Nikon D3100 Review

Nikon D3100 Design

Roll-over the various controls and features with your mouse for a brief description.

Front View. Compared to the D3000, the Nikon D3100’s grip is deeper and the front adds a microphone in the upper-right shoulder for recording monaural audio with videos. Gone from the D3100 is support for an infra-red wireless remote, in favor of a wired remote control.

Left View. Shown here with the Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens, the Nikon D3100 adds an Accessory port for connection to an external GPS unit or a cable remote. A mini HDMI output port is also provided, with CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) support allowing playback control via a TV remote control from compatible TVs. The Function button no longer doubles as a Self-timer button, as that function has been moved to the new Drive Mode switch on the top panel.

Right View. The right side looks very similar to the D3000. SDXC memory card support has been added.

Top View. Here, we can see the new Drive Mode switch jutting out from below the mode dial. It allows the D3100 to be quickly switched between Single, Continuous, Self-Timer, and Quiet Shutter Release modes without needing to resort to the camera’s menu system.

Back View. The Nikon D3100 adds a Live View switch as well as a dedicated Movie Record button above the multi-controller. Also new is a dedicated i (Info Edit) button. The diopter adjustment is now a dial instead of a slider. A speaker grill can be seen below the multi-controller.

Bottom View. Only very minor changes in body design here. The Nikon D3100 takes an EL-EL14 Lithium-ion battery pack, which is a different battery than the D3000 used. CIPA battery life is 550 shots per charge.

Nikon D3100 Operation

Like the existing D3000 model, the Nikon D3100 is aimed at beginner and casual shooters, rather than professionals and hard-core SLR enthusiasts. It’s thus no surprise that the D3100 inherits an interface which is very similar to that of the D3000, with an uncluttered layout that places most controls in the same positions as in the earlier camera. There are a few differences, though, made to accommodate new features, bring existing ones out of the menu system, and reduce complexity. Perhaps the most visible change is a new Release Mode Selector lever, located at the base of the Mode dial on the top deck. Moving to the rear panel, Nikon has added a new Live View switch with central Movie Record button, providing a home for two important features that the D3000 lacked. Finally, the Information Edit button is now dedicated to its purpose, sitting adjacent to the Playback Zoom In button with which it previously served double duty.

Overall, the Nikon D3100’s design keeps the number of buttons, knobs and dials to a minimum. It replaces the top-panel data display traditionally found on more complex SLRs with a very attractive and logically laid-out information display on the large, rear-panel LCD screen. The mode dial is easily accessed with your thumb while you’re holding the grip, and sports a Guide mode aimed at making the camera even less intimidating to those who don’t yet understand the technical details of things like apertures, shutter speeds, and ISO sensitivities. The Guide menu not only helps beginners set the camera up to achieve the effects they desire, but also explains what settings changes have been made and why, providing a valuable learning opportunity. Experienced shooters may seldom if ever touch the Guide menu, but it could prove a lifesaver for less-experienced photographers, allowing the user manual to stay at home.

Nikon D3100 Shooting Mode

As with Nikon’s other recent consumer digital SLRs, the Nikon D3100 displays shooting info and settings on the main LCD when the Info button is pressed in record mode. There are two shooting display styles: the Graphic display which helps the user to visualize what’s happening with shutter speed and lens aperture, and the more conventional looking Classic format (see right), which displays the same basic settings information, but uses larger fonts and icons. I personally like the Graphic format a lot, but can see a time coming when my eyes will prefer the larger type of the Classic display. Unlike the D3100, you can’t choose different display formats for different camera operating modes. Instead, it’s a one-size-fits-all affair, with all exposure modes except Guide sharing the same display type. You can still change the color of the displays, though, with choices of green, black, or brown for the Graphic display, and blue, black, or orange for the Classic mode (as shown at right). The Nikon D3100 will also rotate the display 90 or 270 degrees when shooting in a vertical orientation.

The illustration below (Courtesy of Nikon USA) shows the meaning of the various icons and readouts in the Graphic (top) and Classic (bottom) display modes.

There’s a lot of information shown there, but a logical layout and the large/sharp LCD screen makes it easy to tell what you’re looking at. The column of data down the right side of the screen and the row across the bottom of the screen represent settings you can adjust directly from this screen.

As mentioned above, settings can be adjusted right in the shooting display by pressing the “i” button. The cursor keys can then be used to navigate to the setting you wish to change. The OK button is used to select the setting, and a new value or option is selected using the Up/Down cursor keys. For features that have a dedicated button (such as exposure compensation, shutter speed, etc.), the button is pressed and/or the command dial is used to change the value or option. The animation on the right shows the top-level contents of each item in the information display. As part of the Nikon D3100’s designed-in user-friendliness, most options on the shooting menu include “assist” images, to help you understand the types of shots or conditions for which each setting is most appropriate.

Nikon D3100 Playback Mode

Playback mode is entered by pressing the Playback button. The Nikon D3100’s Playback mode provides a great deal of information about your pictures after you’ve shot them. You can cycle through a variety of Playback displays using the up/down arrows on the multi-selector, including the image alongside either file information, basic shooting data and a luminance histogram, or an RGB histogram (if enabled in the display mode menu). Four further displays include the image with either three screens of overlaid shooting info and image parameter information, or the image with a blinking indication of clipped highlights. To reduce the number of button presses to get to your desired screen type, the highlights, RGB histogram, and info displays can be disabled in the display mode menu if you don’t use them Perhaps more unusually, the D3100 offers two slideshow-like transition effects, applicable not to the slide show function itself, but to when you switch between individual images or movies in the standard “image with file info” display type. It’s very much a consumer-oriented feature, but doesn’t slow the camera down as much as you might think, given that you can interrupt the transition effect to continue switching between images and movies.

The Nikon D3100’s histogram display modes are very useful tools. Regarded as almost mandatory by many pros for evaluating exposure levels, histogram displays are de rigeur on professional digital cameras, and common even in many amateur models these days. A histogram is simply a graph of how many pixels there are in the image at each brightness level. The brightness is the horizontal axis, running from black at the left to white at the right. The height of the graph shows the relative number of pixels having each brightness level. This sort of display is very handy for determining under- or overexposure. An underexposed image will have a histogram with all the data lumped on the left-hand side, with nothing reaching all the way to the right. Likewise, an overexposed image will have all the data lumped on the right side. The one defect of a luminance histogram is that it might not be obvious that there’s clipping if it is restricted to only one of the three color channels. The inclusion of an RGB histogram function hence allows the photographer to confirm that each individual color channel is correctly exposed, with no clipped values.

Of course the Nikon D3100 also lets you zoom out to quickly find and select images, or magnify them for closer inspection on its 3.0-inch LCD. There is a calendar view as well as the normal 4-, 9-, or 72-image thumbnail displays available by pressing the thumbnail/zoom-out button, and you can magnify images up to approximately 27x for large, 20x for medium, and 14x for small images, using the zoom-in button. Once magnified, you can scroll around the image using the multi-selector to examine critical detail and framing, and you can view other images at the same zoom ratio using the command dial. The Nikon D3100 can detect up to 35 faces while in Playback mode. The camera highlights them with a white frame, and you can cycle through them at the current zoom ratio by holding the Info Display button while pressing the left or right arrow buttons, and zoom in or out on faces by holding Info Display and pressing the up or down arrow buttons. This makes focus verification of faces faster and more convenient.

To return the Nikon D3100 to shooting mode, simply press the Playback button again, or half-press the shutter button.

Nikon D3100 Optics

Kit Lens

The Nikon D3100 ships in kit form with the same AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens that’s included in D3000 and D5000 kits. To better compete with models from brands such as Olympus, Pentax and Sony that have in-body image-stabilization, this kit lens comes with Nikon’s excellent Vibration Reduction (VR) technology to help compensate for camera shake. We tested a sample of the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR on SLRgear.com. Optical performance is so-so wide open, but the lens is capable of very good sharpness if stopped down one or two f-stops, and the added image stabilization should come in handy in low-light situations. While sharpness wide-open is only average, this newer kit lens performs better overall than the original, non-VR 18-55mm, and is enormously better when it comes to flare: The previous version was subject to rather extreme veiling flare when shooting high-contrast subjects under bright conditions.

Kit lenses work well enough for most consumers, and serve their purpose, getting you started without breaking the bank; but a big part of the attraction with SLRs is that you can easily trade up to a better lens when your finances improve, and extend your reach to wider angle, telephoto, or macro photography just by adding to your lens collection. The 18-55mm VR lens that comes with the Nikon D3100 will do a fine job until such time as budget and desire lead you to start building a lens collection.

Lens Compatibility

Like the Nikon D40, D40x, D60, D3000 and D5000 before it, the Nikon D3100 drops autofocus support for the older AF lenses whose focus mechanisms were driven from the camera. These lenses have what looks like a little screwdriver slot on their mounting flange that couples with a protruding, screwdriver-looking shaft on the camera body. A motor in the camera body is thus required to drive the lens mechanics to adjust focus.

More recent Nikkor lenses have AF motors built into the lens body, which tend to be both faster and quieter than the old-style drive system, as well as allowing the camera body to be lighter, smaller and cheaper. These newer lenses carry an AF-S or AF-I designation in their name, and are the only types of lenses the D3100 can autofocus with. CPU-equipped lenses lacking built-in focus motors can be used in manual focus mode, and type G or D lens types will also support full 3D color matrix metering for more accurate exposures, particularly when flash is being used. (You can tell CPU-equipped lenses by the set of five electrical contacts arrayed on the side of the lens flange.)

The tables below (courtesy Nikon Inc.) tell the full story of lens compatibility for the Nikon D3100.

Auto Distortion Control.

The Nikon D3100 includes the company’s Automatic Distortion Control function, an interesting feature that was only recently introduced to its SLRs in last year’s D5000. Enabled via the Shooting menu, this option automatically corrects for barrel and pincushion distortion in JPEG files, and works with most of the company’s Nikkor D- and G-type lenses, except for PC, Fisheye and certain other lenses. We tried Automatic Distortion Control with the Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens that ships with the Nikon D3100, and it worked very well. See the Kit Lens Test Results section below for geometric distortion test results with this feature disabled and enabled. The Nikon D3100 also offers distortion correction as a post-processing function, available from the Retouch menu. The playback-mode function allows you to create a copy of an image after applying either an automatic correction with manual fine-tuning, or a manual correction with a coarser-grained adjustment whose effect is previewed on the camera’s LCD display.

Focusing Options

The Nikon D3100 shares the same Multi-CAM 1000 phase-detection autofocus sensor module that’s previously appeared in the D3000 and D5000, among others. The Multi-CAM 1000 module offers 11 focusing points, of which the center point is a cross-type sensor. While the AF sensor itself is unchanged, Nikon has updated the viewfinder point display. In the D3000, the approximate AF point locations were indicated with dense black marks in the viewfinder. For the Nikon D3100, these have been replaced with much fainter markings, illuminated by single red LEDs. A further change to the viewfinder display, perhaps related to this change, is that the Nikon D3100 lacks the on-demand grid display function from the D3000. The new LED indications are quite bright, but very small, and several of them have a tendency to “bleed” into other points. The worst offender is the center point, which causes the top and bottom points to glow quite noticeably. It’s a little distracting, but the glow isn’t as bright as a properly illuminated point, so it’s still easy enough to tell which points achieved a focus lock.

The Nikon D3100 lets you choose either auto or manual focus, but it doesn’t have the small AF mode dial on the front of the camera as found on higher-end Nikon DSLRs. Instead, the switch on the lens must be used. Setting the switch to “M” puts the lens into manual focus mode, while “A” places it in autofocus mode. Single-servo AF (AF-S), Continuous-servo AF (AF-C), Auto-servo AF (AF-A) and Manual focus (MF) options can be selected via the menu system. (For Live View or movie shooting, there’s no AF-A mode, and the AF-C mode is replaced by a similarly-functioning mode named Full-time servo AF.)

Single-servo AF is best for stationary objects, as the camera sets focus only once when the Shutter button is first pressed halfway (or if the AF-ON function is set, when the AE-L / AF-L button is pressed). Continuous-servo AF and the Live View / movie Full-time servo AF both mean that the camera continuously adjusts the focus, as long as the Shutter button is halfway pressed, suitable for moving objects. In Auto-servo AF mode, the camera begins focus operations in Single-servo mode, but switches to Continuous-servo AF if it detects motion within the active AF area.

In higher-end Nikon SLRs, there’s an important difference between Single and Continuous Servo modes: In Single-servo mode, the shutter won’t release unless the lens is focused, or the lens itself is set to manual focus — what’s known as Focus Priority. In Continuous-servo mode however, the camera operates in Release Priority — the shutter will fire regardless of the state of focus. The Nikon D3100’s AF system is however always in Focus Priority mode, regardless of the servo mode selected (except of course when using Manual focus).

The AF-Area Mode option is on page two of the Shooting Menu, and duplicated in the information display (see right) lets you select between Single-point, Dynamic Area, Auto Area AF and 3D Tracking modes. Single Area AF simply means that the camera judges focus based on one part of the subject, and the user can manually select the AF point by pressing the arrow keys. Dynamic Area AF employs all of the autofocus points, though you can still manually select the main point. When Dynamic Area focusing is enabled, the camera first focuses on the subject in the selected focus area. When the subject moves to a different AF area, the camera shifts the focus to “follow” the subject. This is great for irregularly moving subjects. (Sports and kids come to mind.) The Auto Area AF option means that the camera automatically detects the subject and selects the focus point(s). The 3D Tracking mode uses the 420-element RGB exposure/white balance sensor to aid in subject tracking.

In any of the AF modes other than Auto Area, you can select the focus area by using the up, down, right, or left arrow directions on the multi-selector. There are two methods by which you can lock focus on the Nikon D3100. The first is to half-press the Shutter button to lock the focus, placing your subject in the selected focus area, halfway pressing the Shutter button, then realigning the composition and firing the shutter. (This is the default behavior of the Shutter button, but if the AE-L/AF-L button is set to AF Lock, it will override the shutter button as long as it’s held down.) Alternatively, when using Single Servo AF, you can press the AF-L/AE-L button to lock focus (and exposure, unless that button is set for focus only in the Setup menu). Keeping this button pressed will lock focus and/or exposure, even if the Shutter button is released. This lets you recompose the photograph without keeping your finger on the Shutter button, but on the AE-L/AF-L button instead. (Reducing the chance that you’ll accidentally trip the shutter when you don’t intend to.)

There are several options available for the AE-L/AF-L button, which can be set via the Setup menu. You can program it to lock either focus or exposure separately, or both together (the default). You can also change its operation so a single press locks and holds the exposure setting. (No need to keep the button pressed down.) Finally, you can set the AE/AF lock button so it alone controls the autofocus system, meaning the autofocus won’t actuate when the shutter button is half-pressed, only when the AE/AF lock button is pressed instead. (Except when using full-time AF-F mode in Live View mode or while recording movies.)

