You probably read a lot of stuff about Nikon D3100, so I won’t be talking about that. This will be more of my user experience and the things that I like and don’t like about the Nikon D3100.


First, the Nikon D3100 is an entry-level DSLR for people who’s starting to take photography seriously. Nikon D3100 is the first Nikon camera to use the EXPEED 2 image sensor that will enable you to capture video in full HD using the camera. Together with the new sensor Nikon also included the new AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR which was the lens that I got when I bought my Nikon D3100.

• This is the first DSLR that I actually own, though I’ve used Nikon D5000 and Canon 50D before. The buttons and controls are similar to the D5000, Nikon placed a LiveView lever and the record button, which made it easy to switch to LiveView and capture video in HD, unlike in D5000.
• Another plus for the Nikon D3100, aside from taking great photos and videos the audio are already in stereo unlike in D5000 where you only get a Monaural audio.
• If you’re always shooting in portrait mode, you’ll find it handy that the settings or screen will adopt on how to position the camera.
• I liked that Nikon placed a “Guide Mode” option, which helped me in learning things the things the I don’t about the camera, since the user’s manual that came with the camera was in Chinese. This will also help first time owner and know the ins and outs of the camera.

Checkout the sample video and photos below.





More photos here.

You can find my unboxing, specs and other bunch of stuff about Nikon D3100 here and here.

So that’s it for the like part of Nikon D3100. Now here are the things that I don’t like, well at least something that did not seem quite right with the Nikon D3100 that I got.

• First, I can’t seem to register my DSLR on Nikon.com, the site sees the serial number as an invalid serial number, I already contacted the Nikon support, but so far no reply yet.
• I’ve checked almost all of the camera store here in Riyadh and online, it appears that Nikon did not release or designed any battery grip for the Nikon D3100, though I would assume that the battery grip for Nikon D40 will be compatible with D3100.
• The camera did not come with any USB data cable, which is handy if you are using a computer that does not have a card-reader.
• The body and dimension is small for my large hands or may be I got used in using Nikon D5000 and Canon 50D which are larger than the D3100.
• Some of the buttons are clunky, specially the buttons at the left side of the camera.

If there is something that I’ve missed, you are free to place them using the comment box below.