Sunday, July 22, 2012

Nikon D5100 Vs D7000: Which One Is The Best For You?

By Jen Thomas


The Nikon D5100 vs D7000, are both digital SLR cameras from Nikon. Both these cameras are excellent cameras, with several similarities and several differences. Which one of these is best for you depends on various factors, such as how much you want to spend, what features are key for you, and so on.

The D5100 is one of Nikon's newer cameras, and was introduced in April 2011. It is a wonderful camera, and has a horizontal swing out, vari-angle monitor for more flexible viewing. It also has full-HD movie recording functionality. This is the first Nikon digital-SLR camera to offer Special Effects mode.

The specs for the D7000 emphasize the 16.2 effective megapixels CMOS sensor. It is touted as being weather-resistant and resistant to dust. It also has numerous focus points. This camera came out in the last quarter of 2010.

Let's pit these cameras against each other directly and see which one is the best for you. The D5100 is available at around $549 (without a lens), while the D7000 is available at around $1099. So the D7000 is more expensive than the D5100. Is the extra price tag worth it?

First, let's discuss what the D7000 offers over the D5100. The battery life on the D7000 is longer. Also, as mentioned above, it has more focus points than the D5100 (which has 11 focus points, as compared to 39 focus points on the D7000). The additional focus points purportedly make it easier for this camera to focus on your subject. In addition, the D7000 is a better choice if you are planning on being outdoors for a large part of the time, since it is more weather and dust resistant. The D5100 does not have an internal auto-focus motor on it. So some older lenses may not auto-focus on it. One more thing--the D7000 has more dedicated controls for advanced settings. Moreover, the continuous frame capture rate for the Nikon D7000 is six frames per second,as compared with 4 frames per second captured by the D5100. This faster continuous frame capture rate can provide an advantage when capturing fast paced events such as sports. An additional memory card slot in the D7000 is also a tgood feature.

Let's now take a look at whether the D5100 offers any advantages over the D7000. Here's the elephant in the room -- it costs a lot less!! Apart from the lower price tag, Nikon's D5100 also has some other features that are equal to or better than its more expensive cousin. Interestingly, the image sensor used for the two cameras is apparently the same. Also, the D5100 is smaller and lighter. One more plus-- its LCD is a horizontal swing out, vari-angle monitor for better viewing.

Ultimately of course, a lot of the picture quality of the photos taken by is going to depend upon what lenses you buy. But regardless, these key comparisons made above will hopefully make your decision about which camera to buy easier.




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