Nikon D5300 Review

A great everyday dSLR

CNET Editors' Rating

4.0 stars - Excellent

$788.00 to $799.99 

The good: Excellent photo quality, a great feature set, and speedy performance put the Nikon D5300 ahead of the pack.

The bad: The default settings could be better and Live View is still really slow to use.

The bottom line: The Nikon D5300 is a great choice as a general-purpose dSLR.

Read the Full Review

Full-size megazoom cameras compared

Want a long lens, lots of features, and a dSLR-like design? You've come to the right roundup.

CNET - Call them bridge cameras, longzooms, superzooms, or megazooms (as we do), they're all pretty much the same thing: a large lens slapped on the front of a point-and-shoot camera.

While that's a bit of an oversimplification, the fact remains that though these are full-featured models with digital SLR-style bodies, they still have the shooting performance and photo quality of a compact camera. That said, if you're after a long lens, point-and-shoot simplicity, and an affordable price (at least compared with a dSLR that has comparable lenses), you've come to right roundup.

Editors' note: This post was originally published October 26, 2011, but is updated frequently. It was updated February 4, 2013, to include the Canon PowerShot SX500 IS.

 

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) 

 

 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200

If you're looking for a fast camera with a ton of features including raw capture and a hot shoe, and the best -- if not the longest -- zoom lens in this category, you'll want the Panasonic FZ200. Read the full review.

 
Canon PowerShot SX500 IS

The SX500 IS provides a lot of zoom for its small size and price. As long as you don't need great low-light photos or fast shooting performance, it's worth checking out. Read the full review.

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Autographer wearable camera takes the whole taking pictures thing out of taking pictures

Engadget - Sure, we've all got a camera on us at all times, thanks to the prevalence of smartphones and point-and-shoots, but these devices present an issue when it comes to that modern human desire to electronically capture everything that happens everywhere ever: having to actually take the pictures. That's why the unsettlingly giddily-named OMG Life is working to unleash the Autographer, a hands-free, wearable camera that promises to take "thousands of photographs a day" via its wearable lens. Just drape it on your person and it will uses its six on-board sensors (GPS, color, accelerometer, motion detector, magnetometer and thermometer) to determine the right moment to snap one of its unwieldy volume of images.

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Point-and-Shoot Cameras With the Best Image Quality

In PCWorld Labs subjective tests for overall image quality, these fixed-lens cameras had the highest aggregate scores across all our imaging categories.

1 PCWorld Rating Prices from $699 Canon PowerShot G1 X The Canon PowerShot G1 X takes the sharpest photos we've ever seen from a fixed-lens camera, and its image quality and video quality are outstanding overall. However, for $800, we expected better macro and burst-mode performance. Full Review | Video Review | Specs - Rated: August 06, 2012

2 PCWorld Rating Prices from $290    Canon PowerShot SX260 HS The 20X-optical-zoom PowerShot SX260 HS does many things well. It's as close as a compact camera can get to being "one size fits all," thanks to very good image quality and a great mix of options for novices and experienced photographers. Full Review | Specs - Rated: June 04, 2012

3 PCWorld Rating Prices from $379    Canon PowerShot S100 The Canon PowerShot S100 is just about the most capable compact camera we've seen, and it's packed with features that will please both novices and advanced shooters. Full Review | Specs - Rated: December 23, 2011

4 PCWorld Rating Prices from $447    Nikon Coolpix P7100 Nikon’s Coolpix P7100 is as complex as it is powerful, with excellent image quality and a feature set to please even the fussiest photographer. Just make sure you’re up for the challenge. Full Review | Specs - Rated: December 23, 2011

5 PCWorld Rating Prices from $321    Samsung WB850F The feature-loaded, 21X-zoom Samsung WB850F is the best Wi-Fi camera we've reviewed, but a few usability hangups keep it from a higher ranking. Full Review | Specs - Rated: August 16, 2012  See the Rest

The Best Inexpensive Point-and-Shoot Camera with Wi-Fi

Smartphone cameras have gotten so good—and sharing photos from them has gotten so easy—that in most situations, a simple point-and-shoot camera seems like an unnecessary inconvenience.

Gizmodo - But point-and-shoot manufacturers, eager to keep their products relevant, have begun equipping the cameras with built-in Wi-Fi transmitters. These combine a legitimate camera’s lens and sensor with a phone-like ability to quickly share photos without a cumbersome cord. Even with the new feature, a solid camera can come in under $300. Wi-Fi point-and-shoots to the rescue! Right?

For this test, we chose the Canon Elph 320 HS ($280) and the Samsung WB150f ($230). We wanted to know how these cameras stacked up against each other, and also how the features measured up in common tasks—like posting a photo to Facebook—when compared against most folks’ default tool for the job, the iPhone 4.               More

Nikon woos the pros with long-awaited D800

(Credit: Nikon USA)

CNET - Because of its lack of video capabilities and its relatively low resolution, the Nikon D700 never attained the level of buzz the Canon EOS 5D Mark II did, despite being an excellent camera. With the D800, Nikon looks poised to catch up to, if not overtake, Canon in the hearts and minds of full-frame devotees.

With all the information about the D800 having leaked in advance, it’s easy to tell what’s been most attention-grabbing: the high-resolution sensor and the D800E sibling model which incorporates a modified low-pass filter system that results in little to no antialiasing. There’s no doubt that the combination should appeal to professionals like studio and wedding photographers.

However it’s notable that the sensor’s pixel size is 4.88 x 4.88 microns (compared to 6.4 x 6.4 for the 5DM2) and hits a comparatively low maximum sensitivity of ISO 25,600. That said, cameras for this target market don’t need the really high, gain-pushing ISO sensitivities of more action-oriented models; they need the highest clean setting. And Nikon has a history of clean high ISO images for its pro models. But even if the D800 manages impressive video, I suspect that the D800E will be less video friendly–aliasing can be a real problem in video and it’s much harder to correct in post-production, so you need that low-pass filter. Medium-format cameras and AA-filter-free models like the Fujifilm X100 usually don’t support video or don’t produce professional-quality results.          More

CES 2012: Nikon Will Exhibit Its D4 Professional DSLR Camera [VIDEO]

usatoday.com

Nikon has finally unveiled its answer for the Canon 1D X — the Nikon D4, the company’s latest professional DSLR.

The D4 will be aimed squarely at news, sports, and action photographers, firing at 10 full resolution frames per second with its Nikon-developed 16.2-megapixel FX sensor.

Nikon calls the D4 its “new flagship,” as it will likely replace the current 12.3-megapixel D3s as the go-to for sports and action photography, with the D3x remaining as the high-resolution option for studio shooters.

The combination of high ISO performance, full-frame sensor, and fast shot-to-shot speed should make the D4 a speed demon for many professional and prosumer customers willing to pony up its $6,000 price tag (body-only).

The D4 will also offer a familiar pentaprism viewfinder with 100% coverage, but it will have a few new tricks up its sleeve. For instance, the camera will be able to detect and properly expose up to 16 faces, according to Nikon, even when shooting through the optical viewfinder.                 More