Great DSLR for the Discerning Consumer

Are you looking to take great pictures of kids in action, beautiful landscapes, or people at a party, in any kind of light, with an economical, lightweight, consumer DSLR? Then the Nikon D3300 is for you. There are a lot of DSLRs in the marketplace today. Some cost as much as a good used car, but the truth is that most can take great pictures. What you pay extra for in those cameras are knobs and controls for nonpicture-quality items such as increased video capture resolutions, multiple exposure modes, a second memory card slot, the ability to use the built-in flash as a commander to trigger wireless flash, and built-in GPS and Wi-Fi. (Note: There are optional accessories that you can purchase for the D3300 to achieve the last three items on this list.)

At 24.2 megapixels the D3300 has more resolution than Nikon's flagship $6,500 D4S camera, so large prints are no problem. For less than $600 (street price), the D3300 practically sees in the dark with usable photos coming out at ISO 12,800. They may not hang in a gallery, but they'll certainly make it into your vacation photo book. You also get the new, more compact AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II lens, 5 frames per second continuous shooting, a 3″ LCD monitor, and video recording up to 1,920×1,080/60 fps. The autofocus system uses up to 11 tracking points for modes that include single-point AF, dynamic AF, auto-area AF, and 3D-tracking. For audio input you get a built-in mono mic and a 3.5mm stereo mic jack.

The Nikon D3300 is the perfect consumer DSLR for those who want to spend more on quality lenses than they do on a camera body with extra frills that they may never use.

Company: Nikon Inc.
Price: $649.95 (with kit lens)
Web: www.nikonusa.com
Rating: 4.5
Hot: Great-looking photos
Not: Missing some features you're willing to pay more for

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