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In relation to Nikon vs. Canon, you are either devoted to one or the other. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and it usually boils down to budget, and intentions. I am loyal to Nikon, have been for 20 years. I have owned professional level 35mm, and professional level DSLR's. I have found that this camera, is everything my D100 was, at half the price. The only downside to this, and other camera's in this category, is the lack of a focus motor built in, which limits the types of lenses you can use, and makes them more expensive, if you want to grow you collection.
I have circumvented this problem, by buying a kit, which included a 55-300 lens, and the D5100.
This camera, the D3200 is very nice, but lacks a few important features for me, one of which is the ability to pair with the SB-910, and have full use of the speedlights capability (such as strobe shooting).
People often get hung up on the numbers, thinking that larger megapixel, means better pictures, and that just is not true. It is only applicable if you plan to print billboards. Even older camera's, in the single digit mega pixel range, take equally good photos, when you print to normal size frames, so don't get excited about the megapixels, because in the end, they just eat up hard drive space, with no real gain.
This camera is a gift for my girlfriend, who is new to DSLR, or manual camera's as a whole. I want her to learn what the camera is capable of in manual mode, before she starts using the infinite number of settings you can use thought the menus and shooting modes.
As a whole, this is a nice buy, great camera, good lens, and you can buy inexpensive accessories to give the camera more capability. One way, is buying macro filters, which are pretty effective, if you want to do some extreme close-ups.
The other things to consider, is that the camera is only a part of the equation, and it will never take photos that exceed the ability of the lens. So you can have a great camera, with a so-so lens, you will end up with so-so pictures. And the faster the lens (low number F-stop), the more expensive they are.
If you are new to the DSLR world, or manual camera's, this is a great place to start. With the ability to record HD 1080P video (external mic required if you want quality sound), it makes a wonderful wedding recorder, with full time auto focus during the record cycle. Make sure you have a large capacity SD card.
The lens filter size is 52mm, which is smaller than my previous Nikons, so I had to buy new filter sets, but mine were beginning to show their age anyway. I always keep the UV filter on, to protect the lens, which is almost the only purpose of the UV filter. I stack filters as needed, mostly the polarizing when shooting in bright outdoors.
The rest of the package is just ok, nothing great, nothing terrible. Most of it is basically free, but if you already have a quality tripod, and other accessories, you might want to see what the camera/lens only is going for.
Lastly, the cons, and for me, there are few. One of which is the feel. It just does not seem to be as sturdy as my titanium camera's of old. Since I treat all my gear with kid gloves, it should not make a difference. Second, and this is a problem across the board with DSLR's, the lowest ISO is 100, which is just ok. I would prefer lower ISO for portraits, but since I have never owned a DSLR with a lower ISO, I am not sure how much of a difference in quality it would make.
Also, the camera is small, almost too small, but fits great in the hands of my girlfriend, so she is happy. Another con, is the camera was never intended to have a battery grip attached, but you can get them. They make the camera battery last more than twice the amount of time, and give the camera a better feel, more stable, and offer protection from drops as well. With two batteries running the camera, you no longer have to worry about the blinking light of death. Downside, if you want the vertical release button to function, you need to use the cable included, and it is very awkward. I just use the shutter button on the camera, and leave the cable behind.
Also, small camera, means small screen. It is hard to tell, whether your picture is any good, until you transfer it to the computer, and open it full. In the end, you just have to trust that you have the right settings, in manual mode, or less worry, when shooting in the many automatic modes included. Since you do not pay for processing, having a few bad shots on your memory card, is no big deal.
Last, but not least. I love taking photos of meteor showers and thunder storms, using the bulb settings on my older camera's, and a black card to cover the lens, until something appeared worth capturing. This has been a painful transition, because of noise, I am still having trouble getting those star filled skies, with out half of the stars, being noise, even with noise reduction on. If this is your passion as well, you might want to go with a more capable (and expensive) DSLR, or keep shooting with film. To date, I have still had my best night shots with film, rather than digital.
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