Nikon D5100. The Flip-Screen, Video-Shooting SLR Just Got Better

Nikon's D5100 is a solid update to the already decent D5000

Two years ago, almost to the week, Nikon announced the D5000, a bargain-priced video-shooting DSLR (back when video in SLRs was still news) with a handy flip-out screen. Today, Nikon launches the D5100, which improves on its older brother in almost every way, albeit incrementally.

The video and the flip-screen are still there, only now the screen has jumped from 2.7 inches and 230,000 dots to three inches and 921,000 dots, and the video can be shot at up to 1080p vs. 720p, and uses the AVC-HD H.264 codec instead of the memory card gobbling Motion JPEG. The sensor has more pixels ? 16.2MP up from 12.3 ? and its sensitivity increases from a maximum of ISO 3,200 to ISO 6,400 (with a new ?boost? mode of up to ISO 25,600 and a low-res Night Vision mode of ISO 102,400).

The D5100 is also lighter (560g vs. 611g with battery) and smaller, looking less tall and gawky than before.

Otherwise, it?s mostly tweaks, but they?re everywhere. One really neat new feature is image filters. These are the same as you?d find in any camera, letting you Lomo-fy your photos, but it?s the first time Nikon has put them in an SLR. But that?s not the neat part ? after all, it?s better to shoot RAW and tweak later on a computer. What?s cool is that you can do this with video, something that fewer people want to process back at home.

Nikon has also announced a new stereo microphone, the ME-1. This slots into the hot-shoe and plugs into a standard 3.5mm jack socket on compatible cameras.

The price of the D5100 is very similar to the launch price of the D5000, creeping up $70 to $800 body-only and $900 for the kit with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. Don?t buy the kit. Never buy the kit lens, as they are always too slow. Buy a 50mm ?1.8 instead, for around $120, and enjoy a lighter camera, a much brighter viewfinder, punchier pictures and a healthier, fitter you, thanks to all that walking instead of lazy zooming.

Nikon D5100 product page [Nikon. Thanks, Geoff!]

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