In Live View mode, the Nikon D3100 offers only contrast-detection autofocus (some Nikon SLRs give you a choice between phase-detection and contrast-detection in Live View, but not the D3100). There are three focus modes in Live View: Single-servo AF (AF-S), Full-time servo AF (AF-F) and manual focus (MF). Of note is AF-F mode which is similar to AF-C mode when using the optical viewfinder (though you don’t have to half-press the shutter button), as it is the first time a Nikon SLR offers continuous full-time autofocus in Live View and Movie modes. There are four AF-area modes in Live View mode: Face-priority AF, Wide-area AF, Normal-area AF and Subject-tracking AF. Face-priority is useful for portraits. Up to 35 faces can be detected and when more than one face is present, the D3100 will select the closest one. You can also manually select which face to focus on using the multi-selector. Wide-area is recommended for landscapes and other non-portrait shots. Normal-area offers a smaller focusing area, and is useful for focusing on a small area of the frame. With either Wide- or Normal-area, you can move the active focus area with the multi-selector. Using a tripod is recommended. Subject-tracking attempts to track a selected subject as it moves through the frame. You position the focus point over your intended subject and press the OK button to begin tracking. To end tracking, press the OK button again. Note that Subject-tracking AF may be unable to track a subject if it’s too small, moves too quickly, is similar in color to the background, changes sizes, or if the subject and background are very bright or dark, etc.

AF Assist

Like past Nikon DSLRs with built-in flashes, the D3100’s AF-assist light is a bright incandescent bulb that emits from the body near the handgrip. We thought to call particular attention to it, because some DSLRs use the flash as an AF-assist light. That would be fine, were it not for the fact that some such cameras also require that the flash be used in the exposure, so there’s no way to have AF assist for available-light shots. The Nikon D3100 doesn’t have this limitation. AF assist is however not available in Live View mode.

Anti-Dust Technology

The Nikon D3100 includes a two-pronged approach to fighting dust. The dust reduction system previously seen on the D3000 and D5000 digital SLRs has been adopted for the D3100, where the optical low pass filter over the sensor is vibrated to shake off dust. In addition, Nikon has coupled this with what it is calling the “Airflow Control System”. In essence, the camera’s internals have been designed so as to control the flow of air — along with the dust the air is carrying — when the shutter is triggered, channelling dust particles away from the sensor.

The Nikon D3100 lets you choose when the sensor is ultrasonically cleaned. Selections available in the Setup Menu are Clean at Startup, Clean at Shutdown, Clean at Startup & Shutdown, or Cleaning Off. You can also lock-up the mirror for manual cleaning (see below). It’s important to check that you have sufficient power available while cleaning the sensor though. When the camera is switched off or the power runs out, the mirror and shutter will return to their normal positions- potentially causing damage if there’s something blocking their path. Helpfully, the Nikon D3100 will attempt to give a warning roughly two minutes before the power runs out, by flashing the self-timer lamp and emitting a beeping sound — a good warning to get your cleaning supplies out of the camera pronto!

Despite the new dust cleaning features, we haven’t seen an automatic system yet that’s capable of removing all dust. So while this is a nice feature to have, don’t be fooled into thinking that you won’t have to either learn how to clean your sensor or send the camera in for cleaning.

Everyone understands that lenses sometimes get dust on them and need to be cleaned, and there are a lot of lens-cleaning cloths, solutions and other accessories on the market that work well. BUT, what do you do when your sensor gets dusty? Dust specks on the sensor tend to show up when shooting at very small apertures, appearing as dark blobs on your images. They’re distracting at best, a terrible nuisance at worst, if you end up having to retouch every image to rid of them.

Most of us are naturally leery about the idea of poking around inside the delicate innards of our DSLRs to wrestle with recalcitrant dust specks. Gently blowing the sensor surface (actually, the surface of the anti-aliasing filter) with compressed air gets rid of some dust, but there’s invariably a lot that just stays stuck, no matter what. So what do you do?

If you’ve got dust specks on your sensor (and sooner or later you will), you’re going to need to clean it. There are a lot of products out there intended to address this need, but a distressing number of them work poorly (if at all), and many are grossly overpriced. Advertising hype is rampant, with bogus pseudo-scientific jargon and absurd product claims run rampant. And prices — Did I mention prices? How about $100 for a simple synthetic-bristle brush?

So how do you know what product to use?

We don’t pretend to have used everything currently on the market, but can tell you about one solution that worked very well for us. The “Copper Hill” cleaning method is straightforward and safe, and in our routine usage here at Imaging Resource, highly effective. Better yet, the products sold by Copper Hill Imaging are very reasonably priced. Best of all, Nicholas R (proprietor of Copper Hill) has put together an amazingly detailed tutorial on sensor cleaning, free for all.

Sensor cleaning is one of the last things people think about when buying a d-SLR, but it’s vital to capturing the best possible images. Take our advice and order a cleaning kit from Copper Hill right along with your d-SLR, so you’ll have it close at hand when you need it: You’ll be glad you did!

(While they’ve advertised on our sister site SLRgear.com from time to time, we receive no promotional consideration from Copper Hill for this note. We just think their sensor cleaning products are among the best on the market, and like their way of doing business. — We think you will too. Check them out.)

Kit Lens Test Results

Zoom
Good performance with the 18-55mm VR kit lens.

18mm, f/8	55mm, f/8

The Nikon D3100 comes with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Vibration Reduction) kit lens, which has a typical optical zoom ratio of about 3x. Details are pretty good across the frame at full wide-angle, with minimal corner blurring, though images are a touch soft overall. There are low levels of coma distortion in the leaves at the corners, and chromatic aberration isn’t an issue because most of it is removed by the D3100’s image processor (see below). Results at full telephoto are quite good, with good detail across the frame and very little corner softness. (These shots were both taken at f/8. See below for how the lens performs at maximum aperture.) Overall, a good performance for an inexpensive kit lens, and the built-in Vibration Reduction (Nikon’s term for optical image stabilization) will come in handy for hand-held shots in low light.

Macro
A slightly large macro area with the kit lens, with soft detail overall. Flash throttles down pretty well.

Macro with 18-55mm Kit Lens 55mm, f/5.6	Macro with Flash 55mm, f/5.6

The Nikon D3100 captured a slightly larger than average macro area with the standard 18-55mm kit lens, measuring 2.75 x 1.83 inches (70 x 47 millimeters). Detail was somewhat soft, though there was hardly any additional softening in the corners. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances.) The Nikon D3100’s flash throttled down for the macro area pretty well, though the resulting image is a bit dim (easily fixed by applying some positive flash exposure compensation).

Geometric Distortion
High barrel distortion at wide-angle with the 18-55mm kit lens, though hardly any distortion at telephoto.

Barrel distortion is 1.0 percent at 18mm

Almost no pincushion distortion at 55mm

The Nikon D3100’s 18-55mm kit lens produced about one percent barrel distortion at wide-angle, which is higher than average and noticeable in its images. At the telephoto end, there was only about two pixels worth of pincushion distortion which is negligible. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like
a barrel — usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion — usually
at telephoto).

Auto Distortion Control
Low geometric distortion when Auto Distortion Control is enabled.

Barrel distortion at 18mm is 0.2 percent

Barrel distortion at 55mm is less than 0.1 percent

The Nikon D3100 offers an Auto Distortion Control feature to reduce geometric distortion automatically. As you can see it worked quite well with the 18-55mm lens, reducing barrel distortion at wide-angle significantly, but it overcorrected the pincushion distortion at full telephoto ever so slightly. Since this option is database driven, it’s only available for Nikkor D and G-type lenses with certain optics such as Fisheye and Perspective Control lenses excepted. Auto Distortion Control is Off by default. You can also apply Auto or Manual Distortion Control to JPEGs after the fact, in the Retouch menu. Manual mode works with images from any lens.

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Low C.A. in JPEGs, higher in uncorrected RAW files. Some blurring in the corners of the frame at wide-angle and telephoto with the kit lens wide-open.

Wide, f/3.5: Upper left C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Moderate blurring	Wide, f/3.5: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp
Tele, f/5.6: Lower left C.A.: Low Softness: Moderate blurring	Tele, f/5.6: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Slightly soft

Chromatic Aberration. Chromatic aberration is moderately low at the full wide-angle setting of the Nikon D3100’s 18-55mm VR kit lens. At telephoto, chromatic aberration is even lower and hardly detectable. (This distortion is visible as a slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) The Nikon D3100’s image processor does a good job at automatically removing most C.A. from JPEGs, and it works with any lens. (See below for crops from uncorrected RAW files.)

Corner Sharpness. The Nikon D3100’s 18-55mm VR kit lens produced soft corners of the frame at full wide-angle, noticeable in a few shots. The upper left corner was only a touch softer than the other corners, and the softness didn’t extend very far into the frame. The center was fairly sharp. At full telephoto, the left hand side corners were also soft, with the lower left being the softest, but the lens is softer overall at telephoto than at wide-angle. There’s also a little bit of vignetting (corner shading) at both ends of the zoom, as indicated by the darker corner crops. These are typical results for a kit lens, considering the aperture was wide-open for these shots. (Corner sharpness and vignetting typically improve as the lens is stopped-down from maximum aperture.)

Uncorrected RAW
Higher levels of C.A. at wide-angle and telephoto in RAW files.

Wide: Upper left C.A.: Moderately high Softness: Moderate blurring	Wide: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly Sharp
Tele: Lower left C.A.: Low Softness: Moderate blurring	Tele: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Slightly soft

As you can see from the crops above, levels of chromatic aberration are higher in uncorrected RAW files. Nikon has been reducing C.A. in its JPEGs for a while now in their mid-range and high-end DSLRs. It’s nice to see the feature come to the entry-level D3100. It looks like the Nikon D3100 may also be doing some corner shading correction as there is more corner light falloff in uncorrected RAW files than can be seen in JPEGs, but there is no mention of corner shading correction in the user manual.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a
collection of more pictorial photos, see our
Nikon D3100 Photo Gallery
.

Nikon D3100 Exposure

Exposure Modes. The Nikon D3100 gives you all the exposure options you’d expect in a consumer SLR. Available exposure modes include Full Auto, Program AE, Manual, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority modes with shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds available in 1/3 EV steps, as well as a Bulb setting for longer exposures. Also provided are the six standard Scene modes found on most consumer Nikon SLRs (Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Macro, and Night Portrait), and a Flash-Off Auto mode. There’s also a Guide mode designed to help users through complicated settings by letting them select what kind of photo they want to take and the camera makes the settings from there. Refer to the Modes and Menus tab for more details on each exposure mode.

A very nice touch that’s common to other Nikon DSLRs is that, while in Program AE mode, you can rotate the Command dial to select different combinations of aperture and shutter speed settings than those normally chosen by the autoexposure system. (That is, if the automatic program would have chosen 1/125 second and f/5.6, you could instead direct the camera to use 1/60 at f/8 or 1/30 at f/11, to get greater depth of field.) Dubbed Flexible Program in Nikon parlance, this is a very handy option for those times when you need some measure of increased control, but still want the camera to do most of the work for you. We personally use this capability more than Aperture- or Shutter-priority metering in our own shooting.

An interesting feature when using Manual exposure mode is the electronic analog exposure display visible in the optical viewfinder data readout. This shows the amount the camera thinks an image will be over- or underexposed, based on the settings you have selected, and helps you find the best exposure for the subject.

Exposure Metering. Nikon has one of the most sophisticated and flexible metering systems on the market today. Like most SLRs, there are three main metering modes on the Nikon D3100: Matrix, Center-Weighted, and Spot metering. Where Nikon’s system differs is in the capability of these modes. Nikon’s matrix metering is called 3D Color Matrix II, as it takes color as well as distance into account. (Distance requires the use of CPU-equipped lenses.) It covers a wide area of the frame with a 420-pixel RGB sensor. The Nikon D3100’s Center-Weighted metering mode gives a weight of 75% to an 8mm diameter circle in center of frame. Spot meters a 3.5mm diameter circle (about 2.5% of the frame) centered on the active focus area. (Most DSLRs only meter the very center of the frame in Spot metering mode.) The 420-pixel RGB sensor also serves to ascertain automatic white-balance, and provides assistance for focus tracking when the subject leaves the AF sensor area. Metering range is specified at 0 to 20 EV in Matrix or Center-Weighted, and 2 to 20 EV in Spot metering mode.

Exposure Lock. The AE-L/AF-L button locks the exposure and/or autofocus, useful for off-center subjects in tricky lighting. It can be programmed for AE lock, AF lock, AE + AF lock, or AF-ON functions via the custom menu. You can also program the button to toggle instead of requiring the button to be held.

Exposure Compensation. Exposure compensation on the Nikon D3100 is adjustable from -5 to +5 exposure equivalents (EV) in 1/3 EV step increments, and is controllable in Program, Aperture-priority, or Shutter-priority modes. Note that in Manual exposure mode, the EV button becomes a shift button that changes the function of the Command dial from controlling the shutter speed to changing the Aperture. The Nikon D3100 does not support exposure bracketing.

ISO Sensitivity. ISO ranges from 100 to 3,200 and can be extended up to ISO 6,400 (Hi 1) or ISO 12,800 (Hi 2). ISO can only be adjusted in single EV steps (100, 200, 400, 800, etc.). Nikon’s excellent Auto ISO feature is carried over as well, which allows you to set both the upper ISO limit (up to ISO 12,800) as well as the minimum shutter speed (selectable from 1s to 1/2,000s) required before ISO is increased automatically.

White Balance. The Nikon D3100 offers the usual white balance settings: Auto, six presets consisting of Incandescent, Fluorescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade, and a manual mode where white-balance is determined from a white or grey card. The Fluorescent preset has seven sub-settings consisting of Sodium Vapor (2,700K), Warm-white (3,000K), White (3,700K), Cool (4,200K), Day White (5,000K), and High Temperature Mercury Vapor (7,200K), and the Preset Manual setting allows one custom white-balance measurement to be stored. All the presets are tweakable via a 2D fine-tuning grid display, but the Manual setting can’t be tweaked.

Active D-Lighting. D-Lighting has proven a popular post-processing feature in Nikon’s consumer digital SLRs, as well as some of the company’s point & shoot models. It’s a quick software process that attempts to overcome underexposed images, and bring detail out of shadows. Active D-Lighting on the D3100 doesn’t have the many options found on higher-end models, though, just Off and On.Auto Distortion Control. A particularly interesting feature of the D3100 is its Automatic Distortion Control function, only recently introduced to Nikon SLRs in the D5000. Enabled via the Shooting menu, this option automatically corrects for barrel and pincushion distortion in JPEG files when using most Nikkor D- and G-type lenses (PC, Fisheye and certain other lenses excluded). We gave it a try with the Nikkor 18-55mm VR lens that ships with the Nikon D3100, and it worked very well. See the Optics tab for geometric distortion test results with this feature disabled and enabled. The Nikon D3100 also offers distortion correction as a post-processing function, available from the Retouch menu. There, you can create a copy of an image after applying either an automatic amount of correction, or manually adjusting the amount on a preview display.

