Nikon D5300
- PROS24-megapixel sensor with no optical low-pass filter. Sharp vari-angle display. Excellent JPG detail at high ISO. 4.7fps continuous shooting. 39-point autofocus system. Quick startup. 1080p60 video capture. Integrated Wi-Fi and GPS. Standard mic input.
- CONSImages on the noisy side. Will not autofocus with screw-drive lenses. Pentamirror viewfinder. Single control wheel. Self-timer deactivates after use. Lacks depth of field preview.
- BOTTOM LINEThe Nikon D5300 D-SLR is a modest upgrade from the previous model, but it's just as worthy, making it our Editors' Choice for entry-level D-SLRs.
BYJIM FISHER
The Nikon D5300 ($799.95 body only) may not be a huge step forward when compared with the older D5200£299.99 at Techinthebasket, but a few upgrades make it worthy of displacing its predecessor as our Editors' Choice for entry-level D-SLRs. It maintains the same 24-megapixel resolution, but omits an optical low-pass filter for sharper images, and it upgrades video recording from 1080i60 to 1080p60. The addition of integrated Wi-Fi and GPS make it a solid option for anyone looking to move up to an SLR from a compactcamera. But if you're just starting to do some research, don't count out a mirrorless model, like the speedy Sony Alpha 6000£509.99 at Amazon, as those cameras have gotten to the point where they outclass many SLRs in speed and match them in image quality.
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Design and Features
The D5300$496.95 at Amazon looks a lot like the D5200, with a few minor changes here and there. It measures 3.9 by 4.9 by 3 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.1 pounds without a lens. That's about standard for an SLR of its type; it's not far off from the Canon EOS Rebel T5i$599.00 at Crutchfield (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches, 1.1 pounds) but it's noticeably bigger than Canon's tiny EOS Rebel SL1£259.99 at Amazon (3.6 by 4.6 by 2.7 inches, 14.4 ounces). Like the T5i, the D5300 features a vari-angle LCD, but it's not a touch-screen like that of the Canon. If you have older Nikkor AI lenses they'll mount on the D5300, but you may be limited to setting exposure manually, and only lenses with internal AF-S motors will autofocus as there's no screw-drive system.
The D5300$496.95 at Amazon looks a lot like the D5200, with a few minor changes here and there. It measures 3.9 by 4.9 by 3 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.1 pounds without a lens. That's about standard for an SLR of its type; it's not far off from the Canon EOS Rebel T5i$599.00 at Crutchfield (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches, 1.1 pounds) but it's noticeably bigger than Canon's tiny EOS Rebel SL1£259.99 at Amazon (3.6 by 4.6 by 2.7 inches, 14.4 ounces). Like the T5i, the D5300 features a vari-angle LCD, but it's not a touch-screen like that of the Canon. If you have older Nikkor AI lenses they'll mount on the D5300, but you may be limited to setting exposure manually, and only lenses with internal AF-S motors will autofocus as there's no screw-drive system.
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Like most other sub-$1,000 SLRs, the D5300 employs a pentamirror viewfinder. This helps save on size and weight, but it's not as bright and doesn't offer the coverage of a traditional pentaprism, which uses a solid piece of glass to redirect light from the lens to your eye. Instead, the pentamirror uses a series of three mirrors to do the same thing. The D5300's finder covers 95 percent of the frame, so there will always be some extra width on the edges of your photos, and offers 0.82x magnification. The Pentax K-50$306.04 at Amazon is one of the few low-cost SLRs to feature a pentaprism finder; it covers 100 percent of the frame is and it's a bit larger thanks to a 0.92x magnification rating.
Nikon has used a lot of the space on the D5300's body for physical controls. You'll find the flash release (hold it down to adjust the flash output power), a programmable Fn button, the lens release button, and the drive mode control on the left side of the body. There's nothing to the left of the hot shoe and pop up flash on the top plate, but to the right you'll find a mode dial, and the toggle switch to enable Live View. At the top of the handgrip you'll find the standard power switch and shutter release, as well as the Info and Record buttons, and another that adjusts exposure value compensation in conjunction with the rear control wheel. Curiously, there's no depth-of-field preview function; other cameras offer this as a third position on the power switch, or as a button near the lens mount; the D5300 has neither, nor can you assign depth-of-field preview to the programmable Fn button. It's unfortunate that this feature is missing, as it allows you to see what will be in focus when the aperture on the attached lens is narrowed—it's quite useful for many photographic applications.
The rear controls are a bit compressed due to the amount of space that the vari-angle display occupies. The Menu button is to the left of the viewfinder, with the i, AE-L/AF-L, and the control dial. Directly below that is a thumb rest, which sits above the Play button, magnification controls for Live View focus and image review, the trash button, and a joypad (used to navigate menus and manually select a focus point) with a center OK button.
You'll use the i button a lot, as it provides quick access to more than a dozen shooting controls, including ISO, the autofocus mode and area, the metering pattern, and bracketing controls. It prevents you from diving into menus to change settings—although you'll always have to enter the menu to switch between automatic and manual ISO control.
The rear display is a big 3.2-inch LCD panel with a 1,037k-dot resolution. It's very sharp, bright, and has a great viewing angle. Because it's mounted on a hinge you can swing it out to the side of the camera, and adjust it to face all forward, up, or down. If you're working on a tripod or trying to get an interesting angle in Live View mode you'll find the design to be a boon. The Canon Rebel T5i also has a vari-angle display; it's smaller at 3 inches, but just as sharp, and it supports touch input. That gives Canon shooters more direct control over shooting settings; instead of using the i button and directional pad like you do with the D5300, you just have to tap a setting and adjust it via touch or a control wheel.
The D5300 includes both an in-camera GPS and Wi-Fi, both of which were only available via external accessories with the D5200. The only other body in this price range with a GPS is the Sony Alpha 65, but that older model lacks Wi-Fi. Enabling the GPS automatically adds geographic location data to all of your photos.
Integrated Wi-Fi makes it possible to transfer images from the D5300 to your smartphone or tablet. You'll need to download the free Nikon Wireless Mobile Utility app for Android or iOS to get started. When Wi-Fi is enabled, the D5300 broadcasts its own network, which you can connect to from your phone (no password is required, so don't leave the feature enabled when you're not using it). It's possible to transfer both JPG and Raw images, although the Raw images you capture will copy to your phone in JPG format, but not videos.
Remote control via your handheld device is also possible. Select "Take Photos" from the app menu and the camera will switch to Live View mode and transmit its feed to your phone's display. It's fairly smooth, and you can tap an area of the frame to select a focus point, but manual control isn't an option. The app will respect the settings that you've set on the camera before enabling remote control, but you'll need to back out of the wireless control, adjust settings on the camera body, and then go back in if you want to make changes. This is an area where I'd like to see some improvement; the Pentax K-3$739.00 at Amazon, which requires an add-on memory card for Wi-Fi, provides full manual control when shooting remotely via Wi-Fi.
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