Nikon D3100 DSLR digital camera – Hands-on and official pics

Yesterday we brought news that Nikon we’re launching a new amateur friendly DSLR, the D3100 (click here for the full specs). Tech Digest got to have a brief hands-on play with the camera yesterday. Scroll down for some pics and our initial thoughts on the gear.

At a shade under £500, it’s not out of reach of people picking up their first DSLR, but nor does it scrimp on top-end features. While there are plenty of useful guide and auto-settings that mean even the most casual snapper would get good results from the kit, it’s still a sturdy, heavy camera with plenty of manual dials and settings to tweak for the pros.

While rivals Canon have offered 1080p video recording for a while in their high-end DSLRs, the D3100 represents Nikon’s first real entry into the Full HD video sphere for their DSLRs. With the cameras lacking final firmware, we were unable to test the feature for ourselves, though the continuous auto-focussing on board should ensure videos are crisp each time. There was a demo video on show that Nikon had shot themselves, and while impressive, without knowing exactly what lenses were being used on the gear it’s still hard to fairly judge its quality.

We’d have loved to have had more time to really delve into the image settings on the D3100, but for the time being, that’s all she wrote. We’ll have a full review soon, but for now check out some pictures of the DSLR below.