Picture Control. Nikon has standardized its Picture Control system so that camera settings for sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue can be finely adjusted and ported to other Nikon digital SLRs that support the system. The D3 was the first camera compatible with the option, and all Nikon SLRs since — including the D3100 — follow the standard. The Nikon D3100 has six presets called Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, and Landscape.

Sharpness can be adjusted in ten steps, along with an Auto setting; contrast, saturation, and hue can be adjusted in seven steps, while hue is adjustable in three steps. There is also a five-step “Quick Adjust” setting which exaggerates or mutes the effect without having to adjust each slider individually. When Monochrome Picture Control is selected, Hue and Saturation are replaced by Filter Effects and Toning respectively. Filter Effects offers Off, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Green settings, while Toning offers B&W, Sepia, Cyanotype, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue Green, Blue, Purple Blue and Red Purple settings. Note that Picture Controls are only active in Program, Aperture-priority or Shutter-priority and Manual exposure modes, as the Scene modes already apply preset image adjustments. Of course, the Nikon D3100 also offers sRGB and Adobe RGB settings, in a separate Color Space menu.

Noise Reduction. The Nikon D3100 offers noise reduction, but with only two options: Off or On. This control affects both high ISO and long exposure (dark current) noise reduction simultaneously, so it isn’t possible to disable only one noise reduction type. Nikon doesn’t state at which sensitivities the D3100 performs noise reduction, but does note that even when set to Off, some high ISO noise reduction will still be performed at higher ISOs. Long exposure noise reduction doubles the exposure times, as it functions by capturing a second image with identical settings to the actual exposure, but with the shutter closed. This generates a picture of the dark current noise, which varies as a function of sensor temperature and exposure time, allowing the locations of dark current pixels to be mapped and automatically removed from your final image. If you’re shooting a long exposure, and forget to disable noise reduction before the fact, you can prevent the camera from applying dark current noise reduction by switching the D3100 off during the dark current exposure, after photo exposure has been completed. You can then immediately power the camera back on and resume shooting or review your captured image.

Release Modes. The Nikon D3100’s release modes are selected via a lever underlying the Mode dial. Release modes consist of Single Frame, Continuous, Self-timer, and Quiet Shutter. The Nikon D3100’s Continuous mode is rated by Nikon for up to 3 frames per second (we got 2.89 frames per second in our testing), for a total of 100 Large/Fine JPEGs before the buffer fills and the camera slows. In raw shooting, the buffer size is rated at 13 frames, while for raw + JPEG shooting, it’s just nine frames. Our own testing suggested these numbers to be rather conservative, as we found the D3100 capable of 16 raw or 11 raw+JPEG frames. It’s worth noting, though, that when shooting images of a very complex scene with a lot of sharp, fine detail, the reduced compression may result in lower buffer capacities.

Self-Timer mode opens the shutter after a delay of either two or 10 seconds, once the shutter button is pressed. Finally, Quiet Shutter-release is similar to normal Single Frame mode, but with some changes made to reduce operation noise. The D3100’s Quiet Shutter-release mode automatically disables the beep sound when the camera focuses, something which can be achieved in other modes through the Beep option in the Setup menu. It also delays lowering of the mirror until the shutter button is released, separating the noise of this operation from that of the mirror being raised and the shutter fired. It also reduces actuation speed of the mirror mechanism, and of the shutter recocking mechanism. The result is, indeed, a much quieter shutter sound.

Retouch Menu. The Nikon D3100 has an extensive Retouch menu, replicating almost all the options from the D5000, and adding a basic movie editing function. The amount of image alteration that can be performed in-camera is starting to rival what basic image editing software packages can do on a computer, so much so that many users may not feel the need to use a computer for Nikon D3100 image editing at all. Retouch options include adjusting D-Lighting, red-eye correction, image cropping (trim), converting to monochrome, applying seven different filter effects, adjusting color balance, resizing to small images (for TV, Web or email), image overlay for combining two RAW images into one JPEG, NEF (RAW) processing, “Quick Retouch” for fast adjustments to saturation and contrast, straightening crooked images, distortion (barrel / pincushion) correction, a fisheye effect, color outline, perspective control (correcting diverging verticals / horizontals), miniature effect (graduated blur at top and bottom of the frame to emulate reduced depth of field), and basic movie editing.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a
collection of more pictorial photos, see our
Nikon D3100 Photo Gallery
.

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge!
Visit our Comparometer(tm)
to compare images from the Nikon D3100 with those from other
cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let
your own eyes decide which you like best!

Nikon D3100 Performance

Nikon D3100 Image Quality

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Very good color with only minor oversaturation and hue shifts in some colors.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Click for a larger image.

Saturation. The Nikon D3100 pushes reds, blues and some greens a bit, but actually slightly undersaturates bright yellow and some cyans. Overall saturation levels are quite good, and less saturated than the previous D3000 model  (which was a little over-the-top in our opinion). The D3100’s fine-grained saturation adjustment (see below) also makes it easy to customize its color to match your personal preference. Most consumer
digital cameras produce color that’s more highly saturated (more intense)
than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people
like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Nikon D3100’s Caucasian skin tones looked just about right when using automatic white balance in simulated daylight. A very good job here. Where
oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it’s very
easy for these “memory colors” to be seen as too bright, too pink,
too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Nikon D3100 did push cyan toward blue and red toward orange, but shifts were relatively minor. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it’s a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) With an average “delta-C” color error of only 4.81 after correction for saturation, overall hue accuracy was better than average. Hue is “what color” the
color is.

Picture Control
The Nikon D3100 offers six preset “Picture Control” options. You can adjust Sharpening, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Hue for any of the settings. (For Monochrome, Saturation and Hue are replaced by Filter Effects and Toning settings.)

Picture Control Options
Standard	Monochrome	Landscape
Neutral	Portrait	Vivid

Mouse over the links above to see the effect of the presets on our Still Life target. Click on a link to load the full resolution image.

Saturation Adjustment
The Nikon D3100 has a total of seven saturation settings available, three above and three below the default saturation. This covers a pretty wide range of saturation levels, about as wide a range as you’re likely to find photographically relevant, apart from special effects that are arguably better achieved in software. The fine steps between settings mean it’s easy to program the camera to just the level of saturation you prefer.

Saturation Adjustment Examples
-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The table above shows results with several saturation settings, see the Thumbnails index page for more (look for the files named D3100OUTBSATx.JPG). Click on any thumbnail above to see the full-sized image.

See full set of test images with explanations See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Good color with the Manual white balance setting, but overly-warm results with Auto and Incandescent. About average positive exposure compensation required.

Auto White Balance +0.3 EV	Incandescent White Balance +0.3 EV
Manual White Balance +0.3 EV

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was very warm and reddish with the Auto white balance setting. (We’d say unacceptably so.) The Incandescent setting was a bit better, but also too warm and yellowish for our tastes. (Some users may prefer this look, though, as being more representative of the original lighting.) The Manual setting by far produced the most accurate results, if just a touch cool. The Nikon D3100 required an average amount of positive exposure compensation here, at +0.3 EV. The Nikon D3100 does not offer a Kelvin color temperature setting. Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

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Outdoors, daylight
Excellent results under harsh lighting, with very good handling of contrast, detail, and color.

Auto White Balance, +0.7 EV	Auto White Balance, -0.3 EV

Outdoors, the Nikon D3100 performed very well, though it required an average amount of exposure compensation of +0.7 EV for our “Sunlit” Portrait shot to keep the face reasonably bright. Contrast is a little high, as you might expect under such harsh lighting, but the camera did a very good job of holding onto detail in the highlights and deep shadows. Despite the bright appearance, there are relatively few clipped highlights in the model’s shirt and the flowers. The Nikon D3100 overexposed the Far-field House shot at default exposure at bit, so we used -0.3 EV compensation for that shot. As you’d expect, there weren’t many highlights blown in the Far-field House shot, and shadow detail is pretty good in all but the darkest shadows. Color balance is good as well, with good saturation considering the bright lighting. The camera’s contrast adjustment and Advanced D-Lighting feature can further enhance highlight and shadow retention. (See the contrast adjustment series in the Extremes section below.) Overall, an excellent performance for its class here.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, 1,800 to 1,900 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, slightly more from RAW.

Strong detail to 1,800 lines horizontal Camera JPEG	Strong detail to 1,900 lines vertical Camera JPEG
Strong detail to 1,900 lines horizontal ViewNX 2 processed RAW	Strong detail to 1,900 lines vertical ViewNX 2 processed RAW
Strong detail to 1,950 lines horizontal ACR processed RAW	Strong detail to 1,900 lines vertical ACR processed RAW

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,800 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and about 1,900 lines in the vertical direction. Extinction of the pattern didn’t occur until around 2,600 lines in both directions. We weren’t able to do much better in terms of absolute resolution with RAW files processed through ViewNX 2 or Adobe Camera RAW; perhaps just slightly more resolution in the horizontal direction. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Fairly sharp, detailed images with only minor edge-enhancement artifacts visible on high-contrast subjects. Only relatively minor noise suppression visible.

Very good definition of high-contrast elements, with only minor evidence of edge enhancement.	Subtle detail: Hair Noise suppression tends to blur detail in areas of subtle contrast, though detail remains strong in the darker parts of the model’s hair here.

Sharpness. The Nikon D3100 produced very good detail overall when coupled with a sharp lens such as the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G prime used in the above left crop. Some very minor edge enhancement artifacts are visible on high-contrast subjects such as the crop above left, but overall results are excellent. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some minor noise suppression, as the darker areas of the model’s hair show good detail. Individual strands are still distinguishable even in the lighter shadows, though they begin to merge as contrast reduces. Still, very good performance here. Noise-suppression
systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle
contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the
individual strands are lost and an almost “watercolor” look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Nikon D3100 delivers fairly sharp, detailed JPEGs with only minor visible sharpening artifacts. However, more detail can often be obtained from carefully processing RAW files, without additional sharpening artifacts. Take a look below, to see what we mean:

Camera JPEG (Fine)	RAW via Nikon ViewNX 2	RAW via ACR

In the table above, mousing over a link at the bottom will load the corresponding crop in the area above. Examples include in-camera Fine JPEG, and a RAW file processed through Nikon’s ViewNX 2 software using default settings, and a RAW file processed with Adobe Camera RAW 6.3, then sharpened in Photoshop. We found that sharpening with 250-300% unsharp mask and a radius of 0.3 pixels worked well for the Nikon D3100’s NEFÂ files.

As you can see, results from a RAWÂ file converted with Nikon’s ViewNX 2 software were very similar to the in-camera JPEG, and the software wasn’t really able to extract more detail, though contrast (and noise) is a bit higher at default settings. Adobe Camera RAW was able to extract quite a bit more detail, but also shows slightly higher noise levels as well as some chromatic aberration that the Nikon D3100 reduces in its JPEGs.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good high ISO performance, with great detail vs noise handling up to ISOÂ 1,600.

Noise Reduction = On (Default)
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1,600	ISO 3,200
ISO 6,400	ISO 12,800

Noise levels are quite low at the Nikon D3100’s lower ISO settings, and really quite good even at ISO 800. At ISO 1,600 noise levels increase with a touch more blurring in the fine details and visible “grain”, but there are still loads of detail left to work with. At ISO 3,200, blurring is stronger with more noise-reduction artifacts, but the noise grain pattern is still quite tight and results compete well with the performance of DSLRs from other manufacturers at that ISO level, especially given the D3100’s resolution and entry-level pricetag. ISO 6,400 and especially ISOÂ 12,800 are quite noisy with purple and yellow blotchiness in darker areas, bright noise pixels, as well as much stronger blurring of fine detail, though sharpness and contrast are still fairly well maintained. Overall, a major improvement over the 10-megapixel Nikon D3000 despite the increase in resolution, with high ISOÂ performance similar to Nikon’s best 12-megapixel DX sensors. See the Print Quality section below for recommended maximum print sizes at each ISO.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, usually using one of three very sharp reference lenses (70mm Sigma f/2.8 macro for most cameras, 60mm f/2.8 Nikkor macro for Nikon bodies without a drive motor, and Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds bodies). To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we’re shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. We know this; if you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don’t need to email and tell us. 🙂 The focus target position will have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
Very good detail in both highlights and shadows, high resolution and good overall exposure. Good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

+0.3 EV	+0.7 EV	+1.0 EV

Sunlight:
The Nikon D3100 handled the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above pretty well. Though contrast is a little high, shadow and highlight detail are both very good. The camera’s contrast adjustment also did a good job of decreasing overall contrast without also affecting color saturation. (See below.) The +0.7 EV exposure did the best job here, as the model’s face was too dim at +0.3 EV and +1.0 EV produced very strong highlights, though folks printing straight out of the camera will likely prefer the brighter face in the +1.0 EV shot. Be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it’s better to shoot in the shade when possible.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast Adjustment
We really like it when a camera gives us the ability to adjust contrast and saturation to our liking. It’s even better when those adjustments cover a useful range, in steps small enough to allow for precise tweaks. Just as with its saturation adjustment, the Nikon D3100’s contrast setting meets both challenges.

Minimum Contrast
Contrast set to lowest, +0.7 EV	Contrast set to lowest, -0.3 EV

At its lowest contrast setting, the D3100 did a pretty good job of preserving highlight detail and bringing out shadow detail. Highlight retention was improved, but the contrast setting had a larger impact on opening up the shadows. The D3100 captures good color outdoors, though just slightly on the cool side in our Far-field House shot. The lower contrast setting helped to retain highlights and open-up shadows, without making the image too flat looking. Overall, very good results here.

Contrast Adjustment Examples
-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The series of shots above shows results with several different contrast adjustment settings, showing the minimum step size around the default, as well as both extremes. While you can see the extremes, it’s hard to really evaluate contrast on small thumbnails like these, click on any thumbnail to go to the full-size image.

Nikon’s contrast adjustment is that it has very little effect on saturation. Contrast and saturation are actually fairly closely coupled, it’s a good trick to be able to vary one with out the other changing as well. As usual, Nikon did a very good job here.

Outdoor Portrait Active D-Lighting
0 EV		+0.7 EV
Off	On	Off	On

Nikon’s Active D-Lighting
The shots above show the results with Active D-Lighting Off and On. (Like the D3000, the Nikon D3100 only has these two settings, while Nikon’s more advanced models let you choose from a range of strengths of the effect). This is different than the touch-up menu’s D-Lighting, as it is performed during image capture instead of after. (It does affect only JPEG images though, Nikon very properly leaves RAW file data strictly as it comes from the sensor.) Since very few highlights were blown at the default exposure (left), we’ve included results with +0.7 EV exposure compensation (right). Mouse-over the “On” links to see the difference, and click on the links to load the corresponding full-resolution image. As you can see from the images above, enabling Active D-Lighting results in improved shadow detail in both cases.

