Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Zoom Lens (Red)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I'm a full time photographer and an artist. I've been doing this for almost 2 decades. I've used a Nikon D90 for the past five years. Before that, I used a Nikon D70 for five years. As you can tell, I don't obsess over gear or gadgets. I buy a new camera when my current one is failing or falling apart. I want to spend my time making images, not shopping. No camera takes great photographs or bad ones. Artistry, craft, knowledge, and experience (not to mention luck) is what makes a great photograph, whether you're using a Leica or a shoe box with a pin hole. If you don't understand this, than the rest of my brief review will make absolutely no sense to you, and you can go back to looking at charts and graphs on digital camera review sites.



If you can't take amazing photographs with this camera, you can't take amazing photographs period. Spending more money on a higher end camera is a waste of money for you.



If you can take amazing photographs with this camera, than spending more money on a higher end camera is (most likely) a waste of money for you. Spend the money you save on a good lens or a weekend trip to a place that would be interesting to shoot.



What it comes down to is this: this camera has the best combination of image quality, features, handling, size/weight, and price on the market right now. The kit lens is $250 when purchased separately. That means you're paying $350 for the D3300 body. That is an incredible deal.



Going from a D90 to this camera, I gave up a couple of buttons/dials, but I don't miss them in the least. The settings I change on a regular basis (aperture, shutter, exposure compensation, ISO, etc) can all be set just as quickly and easily on the D3300 as on the D90. There's a button or dial that gives you direct access to the setting in question. No menu diving required. The one difference is that in full manual exposure mode (where you're setting both aperture and shutter), you have to use a single dial for both (moving the dial changes the shutter, pressing a button while you move the dial changes the aperture). Is this a fraction of a second slower? Maybe at first, but not once you've done it a couple of times. And in any case, if you're determining exposures manually, speed is obviously not a concern.



What else did I give up? A lot of unwanted weight. That's about it. I often walk around for hours taking photographs. I appreciate that the D3300 is lighter than the D90. It's still heavy enough to hold steady. That's all that matters. If a camera is heavier than it needs to be for handling purposes, it's too heavy as far as I'm concerned. Yes, if you drop a camera with a metal frame it may do better than if it has a plastic frame. But in 20 years, I have never dropped a camera. If you're in the habit of dropping cameras, maybe photography is not for you.



Thus spake Reverend Sparkly Picklepants.