible in any useful way, I'm still leaning towards another Nikon and have been looking at the obvious entry level choice, the D3100, which is just about affordable for me. Something about its more expensive brother, the D5100 has me slightly hooked though, and that's the idea of a screen I can fold away and basically not be bothered with when I'm shooting. I'll be using the viewfinder in my same old analogue way so to have a screen that gets out of my way and only needs to come out when it's actually useful - for instance using live view to frame a shot from waist level etc - would be a real boon for me and a lot better than the fixed, in your face (or more specifically pressed against the nose) screen of the D3100. Unfortunately I just can't see myself finding or justifying the extra money just for that - the D3100 is already a stretch.
So I was pretty much fixed on the D3100 but then I noticed my local independent camera shop appears to have new, boxed stock of the older D5000, with standard zoom, for £399 - a little cheaper than I can find the 3100 for. Obviously this is the D5100's predecessor and also has that tilting screen, although the body design is a little different and a little bulkier. It's 12mp versus the D3100's 14, and has nikon's Expeed rather than expeed 2 processor, whatever that means in practice. It's also less good at video, although I have to say that's of zero importance to me - I already have a video camera I barely use, and an iPhone that shoots pretty well if i really need it anyway.
So I suppose I'm asking - how else do the two compare - would I be mad to take the older camera over the D3100, and is £399 a fair price for it anyway? I appreciate I could get cheaper/better used but I'd sooner have something fresh..
. AF (non-S) lenses will mount and meter on D3100/5100, but not AF. They will AF on the higher end bodies. AF-S lenses will do everything.