The effect of Active D-Lighting will vary quite a bit with the subject and lighting: The camera decides what needs adjusting, and by how much, so the effect can be quite a bit greater or lesser depending on what the camera sees. We almost always found ourselves pleased with the changes Active D-Lighting made, the main trade-off to using it being the longer time it takes the camera to process each photo. Automatic contrast-adjustment systems like this don’t always produce natural-looking images, but Active D-Lighting seems to deliver consistently pleasing results. The system is not perfect, however, especially when adding exposure compensation to the mix. If you look closely at the +0.7 EV case, Active D-Lighting actually blew a few more highlights compared to when it was disabled. Shadow noise is also increased with Active D-Lighting on, but not by much, at least in these examples.

Far-field Active D-Lighting Example
Off	On

Above is another example of Nikon’s Active D-Lighting at work, this time with our Far-field House shot in bright daylight. Again, mouse-over the “On” link to see the difference, and click on the links to load the full resolution images.

Face Detection
Off Aperture-priority 0 EV	Portrait Scene mode 0 EV	Live View with Face-priority AF 0 EV

Here, we can see the effect of the Nikon D3100’s Portrait Scene mode using the optical viewfinder, and face detection in Live View mode. As you can see from the shots above, the Portrait Scene mode made only a modest improvement to exposure, though default contrast has been toned down. But in Live View, Face-priority Autofocus mode made a huge difference, actually slightly overexposing the image.

Â	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 100	2 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	15 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	15 sec f2.8	15 sec f2.8
ISO 400	0.5 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8
ISO 800	1/4 sec f2.8	0.5 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8
ISO 1600	1/8 sec f2.8	1/4 sec f2.8	0.5 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15 sec f2.8	1/8 sec f2.8	1/4 sec f2.8	0.5 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8
ISO 6400	1/30 sec f2.8	1/15 sec f2.8	1/8 sec f2.8	1/4 sec f2.8	0.5 sec f2.8	0.5 sec f2.8
ISO 12800	1/60 sec f2.8	1/30 sec f2.8	1/15 sec f2.8	1/8 sec f2.8	1/4 sec f2.8	1/4 sec f2.8

Low light. The Nikon D3100 performed very well on the low-light test, capturing usable images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle) with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). Auto exposure was a little off at the lowest light level (a fairly common occurrence in all but the best SLRs), so we used manual exposure for these shots. As you’d expect, noise increases as ISO goes up and light levels go down, but remains well controlled even at ISOs as high as 1,600. There’s no sign of any banding issues or uncorrected hot pixel except at ISO 12,800 where you might expect to see those types of issues. Color balance is fairly neutral with the Auto white balance setting (just slightly cool), though it shifts towards a blue cast at lower light levels.

The camera’s phase-detection autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to just above the 1/8 foot-candle light level unassisted with the kit lens. That’s not bad, but not quite as good as some SLRs. The Nikon D3100 was however able to autofocus in complete darkness with the AF assist enabled. In Live View mode, the camera’s contrast-detect autofocus was only able to focus down to just below 1/2 foot-candle which is fairly typical, and AF assist is not supported in Live View mode.

Keep in mind that the longer shutter speeds here demand the use of a tripod to prevent any blurring from camera movement. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don’t have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level
that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical
city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should
be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim
lighting. (For example, a child’s ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Nikon D3100 do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn’t expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Excellent 20×30-inch prints; ISO 3200 shots are great at 13×19 inches; ISO 12,800 make crisp 5×7-inch prints.

Printed results from the Nikon D3100’s standard JPEGs are quite good, starting with ISO 100 shots that print very well at 20×30 inches.

ISO 200 shots also look great at 20×30, though our laboratory Still Life shot is out of focus at that setting. Printing other ISO 200 shots, however, confirm its quality, as do the ISO 400 results.

ISO 400 shots are also excellent at 20×30 inches, with only slight softening due to noise suppression.

ISO 800 images are slightly soft, but strong detail is still present at 20×30 inches. Some luminance noise is present in the shadows. Detail softness becomes negligible at 16×24.

ISO 1,600 images are very nice at 16×24 as well, though more of the “processed look” appears around the edges and in the shadows. It’s not noticeable at arm’s length, though. Reducing print size to 13×19 removes most signs of processing.

ISO 3,200 files print very well at 13×19 inches, though shadows and dark objects start to lose some detail as contrast increases.

ISO 6,400 images are better printed at 11×14 inches, though shadows and colors appear darker. All of this looks more natural printed at 8×12 inches, with only very high saturation and contrast being an issue.

ISO 12,800 look good, but with a watercolor painting effect at 8×12 inches. 5×7-inch prints, though, look excellent in terms of detail, though contrast and shadows are darker and deeper.

Overall, the Nikon D3100 turns out impressive images, pretty well on-par with the Canon 60D in terms of ISO performance. Standard JPEGs start out with high saturation and end with very high contrast in their prints, but the D3100 offers some adjustment to both. The only noise reduction options are On and Off, plus RAW, but those should be sufficient for most consumers, as the D3100’s printed output can be categorized as “satisfying” in a way that most people will appreciate.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we’ve found that you can only tell just so much about a camera’s image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro9000 Mark II studio printer, and on the Canon Pixma MP610 here in the office. (See the Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II review for details on that model.)

Nikon D3100 Viewfinder

As with most DSLRs, the Nikon D3100 has an optical viewfinder that lets you view your subject through the lens. Unlike the D3000, the Nikon D3100 also offers Live View mode which allows you to preview the current subject on the LCD monitor.

Nikon’s main specifications for the D3100’s optical viewfinder are pretty typical for an entry-level DSLR. It employs a less expensive pentamirror design (as opposed to a solid glass pentaprism) with coverage rated at 95% (our test results agree) and magnification of 0.8x (measured with a 50mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, -1.0 m^-1). Eyepoint is rather short at 18mm (at -1.0 m^-1), and the diopter adjustment range of -1.7 to + 0.5 m^-1 is not very generous either.

The Nikon D3100 does however offer more than the usual viewfinder information for its class, however the on-demand grid found in the D3000 and some other Nikons has been dropped. Also dropped are the reference circle for center-weighted metering, and the screen overlays for “no memory card” and the battery indicator (the information display across the bottom retains its battery indicator however).

Nikon has also updated the D3100’s viewfinder autofocus point display. In the D3000, the approximate AF point locations were indicated with dense black marks in the viewfinder. For the Nikon D3100, these have been replaced with much fainter markings, illuminated by single red LEDs. The new LED indications are quite bright, but very small, and several of them have a tendency to “bleed” into other points. The worst offender is the center point, which causes the top and bottom points to glow quite noticeably. It’s a little distracting, but the glow isn’t as bright as a properly illuminated point, so it’s still easy enough to tell which points achieved a focus lock.

One feature that owners of older AF lenses will appreciate is the Nikon D3100’s exposure meter scale can act as a manual focusing aid, indicating which direction the lens needs to be adjusted to achieve focus. The option for the scale to behave this way is selectable in the Setup menu. This “Rangefinder” function as Nikon calls it, is not available in manual exposure mode as the scale then indicates exposure regardless of the Setup menu setting.

The graphic and table below shows what information is displayed in Nikon D3100’s viewfinder.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Average coverage accuracy from the optical viewfinder. Excellent accuracy from the LCD in Live View mode.

60mm, Optical	60mm, Live View LCD

The Nikon D3100’s optical viewfinder showed just over 95 percent coverage accuracy with our reference Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 prime lens. This is about average for an entry-level digital SLR, and slightly exceeds Nikon’s specification of 95% for the D3100. The viewfinder image was tilted and shifted somewhat compared to the imaging sensor, which unfortunately is not that uncommon. In Live View mode, the Nikon D3100’s LCD showed 100% coverage, though we noticed a very slight vertical shift in the image.

Nikon D3100 Live view

The Nikon D3100 includes live view capability with one-touch activation, via a dedicated Live View switch on its rear panel, in very convenient reach of your thumb. Flick it at any time, and the mirror flips up, with the camera immediately entering Live view mode. A button at the center of the live view switch is used to start and stop movie recording..

Live view Mode Displays

Another nice feature in the Nikon D3100’s Live view mode is the full information display optionally available while working in that mode. The Live Mode shooting info display shows you a lot of what you’d normally see looking through the viewfinder, yet manages to keep most of the information out of the way of the live image area. Information displayed includes current exposure mode, flash mode, AF mode, AF-area mode, Active D-Lighting mode, image size, image quality, white balance mode, metering mode, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, ISO setting, shots remaining, face detection status, battery status, and self-timer mode. It also shows microphone status and minutes/seconds of movie recording available at the current resolution and quality settings. There’s also an optional grid overlay mode, as well as a second info overlay that only shows basic exposure variables. One thing we miss in the Nikon D3100, though, is the live histogram display that’s an option on the Nikon D3 and on some competing SLRs from Nikon’s arch-rival Canon.

Like the D5000, the Nikon D3100 has only one type of autofocus method in Live view, and it’s not the traditional phase-detect AF. The D3100’s only option for autofocus in Live view mode is contrast detection. This is a fairly radical difference, compared to other camera makers.

Contrast-detect vs. Phase-detect Autofocus

By way of explanation, the phase-detect/contrast-detect distinction is one of the fundamental differences that separates digicams from digital SLRs, and is the core reason that SLRs focus more quickly. Contrast-detection autofocus involves looking at the image from a camera’s main image sensor and evaluating it to see how abruptly brightness values change from one pixel to the next. If an image is soft and fuzzy, brightness changes between adjacent pixels will be relatively slight, but if it’s sharply focused, they’ll be much greater. The point of ideal focus is found by moving the lens elements back and forth and determining whether the contrast signal gets stronger or weaker. Achieving focus this way necessarily involves some back-and-forth hunting, which can take a while to accomplish. By contrast (no pun intended), phase-detect AF uses a system of prisms, lenses, and a secondary sensor to determine not only whether the image is in focus or not, but by how much it’s out of focus and in which direction. The camera can then adjust the focus setting to exactly the position needed in a single step. As a result, phase-detect AF systems are generally much faster than contrast-detect ones.

The catch with phase-detect AF though, is that it requires some of the light passing through the lens to be diverted to the focus sensor. This is fine in an SLR, when the mirror is down between exposures, as part of the mirror is typically partially transmissive, with the light passing through it deflected by a secondary mirror down to the AF sensor, usually located in the bottom of the mirror box. When the mirror is raised in Live view mode, though, light from the lens can’t get to the separate AF sensor. This accounts for the rather lengthy (and noisy) AF cycles in most Live view SLRs: To focus the camera the mirror has to be dropped, focus determined, and the mirror raised again, adding several tenths of a second to the normal non-Live view shutter lag. For example, the Nikon D3100 has a shutter lag of only 0.279 second when using the optical viewfinder and a single AF point. This increases to an average of 1.49 seconds in Live view mode via contrast-detect, all other settings being the same. While it takes some time for the mirror to drop and re-open for phase-detect AF in Live view mode, the overall result can still be faster than when relying on contrast-detect autofocus. The Nikon D300 for instance can focus and capture a shot in 0.465 second in Live view mode using phase-detect AF.

With the above as background, you can see why we were surprised to find contrast-detect AF the only autofocus option available on the D90, and that they’ve carried that limitation forward on the Nikon D3100. It’s a fair bit faster than its equivalent in the D5000, but the Nikon D3100’s contrast-detect AF in Live view mode clearly still isn’t something you’re going to be using for sports shooting.

One advantage of contrast-detect autofocus, though, is that you’re not restricted to focusing only on those areas where you happen to have an AF point. The Nikon D3100 lets you put the focus box anywhere in the frame when in Live view mode.

Face detection. Here’s a look at the D90’s face detection working with a live subject, which operates similarly on the Nikon D3100. Click to view/download 1.7MB MPEG-4 file.

Besides the ability to position the AF area wherever you like it, the Nikon D3100’s contrast-detect AF in Live view mode also offers face detection. Up to 35 faces can be detected in an image in Face Priority mode, and the AF areas adjust to match the size of each face detected. The primary face-detect box shows yellow when not in focus, and green when in focus (after half-pressing the shutter button). The video clip at right shows the D90 tracking a live face while zooming in and out and panning around. While the Nikon D3100 can detect many more faces simultaneously, its face detection autofocus mode is otherwise very similar.

Playing with face-detect autofocus in Live view mode, we were pleased to see that the camera not only tracked the faces, but was also intelligent enough to set focus based on the eyes of subjects, rather than on their noses or mouths. (In portrait work, the eyes are the most critical part of the face to render in sharp focus. Other parts of the face can be soft but viewers will regard the shot as properly focused if the eyes are crisp.)

Other Nikon D3100 Live view autofocus modes are: Wide Area, designed for hand-held shots of landscapes and other non-portrait subjects; Normal Area, designed for pin-point focusing using a tripod; and Subject Tracking. This mode is designed to track just about any selected subject as it moves through the frame — it need not have a face.

Manual Focusing in Live view Mode

During manual focusing, the Live view display on the Nikon D3100 can be magnified quite considerably, but it seems it’s not all that you might expect from the specifications. In Live view mode, pressing the magnifying glass button on the camera’s back lets you zoom in up to a maximum of 6.8x. The viewfinder image at this magnification isn’t sharp, though; it seems the camera is actually grabbing fewer pixels than that section of the sensor actually contains and then interpolating them to form the image. (You can check this by snapping a shot and then magnifying the resulting image to the same degree in playback mode. Doing this, you’ll find the image is quite a bit sharper than what you saw on the LCD in Live view mode.) While the magnified Live view display is still usable for focusing, it isn’t as sharp as it could be, nor as sharp as the Live view display on some of Canon’s SLR models sporting this feature.

Nikon D3100 Video Recording

Nikon pioneered video capability in its D90 digital SLR, and it’s rapidly become a must-have feature, with essentially all the major manufacturers now providing some form of video capture in their DSLRs. Positioned as an affordable model near the entry level, the Nikon D3100 forgoes some of the more sophisticated features found in the video modes of enthusiast and professional digital SLRs, but it breaks new ground for Nikon in a couple of important areas. For the first time in a Nikon digital SLR, the D3100 can offer live autofocus during video recording. It also offers Full HD (aka 1080p) high definition video capture, ensuring that D3100 videos will look their best even on the latest high-def displays.

