Nikon D3000 review :: PYKtures Reviews

When my friends asked me for a good cheap dSLR camera to suggest back in Christmas, I was reluctant to suggest a Nikon D3000 because it has almost everything going against it: mainly old Sony 10 megapixel CCD that most of the pixels peepers know to be darn noisy over ISO 800, no live view, no video and compatibility issues with older F-mount autofocus lenses. Within the competitors that populate this price range of below 600$, there’s the Canon Rebel XS kit, the Pentax Km (with the Kx closely priced), the Sony Alpha a230/a330 series and Olympus e400/e500 series. The word on the net talked against the design of the D3000 and leaned more towards the Rebel XS (with some written support to the Pentax cameras) due to it’s great high-iso image quality and compatibility to the full EOS line. But what I forgot to look for in a great starter camera was the way it can be used in the hands of people who don’t know how to use the specs mentioned… Thus I gave a shot at my theories in asking my good friend Cassandra who loved using my Nikon D80 a lot to get the D3000 as her first dSLR. After reading countless reviews on the D3000, I thought I knew how the pictures would turn out, but I was told wrong by the camera itself. And what camera it is!




The Nikon D3000 is probably Nikon’s last attempt at using the sensor that powered the D200/D80/D40x/D60 bodies. On the Nikon D80, this sensor could display great image quality in sensitivities up to ISO 800 then deteriorate badly when the user reaches ISO 1600.



It was also running on a pre-EXPEED color processor. The D60 was the first body to feature the EXPEED processor (featured in the Nikon D5000 and above) but I sadly didn’t have the chance to test it. The EXPEED processor is the Nikon’s newest processor. It is known to convert the horrible noise into a film-grain like pattern through the reduction of chromatic noise (the color noise) and leaving the luminance noise (the grainy noise) untouched. As a result, pictures would keep their detail a lot more than in the situation where both types of noise were reduced.



Ken Rockwell quoted the D60 to be noisier than the D40 and proved it with test pictures of his gorilla. At the time, I relied more on the written word than my experiences so I skipped that version. On the opposite side, from what I’ve heard of my photographer friend Julius Adarma, it seems that the D60 had better image quality than his D200.

On The D3000, the 10mp sensor now runs again on the EXPEED processor. I’m surprised that I can still go up to ISO 3200 and still get my color tones great with sharp detail at the cost of the shot displaying some fine grain. For sure, you can feel the limitations of the sensor when you underexpose your shot but try not to get there.


Believe it or not, I love how that three inches screen looks even if its resolution is reduced because it displays great colors and contrast that are accurate to the taken shots. On the D3000, I find the same viewfinder display as my D90; having 11-Points AF system with 3D Tracking, grid lines makes the shooting experience much more pleasant then the old 3-Points AF system of the D40. A very useful interface shows the first timer visually what the F-number (aperture) does to the lens.

The color profiles are now full customizable too. So if you want a shot to look sharper and more saturated, you enhance those features in the camera. In the retouch menu you can even add a fake tilt-shift effect. When I hear stories about the files not being sharp enough, I think reviewers try to be most unbiased by reviewing what the d3000 natively does at default setting without trying to find solution to overcome the limitations.



So far, I’ve tested the camera with the 18-55VR, the 18-105VR and the 35mm f1.8 DX. And I say again that I’m very impressed with the results I got for something that Cassandra paid 400$ for the kit (we got a great deal on it).

Which leads us to what assortment to get exactly for the budget you are paying before tax. So these are the ensembles that I’ve thought out. It is always best that you get a zoom lens for versatility over range and a fast lens for versatility over lighting conditions. The more range the zoom lens is, the better; that way, you can keep one lens during the day and use the fast lens at night when you go for a photo outing. Usually, the D3000+18-55VR kit comes paired with a 55-200VR. The 55-200VR is a great lens but is still limited only to shoot during the day.

Bottom line
Forget the D5000 and get the D3000 with a Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.8 DX. I know one of my friends listened and brought this combo to Japan to take amazing pictures!


The D5000 sucks?
I believe the D5000 to be truly an error of camera design. The flip LCD screen on it isn’t quite useful because autofocus in Live View is unusable and very slow. The HD video mode on it (or on any dSLR aside from the Lumix G series) doesn’t fit consumer use (no autofocus, no decent image stabilization) and most of the people I know (you know who you are!) that are using a video dSLR don’t have time or patience to use this feature on their camera. The only redeeming factor of the D5000 is that it produces the same low-light image quality as my Nikon D90. For the 200-300$ price difference you have between the D3000 and D5000, you can get the Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.8 DX that will push the D3000 farther than what you’d get with the D5000 kit alone.


But you want video?
For the 300$ price difference, you can also get the Lumix FH20 compact camera that can produces 720HD video!


As usual I will leave you on pictures I've taken with the D3000. ^^