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The primary reason for me to upgrade from Nikon's D5100 to D5300 was new GPS location recording function. A secondary reason was hoping a sharper image without the low pass filter. With limited use so far, I would not say D5300 is a must have upgrade from D5100.
Pro:
* It is slightly lighter than D5100. I like it but others may not.
* LCD screen is bigger than D5100.
* There is an added single/continues/self-timer selection button. Although the button position could be better, but it is still better than D5100 has go through quick menu to change it.
* The image may be marginally sharper using Nikon 18-200 zoom lens, but because the sensor has different pixel counts, it is hard to say for sure without spend some effort look into it. But then again, if one needs to look so hard to find the difference. it shows the differences are really small.
* LiveView although still sluggish, at least it is much improved over D5100.
* It uses the same EN-EL 14 battery as the D5100. This means I can keep my spare batteries.
* Wi-Fi function was not important to me but with Nikon's Wireless Mobility Utility I can sync the camera's clock with my phone. This is important for using the phone as GPS logger. The utility also functions as remote with ability to turn Live View on/off.
Con:
* When I first got the D5300 three days after it was released, the GPS's performance is just awful! Then there was talk about update the camera's GPS file. With the update, the GPS function improved somewhat but there is catch that we the owner need to download and applied new updates every two weeks! I just came back from a week long trip to Germany and I found out even with the update, it is still near useless in the field! First, even with the update it still take time to lock on satellite signal! To make matter worse is even with the GPS logging function on, the camera will not maintain the lock once it goes to standby mode and upon wake up, it needs to rescan and lock! Further more, even after it locks, any movement can cause it to loose the lock even by just walking a few steps! I even have many shoots just seconds apart without moving and yet the camera still could not maintain the lock! I would say the outdoor shoots managed to get GPS data is only about 50% and one can forget any hope the GPS can track indoor or inside cars.
* As the GPS not able to lock quickly not bad enough, it is also not very accurate!! While some pictures that I shoot so far are accurate, most of them are at least 50ft-100ft off and many are even more than 1,000ft off!!
* Not only the GPS is close to useless, it also drain battery much quicker! With the GPS on, the battery can be drained with as little as 200-300 shoots! When changing battery with GPS "on", sometimes the GPS came back resumed to "on", but other times it came back as "off"! I found it very frustrating as most of time I need to change battery in a hurry and do not have time to check all the status.
* D5300 has an AF assist lamp as the D5100 and it has the same problem. While this lampmay be good for some cases, it is inappropriate for others. The way Nikon implements it is not very flexible. The default setting is have the lamp on all the time for Auto and PASM mode with some pre-programmed scene modes will disable it. The only way for user to turn it on/off for PASM is to go through custom setting menu and it applied to all modes. One cannot program PASM differently that made this function less useful or even annoying.
* Wi-Fi function was not important to me but it seems I have to use it for some functions only the wireless utility offers, it matters now and I was surprised to find out it can only be connected to smart devices with either Android or iOS AND with Nikon's Wireless Mobility Utility running. It does not connect to PC or router. It is a two stages job. First to connect the two with Wi-Fi and then start the utility on the smart device. For some Android devices that supports WPS, the connection is secure. Otherwise by using SSID to connect, it is unsecured with SSID broadcast wide open that some one else can possible to connect to the camera.
* The wireless utility has a function to use smart device's GPS tag which is very good. But, my test so far seems it will only embedded the tag as picture been transferred from the camera to the device not directly to the SD card in the camera. Although I can understand the logic in view of possible unsecured link, it is another two stages job first to transfer the image to device and then to PC or somewhere else. It also made this function not very practical to use when travelling as the smart devices' memory are much smaller than the SD card and the prolong use of Wi-Fi seems draining the battery quickly.
I will update this review after I have time to take a closer look at the pictures taken so far.
Edit 11/20/2013:
* Because of the AF assist lamp setting was so inflexible, I turned it off when I first got the D5100 and did not even remember it also has the lamp until I am comparing it with the D5300. Too bad Nikon has not done any improvement on the settings.
* Tried the GPS on another open space, it was even worse than before! It seems this GPS function is worthless as is. If GPS function is an important buying factor, I would rate the D5300 THREE STARS or less. If you are like me already have the D5100 or D5200 thinking about upgrading to D5300 for the GPS, you probably should stay with what you have.
* Added comments about Wi-Fi
Edit 11/22/2013
S. Fox mentioned SSID for Wi-Fi. Although I have seen it before, never thought I will use it because it is unsecure. But since Fox mentioned, I gave it a try and that is when I found out it can not even connect directly to PC or router!
Edit 11/23/2013
* Mercury Coach mentioned updating A-GPS data might help. Well, it did! Although the GPS is still inconsistent that took from 10s to 1 min. to lock on at same location, it is at least far more usable now. The problem is it seem we have to update this GPS file every two weeks to keep it happy.
* Tried Wi-Fi and the Wireless Mobility Utility a bit with mixed feeling.
* Although the GPS is faster now , it also seems less accurate. Those pictures taken before the update were very accurate but those taken after the update were at least 200ft off. I will test some more to see if indeed the update traded accuracy for speed.
Edit 12/1/2013
Just came back from a trip. I am very disappointed with the GPS even with the update! Most of the time it could not lock on or maintain lock to signal when we walk around a handful of cities in Germany. Not only it is useless for the trip, it also drain the battery much faster than I like or expect! I will give more details later.
Edit 12/3/2013
Added more details about the GPS.
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