While it may not provide for external microphone connectivity, nor the level of exposure control demanded by pros and high-end video enthusiasts, the Nikon D3100 nonetheless includes an overall package of video features that will likely prove very compelling to the average consumer. Its genuinely useful live autofocus capability in particular will make it more appealing to the average user than most cameras, which rely solely on manual focus or single AF cycles during video capture.

Nikon D3100 Basic Video Specs

• 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) at 24 fps Full HD recording
• 720p (1,280 x 720) at 30 / 25 / 24 fps HD recording
• 640 x 424 at 24 fps SD recording
• MPEG-4 / H.264 AVC compression, .MOV container
• Full-time live autofocus is possible during recording, including tracking and face detection, albeit with actuation noise levels depending on the lens used
• Single-servo auto and manual focus also possible
• AF point position and size can be manually controlled
• Programmed-only exposure (that is, no true aperture-priority or shutter-priority)
• Exposure compensation and lock are available both before and during recording
• Picture control system provides creative options
• Monaural audio recording via built-in microphone
• Image stabilization during video capture, if offered by lens

Nikon D3100 Video: Image Size, Frame Rate, and Encoding

Nikon D3100 Video Resolutions & Recording Formats

The Nikon D3100 records a variety of resolutions and frame rates, using H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC compression, and storing the results in a .MOV container. At all resolutions, a frame rate of 23.976 frames per second is available, while for the 1,280 x 720 pixel frame rate only, there are also optional frame rates of 29.97 or 25 frames per second. No spec is provided for the sampling rate of the audio track during movie recording, though video players report monaural 16-bit PCM audio at 24 kHz, regardless of the video resolution and frame rate.

The table below shows the specs for various video recording options.

As noted above, the Nikon D3100 offers only one video recording format — H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, which is much more efficient in its use of memory card space than the older Motion JPEG format used by some competitors, but necessitates a more powerful, modern computer for playback and editing purposes. A choice of three frame rates — approximately 24, 25, or 30 frames per second — are possible when recording video with the Nikon D3100, but only when using the 720p (1,280 x 720 pixel) resolution mode. With the 1080p (Full HD, or 1,920 x 1,080 pixel) and non-standard 640 x 424 pixel video modes, movies are always recorded at approximately 24 frames per second. Due to the high data rates at Full HD resolution, Nikon cautions in the manual that it recommends use of at least a Class 6 SD memory card.

Here are some examples of video shot with our sample of the Nikon D3100:

Nikon D3100 Video Samples
1,920 x 1,080, 24 frames/second (42.1 MB)
1,280 x 720, 30 frames/second (22.0 MB)
640 x 424, 24 frames/second (9.1 MB)
Focus tracking example, ~24mm 1,920 x 1,080, 24 fps (39.2 MB) Decent AF tracking at 24mm, if not quite up to camcorder levels. (See AF tracking section below for details)	Focus tracking example, ~55mm 1,920 x 1,080, 24 fps (36.6 MB) Noisy but surprisingly good AF tracking at 55mm with the kit lens. (See AF tracking section below for details)
Autofocus slew, near/far 640×424, 24 fps (21.0 MB) The D3100 uses contrast-detect AF during video recording. It can track moving subjects decently well, but abrupt changes in focal distance can sometimes hang it up. Half-pressing the shutter button will force a broader AF “look,” though, re-aquiring focus.	Autofocus noise with quieter lens (ultrasonic focus motor) 640×424, 24 fps (14.0 MB) The kit lens has an SWM motor (contrary to the commentary on this clip), but a bit higher-end model was a good bit quieter.
Indoor incandescent lighting (1,920 x 1,080 (19.1 MB) Moderately low light levels are no problem at all: good video quality here, under typical household (incandescent) lighting.	Rolling shutter (“Jello effect”) (1,920 x 1,080, 24fps – 12.1 MB) (1,280 x 720, 30 fps – 8.2 MB) Less rolling shutter effect than many DSLRs we’ve tested. (Note relatively slight distortion in the thumbnail above, shot at 1080p/24 fps)

Nikon D3100 Video-Mode Focusing

The big news with the Nikon D3100’s movie mode is that it provides live autofocus during video recording, a first for Nikon’s DSLR lineup. Most DSLRs use what’s called phase-detect autofocus for their still images. Phase-detect AF is very fast, but requires light to be directed onto a separate AF sensor via the reflex mirror, and so generally isn’t available during video recording. The alternative is called contrast-detect AF, whereby the camera looks at the image to determine how sharp it is, makes a small adjustment in the focus setting, and then checks the sharpness again. Focus thus occurs in small steps, and is hence usually slower than with phase-detect systems.

Contrast-detect AF can be tweaked to be almost as fast as phase-detect, though, and that’s what Nikon has managed with the D3100. It’s perhaps not as fast as a phase-detect system could be, but as contrast-detect approaches go, it’s reasonably quick, and probably fast enough for most consumer video applications.

The table below shows some examples of the Nikon D3100’s autofocus tracking, with a very lively subject:

Nikon D3100: Tracking Autofocus (Crops below from clips shot with 18-55mm kit lens)
Frame 000: Shot at 55mm, the camera started out well-focused.
Frame 124: When Charlotte initially starts running, she “digs in” to launch herself. This dropped her head away from the middle of the frame, plus I’d started to tilt the camera up, to follow her run. Here, you can see the effect of the camera “seeing” the background; it’s already shifted focus to the leaves and grass behind Charlotte.
Frame 128: It looks like the focus actually continued to hunt in the more-distant direction; nothing is actually super-sharp here, but details in the background seem a bit sharper.
Frame 139: Charlotte’s a blur here because she’s moving so fast. The focus point is actually about right for her.
Frame 153: I mentioned freeze-frame like this being like extreme pixel-peeping. One reason is that desirable motion blur when the subject is moving or the camera is panning looks horrible when frame-grabbed. The blurring here is caused by the slow shutter speed and rapid camera panning. If the shutter speed were short enough to make a crisp image here, though, the abrupt differences between frames would make the video look very choppy.
Frame 214: Charlotte’s starting her run back; the camera is front-focused just a bit here.
Frame 243: A good bit closer, the camera is tracking pretty well. Softness in Charlotte is mostly motion and compression; leaves on the lawn in the same plane as her are fairly sharp.
Frame 253: Still quite good; the fetch-toy is pretty sharp. Charlotte’s face is soft, but again, that’s a combo of motion and the fact that movie compression tends to step on lower-contrast detail.
Frame 267: Too close, too quickly. The AF lost tracking a few frames before this one. It did pretty good to track as close as it did with a fast-moving doggie, though.
Frame 282: Pretty much caught up: Charlotte’s face is a bit soft in this frame, but the hair on her shoulder is in pretty good focus. This is about 0.6 seconds after frame 267, shown just above.

In considering the crops above, keep in mind that looking at frame-by-frame 1:1 crops like this is the equivalent of extreme pixel-peeping with still images: In a movie with fast-breaking action like this, most people wouldn’t notice a few frames’ worth of missed focus. Ditto the detail levels; you actually want motion blur to provide smooth transitions between frames: Too-short shutter speeds produce very choppy-looking motion. (Also, in line with our comments below, note that 1:1 crops from even HD video frames just aren’t as sharp as the equivalent still-camera image would be. You may note that none of the crops above look tack-sharp, but that’s pretty typical of DSLR HD video frame grabs when viewed 1:1 like this – at least among cameras we’ve tested.)

While I could sometimes confuse the Nikon D3100’s contrast-detect video autofocus by switching very abruptly from a foreground to background object, in normal operation, I was surprised by how well it generally tracked motion. There was a little of the “hunting” typical of contrast-detect systems, but most of the time, I found that focus tracking issues had more to do with what passed through the center of the frame, rather than any inherent difficulty in tracking the subject. That is, many situations that looked like mis-focusing were the result of my letting the subject get out of the center of the frame, or of there being enough background peeking through to give the camera a legitimately mixed message as to what I wanted it to focus on.

In my time shooting video with the Nikon D3100, I used a single central focus point almost exclusively: It’s possible that a wider focus area wouldn’t have been as prone to jumping to the background when the subject wandered. This is one area where phase-detect AF can have an advantage: If you’re operating in multipoint AF mode with phase-detect, the fact that the camera can tell exactly how far out of focus various parts of the image are — and in what direction — means it can pick the AF points showing as closest to the camera as being the ones most likely to correspond to the subject. The Nikon D3100’s contrast-detect may do better about being pulled off-focus by momentary flashes of the background when it’s operating in its wide-area AF mode, but I didn’t have a chance to experiment with that while I had it for video shooting. The key point here, though, is that the camera’s video-mode AF did a surprisingly adequate job of keeping up with reasonable amounts of subject motion. It won’t be able to hold focus on a runner sliding into home shot from the perspective of the catcher, but it’ll probably do fine with typical non-sports subjects.

The D3100 provides both Single-servo and Full-time AF modes for live view and video capture, and as well as the Wide and Normal AF-area modes just mentioned, also provides both Face-priority and Subject-tracking AF-area modes, and the face detection function does continue to operate during video capture, continuously determining which is the dominant face in the scene, and following it as it moves around the frame. You can also manually adjust the AF point position both before or during movie capture, using the four-way controller. You wouldn’t be able to do so quickly enough to follow a fast-moving subject around the frame manually with the AF point, but if your subject is static or moving relatively slowly, the ability to change the point position during a movie could be useful. Interestingly, you can also change the AF point size by turning the Mode dial before video capture, or during it if you don’t mind the significant handling noise from the dial’s stiff detent. It seems almost to be an accidental behaviour, but might nonetheless prove useful if you want to quickly change the point size without stopping the video. The Macro scene mode uses a smaller AF point size than other scene modes, and so simply switching to or from this mode will change the point size immediately, simultaneously resetting the AF point to the center position.

All in all, I think the Nikon D3100’s video autofocus abilities are well-suited to the consumer audience the camera is intended for. It’s not quite up to camcorder levels of performance, but is good enough that most consumers won’t notice its few bobbles. The lens-motor noise on the audio track is another matter, though: With the 18-55mm kit lens, focus noise is very obtrusive, even though it’s equipped with an SWM (Supersonic Wave Motor). Switching to higher-end SWM Nikon lens greatly reduces the problem, but a complete solution requires an external mic — something the average consumer won’t be likely to purchase or use, and nor does the D3100 offer an external microphone port with which to connect one.

If AF noise is an issue and you have plenty of light available, you can always drop back to using manual focusing, which is all that most DSLRs offer anyway. It’d be nice if the kit lens were quieter, for better audio tracks on recorded video, though. (We suspect it’s more of an issue with internal slop in the lens mechanism than noise from the motor itself: In which case, it’s likely an issue that a quieter-operating lens would just increase the cost of the kit to the point that it’d take it out of the entry-level price class.)

Nikon D3100 Video Exposure Control

While the Nikon D3100 lets you record movies directly from any of its still-image exposure modes, including aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and full manual exposure modes, the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings for video recording are always automatically controlled. Thus, while the controls might suggest full PASM (programmed, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and full manual exposure) exposure control for videos, none of the modes gives you direct control over depth of field. You can, however, adjust the overall exposure both before and during exposure by holding down the D3100’s top panel Exposure Compensation button and turning the Command dial on the rear panel, although the stiff detent on this will cause very noticeable handling noise if audio recording is enabled, and the change in brightness between exposure compensation steps will be clearly visible in the recorded video. Perhaps more useful is the ability to lock exposure during video recording, by holding down the AE-L / AF-L button (or with repeated presses of the button, if AE lock (hold) is enabled through the Setup menu.)

Providing a measure of creative control, the Nikon D3100 offers access to its Picture Control system for movie recording. Described in detail on the Exposure tab, this allows camera settings for sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue to be adjusted, either automatically via presets, or manually via fine-tuning of the presets. The D3100 also allows movie recording from its Scene modes, although exposure variables from the scene modes don’t seem to apply to movie capture, only AF variables (as mentioned previously).

Nikon D3100 Movie-Mode Image Stabilization

Nikon’s image stabilization technology is lens-based, so IS availability, effectiveness and impact on the audio track will depend on the lens you’re using. We felt that the kit lens’s IS worked well, and had relatively little impact on the audio. We could hear it as a background hiss in quiet passages, even with the camera relatively steady, though, so when recording in quiet settings, you’ll probably want to turn it off.

Nikon D3100 Video: Audio recording

Like many entry-level SLR/SLD cameras with video recording capability, the Nikon D3100 can only record audio via its internal, monaural microphone. Nikon doesn’t publish specs for the D3100’s audio recording capability, though video players report monaural 16-bit PCM audio at 24 kHz. Subjectively, audio recorded with the camera’s internal mic seemed plenty clear, although we don’t currently test frequency response or sensitivity. We did notice that there was some audible hiss in audio tracks recorded with the in-camera mic in quiet environments. Fortunately, we didn’t hear any audible “breathing” from the auto-gain system adjusting sensitivity as sound levels got louder or softer.

As noted, the Nikon D3100 doesn’t have any provision for manual audio level control. This isn’t a particular strike against the D3100, though, as manual level control is a feature found on only a few digital SLRs, and those are well above the D3100’s price range. To sidestep this limitation, many amateur videographers simply use a separate, inexpensive digital audio recorder to record a separate soundtrack, which they then synchronize with the audio from the camera in their editing software. Software synchronization of audio tracks gives essentially perfect alignment of the video and externally-recorded video with relatively little effort.

Nikon D3100 Movie Recording User Interface

The Nikon D3100 makes movie recording very easy, as you can initiate it at any time, regardless of the mode-dial setting: Simply flick the Live View switch to initiate the D3100’s live view mode, and then press the Movie Record button, conveniently located at the center of the Live View switch, and the camera will start recording video. Video resolution, frame rate, and time remaining are available near the top right corner of the rear-panel LCD during capture, and you can change resolution and frame rate settings at any time via the information display, or in a Movie Settings menu accessed from page two of the Shooting menu. The result is a camera that feels like it was intended to shoot video from the start, unlike some DSLRs where movie recording seems to have been grafted on as an afterthought — and that ease of access to video recording makes it rather more likely you’ll find yourself using the video mode to grab spontaneous video clips.

We’ve generally favored use of the shutter button to start and end video recording, but found ourselves really liking the convenience of the D3100’s dedicated record button. Having it on the rear panel within reach of your thumb makes it fairly quick to access, although it could be even more comfortable if it was located nearer the top of the panel. After a brief familiarization period, the arrangement is very intuitive as well — a tap of the index finger to grab a still, and the thumb to start or stop video capture. If you’re in Single-servo AF mode and want to trigger an AF cycle during video capture, you can half-press the shutter button with your index finger, and it’s equally easy to lock exposure by slipping your thumb upwards and left a little to the AE-L / AF-L button. If you want to capture a still image while video capture is underway, you can fully depress the shutter button, but video capture will cease when you do so, and doesn’t resume afterwards. There’s also a fair delay between fully pressing the shutter button during movie capture, and the still image being captured, especially if Single-servo autofocus is enabled and your subject is moving. (Although you can quickly flick to manual focus before pressing the shutter button to prevent this delay, if you don’t mind the handling noise being picked up by the D3100’s internal microphone).

