This review is aimed at people who are new to photography, as I am in the same boat. There are much more thorough reviews on Amazon for people who are already serious photographers.
General Impression:
Wonderful camera gives you control of parameters (such as f/stop, ISO, shutter speed) when you want to play with them or get creative and will auto-select them when you just want to take pictures. This was important to me as I am still learning to adjust them to my liking but don't want to miss out on pictures because I'm fumbling around with buttons.
Construction/Feel:
After going to Best Buy to physically hold the Canon T3i and Nikon d5100, I immediately decided on the Nikon. It felt much better in my hands and just looked better in general. Both were fairly light which is nice but also means they are made from quite a bit of plastic not a problem though as this keeps the price down and I don't drop things.
Controls:
I have been pleased with the placement of the physical buttons on the camera as well as the menus. I mainly shoot in the A, S, and M modes and the little wheel you turn to adjust the shutter speed/aperture is right where your thumb falls. If you're in M mode, there is an aperture button to hold down just behind the shutter button which is also easy to reach with the camera up to your eye. Lastly, the Fn button can be programmed to control the ISO level so you can hold it down while spinning the wheel to change that without putting the camera down. I have heard people complain that the Live View switch is annoying to get to but have found it intuitive.
There are a few controls that I wish were changeable without having to dig through a menu though. For instance, to change the focus mode from area to single point requires you to have the LCD screen turned around, then press the I button, then scroll around to change it. This is the case for a few other things like metering, shutter mode, etc. I can't really complain, though, because those are features that go on a serious photographer's camera that costs about twice as much as this model.
Auto Focus:
The 11-point AF on this camera has been a dream to use. I almost always keep the camera set to single point servo autofocus so I can select the point I want it to focus to. As long as you have some contrast, it is very quick and accurate to focus. This camera does not have a build in focus motor which means the lens must have it built in. As a result, older lenses or those build for the professional Nikons may not allow for autofocus. This hasn't been a big issues as most of the lenses I would want already have the motor built in, and if they don't, people survived for a long time manually focusing it probably builds character. I was torn between getting the Nikon 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX Nikkor Wide-Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Camerasand Tokina AT-X116PRDXN AT-X PRO DX 11-16mm Ultra-wide Angle Lens for Nikonand ended up sticking with the Tokina even though it would not autofocus on this camera. I haven't had any issues with focusing manually with it as the ultra-wide angles are easy to focus anyway.
Noise:
A lot of the reviews I read before purchasing this camera talked about how well it shot in low light I would have to agree. Looking at pictures from my old point and shoot at ISO 800 have horrible noise while I can shoot this at 1600 without any, and can go up to 3200 with only minimal touch ups in Lightroom needed. This has to be the single biggest advantage of digital over film being able to change ISO on the fly and still being able to get great pictures at ISO 3200 is wonderful.
Image Quality:
I won't offer too many opinions in this section, but I have not seen anything but great quality in the RAW pictures I've taken. Basically I understand that if a picture doesn't come out right, the fault lies with me and not the camera. The camera is capable of much better pictures than I am capable of taking. When I do everything right (which is becoming a little more frequent) I am amazed of the result. Great colors, great contrast, low noise, etc.
Battery Life:
I purchased an extra battery before I went on a few business trips just in case, but ended up never being close to needing it. The battery just lasts and lasts and never seems to drain. For instance, last weekend I took 381 shots (some using live view) and the battery meter was still at 75%. No complaints in this department.
Flash:
The built in flash is pretty puny, which seems to be par for the course. It does provide some nice fill lighting if you're outside taking pictures where there are some shadows on your subject, but for shooting inside it's marginal at best. I bought the very reasonably priced Nikon SB-400 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras and have been very pleased with the combo. The external flash adds the ability to bounce light off the ceiling and not waste the camera battery while doing so. This camera does not have the Nikon flash commander ability, but I don't think that should be expected in a camera at this price point. If I ever start buying 3 remote flashes for studio shooting, there is a good chance I will have already upgraded cameras.
I'll end by saying that this has been an absolutely wonderful camera to learn to shoot on. Before I purchased it or started shooting, I ordered and read two books,Complete Digital Photography, 6th EditionThe Digital Photography Book, Volume 1 so I would have some clue what I wanted in a camera. They are both wonderful books and should be required reading for all new photographers.
As a disclaimer: up till 3 months ago I was never in to photography, never owned an SLR and never had any real interest to. So know that everything I say in this review is based on very little experience.
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