Tech Blog

[#1]

OK, I am impressed. Mind you that doesn't happen that often when it comes to photo gear, and especially  gear in the affordable end of the price scale. I mean anyone can be impressed with a $5000 lens or camera, but a sub-$650 camera, now that's something else.

↑ The Nikon D3000. The Little Camera that Could.

So what's so great about the Nikon D3000?

Awkward viewfinder and a couple of other quirks

In all fairness, the review is not entirely rosy. The camera does have a couple of shortcomings to point out.

↓ The 'funky' viewfinder that won't let you get close.

First of all the viewfinder is a bit on the small side. It is the same as found in the D5000 model and slightly larger than the Sony a330's viewfinder. In the long run, bigger is better, but you will quickly get used to a smaller viewfinder. My main grievance however is how the finder is designed. It sorta seems to push your eye away/further out than necessary. This makes the viewfinder appear even smaller than it is. Strange design choice.

On the quirky side, there are a couple of minor issues to highlight. @ 3 frames per second the camera is not the fastest kid on the block. That was probably never Nikon's intention, I just wish they had bumped it up to 4 fps (as the D5000) or 4.5 fps (as the D90). Ah well, not a deal breaker. Likewise the camera for some reason is slower to write the file the memory card and display the image on the back of the LCD when shooting in GUIDE mode. Go figure? The write speed is good when shooting in one of the manual/semi-manual modes. Hmm? Again not a big deal. Just odd*).

*) Update: The slower write speed in GUIDE mode is due to the fact that active D-lighting is always on in GUIDE. This slightly slows down the write speed because of the additional processing of active D-lighting. 

One thing to point out is that the camera has no top LCD, as similar-sized cameras typically do not have. However the D3000 does not have a motion detector implementation that automatically turns the LCD on/off as you remove your eye/put your eye to the viewfinder. Instead you press the <info> button. A more 'manual' implementation, if you will, but it becomes second nature after a while.

↓ My top features of the D3000.

Lemme elaborate a bit more on the features highlighted in the video in part 2.

Message Edited by klausboedker on 09-28-2009 08:06 AM

[#2]

Nikon makes it really simple with a thumb dial for tweaking aperture and shutter speed. Metering, focus modes, and exposure compensation are easily controlled via the menu. The D3000 does not shoot in video mode. This model easily shoots over three frames per second in continuous mode. The 3D tracking sensor operates quite well in low lighting.