One thing that we definitely didn’t like (and that we’ve complained about before, on other video-recording SLRs and SLDs, was that the image framing abruptly changes when switching from normal Live View to movie recording. The still-image aspect ratio (width to length ratio of the frame) is 3:2, while the video aspect ratio for all but the lowest-resolution mode uses the 16:9 aspect ratio that’s the standard for high-def television. We frequently found ourselves lining up for a movie shot, only to discover that we’d lost the top and bottom of the subject once we pressed the movie-record button. We’d really like to see a Live View display option that clearly indicated the movie-mode recording area on the Live View screen, to make it easier to set up your shots before pressing the Record button.

On the positive side, the D3100 avoids another bugbear of video recording on certain SLRs and SLDs, in that it has relatively little lag when first initiating video capture. We’ve found that some cameras we’ve tested introduce a significant delay between your pressing the button to start or stop recording, and in a few cases exacerbate this by halting the live view feed until recording begins. This last issue can be particularly frustrating, because it makes it near-impossible to accurately follow and frame a moving subject from the first frame of the video. A few cameras also exhibit the rather bizarre behaviour of cutting off video recording at a point some time before the record button was pressed to stop capture. We’re pleased to say the D3100 suffers no such problems, with recording starting and stopping near-immediately on pressing the Movie Record button, and only a very modest stutter in the live view feed as recording starts.

Setting adjustments in movie mode are made via an extremely abbreviated Movie Settings menu, accessed from the second page of the Shooting Menu. Here’s a list of the options found on the Movie Settings Menu:

Nikon D3100 Video Quality and Artifacts

Video produced by the Nikon D3100 seemed pretty comparable to that turned out by other video-capable consumer DSLRs, including many selling at significantly higher prices. Don’t pixel-peep frame grabs (as we do below) and expect to see images as crisp as 2-megapixel still shots, but the levels of sharpness and we saw were generally on par with those of other consumer DSLR cameras, and better than some. Its video output was also largely free of compression artifacts, although at 640 x 424 pixels, it did start to show a little blockiness in areas of fine detail.

Here are some examples of what we found in the Nikon D3100’s movie files:

Nikon D3100 Video Quality Samples
1,920 x 1,080	1,920 x 1,080, fast panning
Cropped and viewed 1:1 like this, the D3100’s video looks soft – but this is pretty typical (actually fairly detailed) for HD frames from a consumer DSLR.	When panning rapidly, with a lot of the scene changing from frame to frame, some video compression schemes produce unsightly artifacts. To its credit, the D3100 just delivers soft motion blur. The motion blur is actually a good thing, producing smoother-looking video in the face of fast action.
1,280 x 720	640 x 424
At 1,280 x 720, it’s quite a bit sharper at the pixel level. Again, this is fairly typical of video from consumer-level DSLRs. (Personally, we tend to record at 720p resolution like this, for just this reason: Files are generally somewhat smaller, and the image about as crisp-looking when played back.)	Things get sharper still at 640×424, but some compression artifacts also creep in, which you can see here as the blockiness in the grass fronds behind Marti’s face.

Overall, we felt that the Nikon D3100’s video output was very much on par with its competition, including SLR and SLD models costing considerably more.

Rolling Shutter Artifacts

Nikon D3100: Rolling Shutter Artifacts
While it still showed some “Jello effect,” the Nikon D3100’s rolling shutter artifacts were noticeably less pronounced than those of most SLRs we’ve tested.

Essentially every video-capable digital SLR/SLD currently on the market exhibits motion-related distortions called rolling shutter artifacts. These are caused because the image data is captured and read off the chip sequentially by rows, rather being captured all at once. The effect on moving objects is similar to that of a focal plane shutter in an SLR, but more pronounced, because the video frame is read out much more slowly than the slit of a focal plane shutter moves across the sensor.

For a camera that scans video frames vertically (as do all that we’re aware of), rolling shutter artifacts will be most noticeable for subjects that are moving rapidly side to side, or when the camera itself is being panned horizontally. Verticals in the scene will appear tilted to the right or left, depending on the direction of camera motion. As an example, consider the case of a camera being panned from left to right, with a flagpole or other vertical object in the middle of the scene when recording for a particular frame begins: If the top of the object was centered horizontally when the first line of the video frame is acquired, by the time the last line of the frame has been captured, the bottom of the object will have shifted to somewhere left of center: As a result, the vertical object would appear to be leaning to the right. When the camera is jiggled from side to side, your subjects will look like they’re made of Jello, hence the popular term “Jello effect.”

The frame rate of the Nikon D3100 suggests that this scanned readout would happen every 1/24th to 1/30th of a second. In practice, we suspect that the readout process is faster than the frame rate would indicate, because its Jello effect seemed much less pronounced than we’re accustomed to among SLRs we’ve tested. This isn’t any sort of a scientific result, but we felt that the D3100’s video images were more stable than those of most SLRs on the market.

Computer Requirements for Viewing HD Video

A typical computer these days has little trouble dealing with still images, but high definition video can be another matter. Depending on the file format involved, it can take a pretty beefy computer to handle HD-resolution video playback without stuttering or dropping frames. The Nikon D3100 supports only the MPEG-4 / H.264 AVC recording format. While this is much more space-efficient on the memory card than the Motion JPEG format used by some cameras, and displays well on HD television sets, it’s much harder for computers to decode. If most of your video playback will be on a computer, you may want to download our samples and confirm it’s powerful enough to handle AVCHD playback and editing.

Nikon D3100 Video Mode: The Bottom Line

Overall, we felt that the Nikon D3100’s video mode was a good step in the right direction, as most consumers will want their cameras to be able to focus during video recording. Video recording was pretty hassle-free, and it handled moderate and low light levels pretty well. Its exposure curve also seems biased towards slower shutter speed, which does a lot to avoid the choppy look of the video from many digital cameras when shooting under bright lighting. (Albeit at some cost in sharpness, due to the small lens apertures the camera will use in direct sunlight.)

The one notable fly in the ointment is the amount of noise the kit lens’ focus motor produces in the audio tracks. Even though it uses an SWM (ultrasonic) focus motor, its noise was still objectionable. A higher-end SWM lens would likely fix the problem entirely, but would require an extra purchase, though, a step that the entry-level consumers that the D3100 is aimed at are unlikely to make. That said, it’s surely better to have a camera that can focus during video, even at the cost of noise on the soundtrack than one that can’t focus at all. (You can always switch to manual focus if the noise is an issue.)

Bottom line, the Nikon D3100 is a solid step forward for video capability in a feature-rich digital SLR at a very affordable price point.

Nikon D3100 Flash

Flash photography has been a particular strength of Nikon SLRs for some time now, and the D3100 follows suit, with its implementation of Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix II metering for flash exposures. This advanced exposure metering system takes advantage of subject-distance information relayed by the lens to compute more accurate flash exposures than more conventional systems based on reflected light alone.

Like the D3000 and D5000, flash capability is an area where the Nikon D3100 lacks some substantial capability relative to the company’s higher models, though, in that its built-in flash can’t serve as a Commander in Nikon’s Wireless Lighting System. You can still use the Nikon D3100 to control multiple remote flash units via either an SB-800 or SB-900 flash strobe or Nikon’s SU-800 remote commander, but the built-in flash doesn’t have that ability on its own.

The flash modes available vary depending on the setting of the mode dial, with some of the more automated/programmed modes restricting your choices. The full list of flash modes includes Off, Auto, Auto+Red-Eye Reduction, Auto+Slow Sync+Red-Eye Reduction, Auto+Slow Sync, Fill Flash, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync+Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, Rear Curtain, and Rear Curtain+Slow Sync. Auto modes automatically pop the flash up as needed in poor lighting or backlit scenes, though the “Flash Off” auto mode prevents the use of flash even in poor light. Fill flash fires the flash strobe with shutter speeds as fast as 1/200 second, helping soften shadows in brightly lit environments. Red-Eye Reduction mode fires the (very bright white) AF-assist light before the main flash exposure, to reduce the effects of red-eye in shots of people. Slow Sync fires the flash at the start of exposure, and uses a slower shutter speed to capture background lighting, reducing the harsh effect of flash shots by allowing more of the ambient illumination into the picture. Finally, Rear-Curtain fires the flash at the end of the exposure, producing light trails that appear to follow (rather than precede) moving subjects. A Manual flash exposure mode is also available, accessed from the bottom of the Shooting menu.

Flash exposure compensation can be set over a range of -3 to +1 EV by holding the Flash and Exposure Compensation buttons down simultaneously, while rotating the Command Dial. (Flash exposure can also be adjusted from the Information Display, using the Multi-Controller arrow keys, which some users may find more straightforward.)

The Nikon D3100 has a 1/200 second maximum X-Sync speed, and its built-in flash is not FP-capable. Basically, this means that the on-board flash can’t sync at shutter speeds greater than 1/200 second. There also doesn’t appear to be any support for external flash units that are FP-capable, so it seems that 1/200 second is the fastest shutter speed you’ll be able to use with the flash, regardless of mode or flash source.

Besides the main flash modes listed above, the Nikon D3100’s onboard speedlight can also be used in manual mode, in which you can set its power output to fixed levels of full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 power. The Nikon D3100’s internal flash is fairly powerful, with a guide number of 12 meters or 39 feet at ISO 100 in auto mode, extending slightly to 13 meters (43 feet) in manual mode. The greater range in manual mode is because it doesn’t have to expend energy on the metering pre-flash. (Novices should note that 39 feet is the guide number, not the range. Divide the guide number by your lens’ aperture setting to produce the actual range in feet.)

Also included on the Nikon D3100 is an external flash hot shoe, just behind the pop-up flash compartment, but there’s no separate PC-style sync terminal as found on Nikon’s higher-end cameras. (An optional sync terminal adapter for the hot shoe is however available.) The hot shoe accommodates Nikon accessory flash units, as well as a wide range of third party flashes. The full range of flash sync modes remains available for compatible flash units, but third-party models may not support all modes. Different Nikon speedlights offer different features when used on the D3100 as well. Recent Nikon flashes such as the SB-900, SB-800, SB-600, and SB-400 will support i-TTL balanced fill flash and standard i-TTL flash. The SB-900 and SB-800 will also support distance priority manual flash, and auto-aperture flash when used with a CPU lens. Flashes only capable of non-TTL (non through-the-lens metering) auto or manual flash modes include older models such as the SB-80DX, SB-28DX, SB-28, SB-27, and SB-22S.

3D Color Matrix II Flash Metering
As noted above, the “3D” aspect of the Nikon metering system is that it uses subject distance information from the lens (only available with G or D-type lenses) to guide its exposure decisions. This is particularly key with flash exposures, because flash illumination falls off quite strongly as the subject gets further from the camera. The “Color Matrix” part of the name refers to the use of a 420-segment RGB sensor for exposure determination, which significantly improves the accuracy with which the camera can determine various scene types, for lookup in its 30,000-image exposure database. We at IR are huge fans of Nikon’s flash technology, it’s really a case of technology working perfectly in the service of creativity. The camera just quietly does its job, so you can focus on composition, color, interacting with your subjects, etc. It doesn’t remove the creative decisions of how you want to light your subject, it simply removes the technical aspect from the equation. It won’t by any means turn a duffer into a pro photographer, but it’ll certainly take an average shooter a long way in that direction.

The Nikon D3100 with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System

Nikon has long been a leader in flash technology, but in late 2003, they significantly upped the ante with their Creative Lighting System. This system of flashes and supporting camera bodies lets the photographer control up to three separate groups of remote flash units, with an essentially unlimited number of individual strobes in each group. The exposure and operating mode of each group of flashes can be controlled independently, and exposure is metered through the lens (TTL) for all units.

While the D3100 built-in flash can’t act as a controller for remote strobes, it’s perfectly compatible with the system if you slip an SB-900 flash, SB-800 flash or SU-800 commander into its hot-shoe. The control and creative freedom Nikon’s Wireless Lighting system offers is truly amazing: See our Nikon Creative Lighting System review for more info.

Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Good flash performance, with good intensity but uneven coverage at wide-angle. Our standard shots required slightly above average amount of compensation.

18mm	55mm
Normal Flash + 1.0 EV	Slow-Sync Flash Default

Coverage and Exposure. Flash coverage was rather uneven at wide-angle (18mm), but much more uniform at telephoto (55mm). For our Indoor Portrait scene test, the Nikon D3100’s flash required +1.0 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get bright results, which is a little higher than average among the cameras we’ve tested. (The average is +0.7 EV for this shot.) The camera’s Slow-Sync flash mode produced very bright results without any compensation, though with a stronger pinkish-orange cast from the room lighting.

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 100

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 100

ISO 100 Range. At wide-angle, the Nikon D3100’s flash exposures started out a little dim at 6 feet, though brightness increased before decreasing, peaking at 8 feet. Image brightness didn’t start dropping off noticeably until about 11 feet. At the telephoto end, flash intensity started out a bit dim at 6 feet, but didn’t drop-off noticeably until about 9 feet, and became gradually dimmer from there on.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
11.1 feet ISO 100	7.0 feet ISO 100

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Nikon D3100’s flash guide number is 12 meters in auto mode at ISO 100, which translates to about 11 feet at f/3.5 and 7 feet at f/5.6, the maximum apertures of the kit lens at full wide-angle and telephoto respectively. In the shots above, the D3100 appears to underperform by a small amount relative to Nikon’s specifications, producing slightly dim exposures at the rated distances with its ISO set to 100. At both wide-angle and full telephoto, the flash range targets are underexposed by only about 1/4 f-stop. Our
standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to
provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We’ve now also begun
shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at
the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the
specific claims.

Nikon D3100 High ISO Noise Reduction

The Nikon D3100 offers just two noise reduction settings: On and Off, with On being the default. (Note that the D3000’s noise reduction setting defaulted to Off.) The setting combines perceptual noise reduction as well as dark frame noise reduction, the later only being applied to exposures longer than 8 seconds. It looks as though noise reduction is applied at all ISOs when On, as low ISO images have slightly less noise when it’s On vs Off. Nikon says noise reduction is only performed at “high ISO sensitivities” when set to Off (they don’t say at what ISOs), and that the amount of noise reduction is reduced compared to the On setting.

See for yourself how the noise reduction works under both daylight and tungsten-balanced lighting. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image. We’ve only taken crops at ISO 800 and above, since the effect of NR at lower ISOs is very subtle.

Nikon D3100 High ISO Noise Reduction Comparison Daylight-balanced illumination
	NR=Off	NR=On
I S O 8 0 0
	NR=Off	NR=On
I S O 1 6 0 0
	NR=Off	NR=On
I S O 3 2 0 0
	NR=Off	NR=On
I S O 6 4 0 0
	NR=Off	NR=On
I S O 1 2 8 0 0

The above crops show the effects of the two available levels of noise reduction, under our studio HMI lighting we use to simulate daylight. Click on the crops to load full resolution images.

As you can see, the “On” setting starts to affect detail in the red fabric noticeably at ISO 1,600 and above. The D3100’s noise reduction works quite well, but you should be able to do bit better by shooting with NR turned “Off” and using a good noise-filtering program after the fact. (Even better, shoot RAW and apply your own noise filtering.)

How does the Nikon D3100 compare with competing cameras? See the crops in the following table.

High ISO Comparison with Nikon D3000, Canon T1i, Sony A390/A290 Daylight-balanced illumination
	Nikon D3100 (NR=On)	Nikon D3000 (NR=On)	Canon T1i (NR = Standard)	Sony A390/A290 (NR = On)
I S O 8 0 0
	Nikon D3100 (NR=On)	Nikon D3000 (NR=On)	Canon T1i (NR = Standard)	Sony A390/A290 (NR = On)
I S O 1 6 0 0
	Nikon D3100 (NR=On)	Nikon D3000 (NR=On)	Canon T1i (NR = Standard)	Sony A390/A290 (NR = On)
I S O 3 2 0 0
	Nikon D3100 (NR=On)	Nikon D3000 (NR=On)	Canon T1i (NR = Standard)	Sony A390/A290 (NR = On)
I S O 6 4 0 0		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported
		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported
		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported		N/A ISO 6,400 Not Supported
	Nikon D3100 (NR=On)	Nikon D3000 (NR=On)	Canon T1i (NR = Standard)	Sony A390/A290 (NR = On)
I S O 1 2 8 0 0		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported
		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported
		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported		N/A ISO 12,800 Not Supported

As you can see, the Nikon D3100 appears to have the best noise versus detail handling of the group. Using defaults would have put the Nikon D3000 at a bit of a disadvantage in the above table, since it defaults NR to “Off” while others default to enabled, so we’ve used the non-default “On” setting for it. The Canon T1i comes in a very close second, but struggles with low contrast reds even at ISO 800. The Sony A390 (which uses the same sensor and processor as the Sony A290) leaves quite a bit of blotchy chroma noise, coming in third. The Nikon D3000 places last, with quite a dramatic difference between it and its successor.

Nikon D3100 Imatest Results

We routinely use Norman Koren’s excellent “Imatest” analysis program for quantitative, thoroughly objective analysis of digicam test images. I highly recommend it to our technically-oriented readers, as it’s far and away the best, most comprehensive analysis program I’ve found to date.

My comments below are just brief observations of what we see in the Imatest results. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest web site for a full discussion of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

Here’s some of the results produced by Imatest for the Nikon D3100:

sRGB Accuracy Comparison
Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A33	Sony A390

The Nikon D3100 showed generally very good color accuracy, with mild to moderate oversaturation of bright reds, deep blues and dark greens, and to a lesser extent, some oranges, greens, purples and browns. Some colors such as yellow, light green, aqua and cyan are slightly understaturated. Hue accuracy was also very good, with the typical (typical meaning significant) cyan shift we see in most cameras we test, and also a little shift in other colors such as aqua, red, orange and yellow. Average saturation for the Nikon D3100 was 107.6% (oversaturated by 7.6%). Average “delta-C” color error was 4.81 after correction for saturation, placing it in the top tier. (Delta-C is the same as the more commonly referred to delta-E, but delta-C takes into account only color differences, ignoring luminance variation.) All in all, a very good color response for an SLR. Mouse over the links below the illustration above to compare results with the others in this group.

Adobe RGB Accuracy Comparison
Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A33	Sony A390

Most SLRs oversaturate colors when shooting in Adobe RGB mode, and the Nikon D3100 follows suit. Average saturation was 109.7% which is higher than the sRGB result, but not by as much as we often see. Average saturation-corrected hue error was 4.57 “delta-C” units, slightly better accuracy than sRGB. A pretty good result overall. Again, mouse over the links below the illustration above to compare results with the same group.

This image shows how the Nikon D3100 actually rendered the colors of the MacBeth chart, compared to a numerically ideal treatment. In each color swatch, the outer perimeter shows the color as actually captured by the camera. The inner square shows what the ideal color would look like if the brightness were adjusted to match the camera’s tone curve, while the small rectangle shows the numerically correct color with no adjustment. This image shows the very good hue accuracy of the D3100, as well as a commonly-employed trick of overexposing some of the highest-saturation swatches, to give an impression of “brighter” color, without actually oversaturating.

The bottom row of the chart shows exaggerated white balance errors, revealing that the camera produced a slightly cool color balance when using Custom white balance, with a WhiBal card as the reference.

As always, there’s more in this particular graph than we really have room to go into here. (Also note that this set of plots has also changed a few revisions back in Imatest. Some of the plots that were once shown here are now shown in other Imatest output. Since we largely focus on the Noise Spectrum plot, we only show the graphic above, which includes that plot.)

In comparing these graphs with those from competing cameras, we’ve found that the Noise Spectrum graph at lower right is often the most important. Cameras that manage to shift their noise spectrum to higher frequencies have much finer-grained noise structures, making their noise less visually objectionable. In the graph above, this would show up as a noise spectrum curve that remained higher on the right side, representing higher noise frequencies.

Above, we see the results at ISO 100. The luminance curve (in black) is reasonably flat, but the green and especially red channel exhibit much higher noise values at lower frequencies. While overall noise levels are very low, the dominance of low frequencies in the color channels points to some low-level blotchiness. Some chroma noise blotches can be seen in darker midtone and shadows of the Nikon D3100’s ISO 100 images, but only with extreme pixel-peeping. The chroma noise at low ISOs is really nothing to be concerned about.

Above is the same set of noise data from the Nikon D3100 at ISO 1,600. Here, the overall Noise Spectrum graph is shifted a fair bit toward the left-hand, lower-frequency side than it was at ISO 100, coarsening the “grain” of the image noise patterns. There’s much less difference between the color channels in this plot, with the green channel tracking luminance noise very closely, and only the red and blue channel noise being a bit elevated at the lowest frequencies, no doubt due to noise reduction processing. This translates to ISO 1,600 images with pretty low levels of chroma noise, along with luminance noise that is quite a bit lower than the Nikon D3000, and lower or competitive to models that are best-in-class.

Here’s the same set of noise data at ISO 3,200. Here again, the Noise Spectrum graph is shifted more toward the left-hand side, coarsening the “grain” of the image noise patterns further. Overall noise levels are again excellent for an APS-C sensor, though; much lower than the Nikon D3000’s.

Here’s the same set of noise data at ISO 6,400. Here again, the Noise Spectrum graph is shifted even more toward the left-hand side, further coarsening the “grain” of the image noise patterns further. Overall noise levels are higher than ISO 3,200 as you’d expect, but still quite good compared to other APS-C SLRs.

This chart compares the Nikon D3100’s noise performance over a range of ISOs against that of a few other SLR cameras in a similar price range or resolution. While we continue to show noise plots of this sort because readers ask for them, we each time point out that the noise magnitude is only a small part of the story, the grain pattern being much more important, not to mention what the camera does to achieve a given noise level. (Some cameras obliterate subject detail along with noise, so the camera with the lowest noise levels on MacBeth chart swatches may not necessarily produce the most appealing images.)

With all the caveats about absolute noise levels not necessarily being that applicable to real images, the Nikon D3100 does look very impressive here: Its midtone noise level essentially equals or betters that of all the other cameras shown. That might be easy to dismiss, if it turned out that its detail handling was poor, but our close visual examination of key test images revealed that its detail handling is also among the best we’ve seen from this size sensor and resolution. All in all, a very impressive performance from the Nikon D3100. Keep in mind, though, that these results are at default noise reduction settings, so the shape and positions of the curves will be influenced by your settings. Also note that the Nikon D3100 defaults noise reduction to “On”, while the Nikon D3000 defaults to “Off”, but there is no denying that the D3100’s images are much cleaner and more detailed than the D3000’s at higher ISOs.

 

Nikon D3100 Dynamic Range Analysis

A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data “saturates” at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier “useful” in there: While it’s tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work.

The image below shows the test results from Imatest for an in-camera JPEG file from the Nikon D3100 with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer 4110), and its settings such as Active D-Lighting turned off.

Here, we can see that the tone curve maintains pretty good gradation in the highlights and the shadow end trails-off quite nicely.  These are very good results for in-camera JPEGs from an APS-C sensor, among the top performers in the high quality category (7.62 f-stops) when taking the margin of error (1/3 f-stop) for this test into account.

The illustration above shows the results from an Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 converted NEF file, using the Auto setting, then tweaking manually from there. As can be seen, the score at the highest quality level was much better than the in-camera JPEG, at 8.24 f-stops versus 7.62 f-stops, and total dynamic range increased by about 1-1/3 f-stops from 10.9 to 12.2 f-stops. It’s worth noting here that ACR’s default noise reduction settings reduced overall noise (see the plot in the lower left-hand corner) relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG, which would tend to boost the dynamic range numbers for the High Quality threshold. Also, the extreme highlight recovery being performed by ACR here would likely produce color errors in strong highlights of natural subjects.

Dynamic Range, the bottom line:

The net result was that the Nikon D3100’s JPEGs showed very good dynamic range, performing almost as well as the best 12-megapixel DX sensors (within the margin of error). What’s more, it’s really in the upper percentile ranking of all the cameras we’ve tested with APS-C sensors. An impressive performance for an entry-level model.  RAW dynamic range performance with Adobe Camera RAW was good, but the improvement over JPEGs at the highest quality level wasn’t quite as good as some other APS-C models.

To get some perspective, here’s a summary of the Nikon D3100’s dynamic range performance, and how it compares to other digital SLRs that we also have Imatest dynamic range data for. (Results are arranged in order of decreasing dynamic range at the “High” quality level.):

Note that this test is repeatable to within 1/3 EV according to the Imatest website, so differences of less than 0.33 can be ignored.

Nikon D3100 Resolution Chart Test Results

The chart above shows consolidated results from spatial frequency response measurements in both the horizontal and vertical axes. The “MTF 50” numbers tend to correlate best with visual perceptions of sharpness, so those are what we focus on here. The uncorrected resolution figures are 1,810 line widths per picture height in the horizontal direction (corresponding to the vertically-oriented edge), and 1,708 lines along the vertical axis (corresponding to the horizontally-oriented edge), for a combined average of 1,759 LW/PH. That’s somewhat lower than you’d expect from a 14-megapixel camera. Correcting to a “standardized” sharpening with a one-pixel radius improved the numbers significantly, however, resulting in an average of 2,155 LW/PH. The much improved standardized versus uncorrected results indicate the Nikon D3100 is applying a conservative amount of in-camera sharpening to its JPEGs at default settings.

To see what’s going on, refer to the plots below, which show the actual edge profiles for both horizontal and vertical edges, in both their original and corrected forms. Here, you can see that a fairly modest level of in-camera sharpening is applied in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Imatest reports 12.9% undersharpening in the horizontal direction, and 15.3 % undersharpening in the vertical direction. This means that the Nikon D3100’s JPEG images should respond well to some additional post-exposure sharpening in Adobe Photoshop or other image editing software, without too many visible sharpening artifacts. (Of course for best results, shoot RAW and apply all sharpening while post-processing.)

Note: We don’t feature SFR-based LW/PH resolution numbers more prominently in our reviews (eg, outside the Imatest pages) because we’ve found that they’re *very* sensitive to minor differences in in-camera image processing. Relatively small changes in the amount of in-camera sharpening can have a large effect on the resulting resolution numbers. Imatest attempts to compensate for this by adjusting to a “standard” sharpening, but this approach can’t completely undo what happens inside the cameras, and so often gives inconsistent results. Sometimes the “standardized” sharpening happens to just match the shape of the edge profile with the in-camera sharpening applied, and you’ll get wildly high results. At other times, it will tend to correct in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, ignoring the in-camera sharpening entirely can result in even greater discrepancies, particularly between models from different manufacturers. Turning off sharpening in the camera may or may not fully eliminate the sharpening, so simply turning off sharpening in the camera JPEGs isn’t a reliable solution. It also wouldn’t be the way most people shoot the cameras. We could process RAW files with no sharpening (as shown below), but then that’d only suit the people working primarily or exclusively from RAW, and would open another can of worms as to what RAW converter was used, etc, etc.

The bottom line is that numbers for resolution only take you so far. Detail handling and edge acuity are very complex issues; ones that don’t easily boil down to a single number. The best approach is to simply look look at the broad array of standardized test shots we take with each camera, to the point of downloading and printing them with whatever processing you’d use if you owned the camera and shot with it. See how the differences stack up for you visually, and make your decision on that, rather than on abstract resolution numbers.

Nikon D3100 High ISO RAW Image Quality

We’ve recently started looking at RAW files converted with dcraw, an excellent freeware raw converter. dcraw usually offers timely support for the latest cameras, but more importantly, it does not apply any noise-reduction, sharpening or other corrections such as geometric distortion correction to the output files. (We found that Adobe Camera Raw still applies some limited noise-reduction when its NR settings are set to zero, and it also applies other corrections depending on the make and model of the camera). There will always be differences between RAW converters, in terms of the sort of demosaicing algorithms they use (the processes by which they convert the separate Red, Green, and Blue data sets to an array of full-color RGB pixels), but dcraw seems to use a fairly generic algorithm that delivers good sharpness with relatively few artifacts, and can be counted on to not apply any noise reduction if you don’t want it to.

Below are crops from Nikon D3100 high ISO RAW files compared to RAW files from the Nikon D3000, Canon T1i and Sony A290/A390. We chose these models to compare, as they are the entry level models from the top-3 players in the SLR space. (The Sony A290 uses the same sensor and processor as the A390, so results are directly comparable to both Sony models.)

High ISO Image Quality Nikon D3100 vs Nikon D3000, Canon T1i and Sony A290/A390 RAW Comparison RAW files converted with dcraw, no NR, no sharpening Simulated Daylight
	Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A290/A390
I S O 8 0 0
	Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A290/A390
I S 0 1 6 0 0
	Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A290/A390
I S O 3 2 0 0
	Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A290/A390
I S O 6 4 0 0		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported
		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported
		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported		N/A ISO 6,400 not supported
	Nikon D3100	Nikon D3000	Canon T1i	Sony A290/A390
I S O 1 2 8 0 0		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported
		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported
		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported		N/A ISO 12,800 not supported

Here, we can clearly see the Nikon D3100’s dramatic improvement in noise levels over the D3000. We’d estimate at least an f-stop of improvement. The Nikon D3100 clearly outclasses the Sony A290 and A390 SLRs as well. The Nikon D3100 also outperforms the Canon T1i, but by a much smaller margin. We’re not sure if the Nikon D3100 applies some NR in its RAW files; if it is, it’s very subtle. The Sony A290/A390 definitely apply noise reduction to their RAW files, so these crops were taken from RAW files with NR set to the lowest setting available on each camera. (When working from RAW files, users typically will want all available information in a image, which is why perceptual noise reduction applied to RAW files is generally frowned upon.)

Nikon D3100 Modes and Menus

Nikon D3100 Capture Modes

The mode dial on the right side of the D3100’s top panel provides access to its various exposure modes, with the usual Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, and Manual operating modes found on all Nikon DSLRs, plus an Auto mode, a total of seven Scene modes, and a Guide mode that helps beginners get to grips with their first DSLR. Here’s a list of what’s available:

• Auto: The camera sets everything. Used for snapshots or users who just don’t want to be bothered with the details of how the camera will do its work. The AF-assist light will come on if needed, and the camera selects the AF point covering the closest subject.
• Guide: Provides access to the camera’s Record, Playback and Setup options through one user-friendly, graphically rich menu system. The user is prompted to select the type of photo they’re looking to achieve, and then the camera provides a recommended setup. These can then be further customised by the user, with the camera explaining the effect of each individual setting. Fully manual shooting isn’t possible in this mode, but manual aperture or shutter adjustment can be made for certain types of photos. For some modes where the user can adjust aperture or shutter speed, a small example image visually demonstrates the effect that might be achieved.
• Program: Puts the camera in charge of aperture and shutter speed, though all remaining camera settings are available. You can vary the combination of aperture and shutter speed the camera has selected, while retaining the same exposure level, by rotating the Command Dial. Called Flexible Program in Nikon parlance, this function is otherwise known as Program Shift, and is a great way to quickly bias your exposure without needing to switch to a Priority mode.
• Shutter Priority: The user controls shutter speed, from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds, while the camera sets the aperture value.
• Aperture Priority: The opposite of Shutter Priority mode, this mode lets the user control the aperture, while the camera sets the shutter speed.
• Manual: Gives the user complete control over the exposure (both shutter and aperture settings), and provides access to the camera’s Bulb shutter setting, for exposures longer than 30 seconds.
• Auto (Flash Off): The flash is disabled, and the camera will vary the sensitivity up to a maximum of ISO 3,200, to capture images using available light. By default, the autofocus assist light will come on if needed, although this can be manually disabled. This mode is great for museums and other places where flash isn’t permitted, more natural-looking indoor shots, etc. (Do note though, that you may need to use a tripod, as the shutter speeds may still be on the slow side, even at ISO 3,200.)
• Portrait: Opens the lens aperture to soften the background, helping the main subject to stand out more clearly. Sharpness and color saturation are moderated somewhat, to give softer, more natural-looking skin tones. The built-in flash will pop up and fire if the lighting is too dim, and the AF assist lamp will illuminate if needed.
• Landscape: Boosts color saturation, contrast, and sharpening for landscape shots. The built-in flash and AF assist lamp are both disabled in this mode.
• Child: Boosts sharpness and saturation for clothing and background details, but renders skin tones soft and natural-looking. The built-in flash will pop up and fire if the lighting is too dim, and the AF assist lamp will illuminate if needed.
• Sports: Uses higher shutter speeds to freeze subject motion. The camera switches to continuous-servo autofocus while the shutter button is held down halfway, tracking the subject in the center focus area. The focus point can be chosen with the Multi-Selector. Both the built-in flash and AF assist lamp are disabled.
• Close up: Reds and greens are pumped up. The camera defaults to using the center focus point, but other points can be chosen with the Multi-Selector. The built-in flash will pop up and fire, and the AF assist lamp will illuminate, if the lighting is too dim.
• Night Portrait: Uses slow shutter speed with flash, balancing the two so that night portraits look natural even with flash. Closest-subject AF is used. Use a tripod to avoid blurring.

Nikon D3100 Menus

The menu system on the Nikon D3100 follows that of the D3000 fairly closely. Like that camera, the D3100 lacks a Custom settings menu, and includes a Guide menu that aims to make the camera more approachable.See the tables below for details.

Playback Menu:

Shooting Menu:

Setup Menu:

Retouch Menu:

Nikon D3100 Guide Menu:

As first seen in the D3000, the D3100 retains Nikon’s user-friendly Guide Menu. Accessed via its own position on the mode dial, this menu aims to make more approachable the various complexities of a digital SLR. The photographer is guided through a series of options that ascertain the type of photo needed, and then advise on the relevant setup. It’s clever, if rather deeply nested and hence difficult to display logically on a web page. Rather than attempting to list the entire Guide menu (which duplicates functions accessible through the camera’s other menus), we’ve listed the main sections and summarized the rest.

Recent Settings Menu:

The Recent Settings menu consists of the twenty most recently used settings, which are automatically added to the menu during operation. It’s also possible for individual options to be removed from the menu by highlighting them and pressing the delete button twice. Hence, the structure of this menu changes with the usage patterns of the photographer, and its contents can’t be mapped out. The screenshot below shows one possible permutation of options you could see in the Recent Settings menu.

THE NEW NIKON D3100 D-SLR EMPOWERS AND INSPIRES USERS AS THE SIMPLE SOLUTION TO STUNNING PICTURES AND AMAZING HD VIDEO

Enhanced Guide Mode and the Ability to Shoot 1080p High Definition (HD) Video with Full Time Auto Focus Allow Users to Capture with Confidence

MELVILLE, N.Y. (AUGUST 19, 2010) –The new Nikon D3100 digital SLR camera speaks to the growing ranks of enthusiastic D-SLR users and aspiring photographers by providing an easy-to-use and affordable entrance to the world of Nikon D-SLR’s. The 14.2-megapixel D3100 has powerful features, such as the enhanced Guide Mode that makes it easy to unleash creative potential and capture memories with still images and full HD video. Like having a personal photo tutor at your fingertips, this unique feature provides a simple graphical interface on the camera’s LCD that guides users by suggesting and/or adjusting camera settings to achieve the desired end result images. The D3100 is also the world’s first D-SLR to introduce full time auto focus (AF) in Live View and D-Movie mode to effortlessly achieve the critical focus needed when shooting Full HD 1080p video.

Packed into the compact and lightweight body of the D3100 camera is a host of advanced Nikon technologies, such as the new EXPEED 2 image processing engine. EXPEED 2 in conjunction with Nikon’s new 14.2 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor is the driving force behind the enhanced performance and rich image quality. Ready to go wherever life leads, the D3100 features split second shutter response and a blazing fast 11-point AF system to help ensure tack-sharp images. For shooting in challenging lighting conditions, ISO 3200 (expandable to 12,800) enables versatility in environments such as indoors or in the evening hours.

“People are stepping up to digital SLR cameras – consumers are embracing the enhanced performance, amazing image quality and options for lenses and accessories that only a D-SLR can provide,” said Lisa Osorio, general manager of Marketing at Nikon Inc. “The D3100 is a camera that makes it easy to take beautiful pictures and will grow with the user, unlocking their potential and assisting in creating lasting memories or amazing art.”

Get Inspired With The Guide Mode
Whether new to D-SLR photography or exploring new shooting techniques, the D3100 features an enhanced Guide Mode with an easy-to-use interface to help customers build confidence in using their D-SLR through on-demand, step-by-step assistance. A stand out feature in the D3100’s predecessor, the D3000, the Guide Mode is easily accessed through the Mode Dial on the top of the camera. This enhanced help function now features sample assist images that change with camera settings to inspire consumers to achieve a desired look and feel to their images, while guiding through easy to understand photographic techniques. For example, to instill the majestic appearance of moving water, users can select “show water flowing” from the Guide Mode, and simply follow the prompts to create the ideal camera settings to capture an amazing image.

By following the guidance on the bright 3-inch LCD screen, users can achieve professional looking photographs to be proud of. Whether looking to soften backgrounds, freeze a moment in time or convey motion, the Guide Mode assists users in exploring effective picture taking solutions at their own pace to make capturing great pictures even easier and enjoyable.

Full HD Video Made Easy with D-Movie
The Nikon D3100 D-SLR allows users to capture stunning Full HD, 1080p resolution (1920×1080) movies. Users can record cinematic quality 24p video clips, or shoot at 24 or 30 fps at 720p, ideal for sharing online. By incorporating versatile NIKKOR lenses to the equation, users can now create a variety of photography effects to video such as isolating subjects with a shallow depth of field, and recording in low light conditions. NIKKOR lenses also deliver the sharpness needed for HD video, and Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) II technology helps to eliminate camera shake.

While Nikon pioneered HD video in a D-SLR, Nikon is now introducing another industry first to enrich the user experience: The D3100 is the first D-SLR to implement full time AF for D-Movie video shooting and while in Live View mode. Using contrast based AF, the D3100 automatically focuses on subjects when Live View is activated to aid shooting when using the LCD. The D3100 camera also uses Face Detection technology to lock focus on up to 35 human faces, a feat not even accomplished with consumer camcorders. To further simplify movie shooting, Live View is activated at a single flick of a dedicated switch, and HD video recording is achieved by a simple press of a button.

Sharing and editing video clips is also easier than ever, as the D3100 records movies in the versatile H.264 AVCHD codec (.mov file). While playing movies back in the camera, users are able to edit recorded videos by clipping footage from the beginning or end of a movie. High Definition movies and stills can be shared with family and friends on an HD television via HDMI output, and control slideshows and video using the HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) interface that is a part of most modern remote controls from HDTV manufacturers. Additionally, the D3100 is compatible with the new SDXC memory card format to store large amounts of photo and video data so users can shoot multiple scenes without interruption.

Renowned Nikon Technology
The D3100 leverages proven Nikon technologies to create the most positive picture taking experience for consumers of any skill level. With its new 14.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor and Nikon’s new EXPEED 2 image processing system, the D3100 delivers exceptional image quality with low noise. The new EXPEED 2 image-processing engine enhances camera performance and helps to ensure brilliant image quality while managing color, contrast, exposure, noise and speed for optimal results. The D3100’s normal ISO range extends from ISO 100 to 3200, allowing users to capture stunning images, even in low light environments. Additionally, the D3100’s ISO range can expand to a Hi-2 setting of ISO 12,800, furthering the opportunities for low-light shots that other cameras miss.

Other exclusive Nikon technologies include the Active D-Lighting system, which automatically rescues dark or backlit images to help create flattering images with even tones. This is especially useful when photographing subjects that are backlit by the sun or lights to provide an even exposure.

What’s more, Nikon’s Scene Recognition system draws upon the 420-pixel RGB color 3D Matrix Meter for outstanding exposures under a variety of lighting conditions by integrating a database of tens of thousands of sample images. The result is a camera intelligent enough to recognize when photographing a specific scene such as a portrait or landscape and automatically choose the proper camera settings.

To make taking great pictures even easier, the D3100 elevates Nikon COOLPIX technology and incorporates an Auto Scene Selector feature in Live View. This innovative function automatically selects the best scene mode to match shooting conditions. When engaged, the camera will automatically recognize when shooting a lush landscape or fast action sports and adjust the camera settings to create an astounding image. Six preset scene modes can also be accessed with the Mode Dial on top of the camera to overcome many common shooting challenges.

Compact Design. Huge Performance.
With comfortable yet intelligent ergonomics, the D3100 packs powerful technology that’s easy to use into a compact form factor. The advanced 11-point autofocus system of the D3100 makes it easy to find and focus on a subject through an enhanced viewfinder design with new “hollow” focus points to give a clear view of the subject.

In the playing field or the backyard, the benefits of Nikon’s advanced 3D Subject Tracking become clear, as the camera continuously focuses on fast moving subjects throughout the frame, resulting in crisp, clear action shots. Additionally, the D3100 offers split-second shutter response, eliminating the frustration of shutter lag-the annoying delay that ruins so many pictures. With the ability to capture images at up to three frames-per-second, users never miss a moment.

Also added to the D3100 is a Quiet Shutter Release mode, which substantially reduces the sound of the mirror while shooting. Quickly accessed by selecting “Q” on the release mode dial, this feature is ideal for the photographer who wishes to remain unobtrusive, for example during quiet ceremonies or photographing a sleeping baby.

Nikon also empowers users to prepare their photos for sharing quickly and easily using Nikon’s extensive in-camera Retouch Menu, which easily applies a variety of fun and dramatic effects to images without a computer. Fun and easy-to-use adjustments include a miniature effect to photos, image overlay, color outline and softening filters for flattering portraits and realistic skin tones.

The D3100 also incorporates Nikon’s Integrated Dust Reduction System, which offers a comprehensive solution that combats the accumulation of image-degrading dust from the camera’s image sensor. The shutter is tested to 100,000 cycles for maximum durability, ensuring years of captured memories.

Gateway to Legendary NIKKOR Optics and Accessories
Nikon has also introduced the ideal companion to the D3100, the brand new AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm VR lens, gives users super-telephoto zoom capability for an affordable price. This is a perfect complimentary lens when combined with the AF-S 18-55mm VR kit lens, and is great for capturing images of sports and wildlife around town or on vacation. Photographers can also appreciate the D3100’s system expandability, as it is compatible with more than 40 legendary NIKKOR AF-S interchangeable lenses. While the D3100 offers a versatile built-in flash, the camera also operates with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System and is capable of Advanced Wireless Lighting when using the SB-900 Speedlight or the SU-800 Wireless Commander. The D3100 D-SLR’s design also supports Eye-Fi memory card functionality, enabling the convenient wireless transfer of images from the camera to a computer, when using Eye-Fi memory cards. Also included is a new version of Nikon’s powerful image editing application, View NX2. The latest edition of this software allows users to organize and edit both photos and video files easily.

Price and Availability
The D3100 D-SLR camera outfit, including the versatile AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR image stabilization lens, is scheduled to be available at Nikon Authorized dealers beginning in mid September 2010, at an estimated selling price of $699.95.* The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens will be available starting in September for $399.95*. For more information, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

About Nikon
Nikon, At the Heart of the Image™. Nikon Inc. is the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics and photo imaging technology and is globally recognized for setting new standards in product design and performance for its award-winning consumer and professional photographic equipment. Nikon Inc. distributes consumer and professional digital SLR cameras, NIKKOR optics, Speedlights and system accessories; Nikon COOLPIX® compact digital cameras; COOLSCAN® digital film scanners; 35mm film SLR cameras; Nikon software products and Nikon sports and recreational optics. For more information, dial (800) NIKON-UX or visit www.nikonusa.com, which links all levels of photographers to the Web’s most comprehensive photo learning and sharing communities.

* Estimated selling price listed is only an estimate. Actual prices are set by dealers and are subject to change at any time.

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