Nikon D3100 SLR Captures 1080p H.264 Video

John Brownlee ()

Nikon D3100 SLR Captures 1080p H.264 Video

Nikon have just announced an incremental update to their beginner’s SLR called the D3100, and while it’s a marginal update over its superb budget predecessor, the D3000, it does add one feature into the mix that even their most expensive and pro-oriented cameras have yet to integrate: 1080p H.264 video at up to 24FPS, stored in a QuickTime .MOV file. It even boasts dynamic, constantly updating autofocus for video scenes.

The camera’s other specs are tasty: a 14.2MP, DX-format CMOS sensor, an 11-point autofocus system, ISO support up to 3200. The kit lens is the same old 18-55mm autofocusing kit lens, which — if you’re a beginner — you’re going to want to ditch for something like their classic 50mm 1.8f Nikkor lens as soon as you possibly can to see the real difference between this and a more expensive point-and-shoot.

I have a D3000, and I love it, but I’ve sometimes sorely missed video capability… a deficiency the D3100 ably corrects at a $250 premium: the D3100 will cost $700 when it’s available in September.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in Cameras, Hardware, News |

  • Scott

    Not to nitpick, but one thing to keep in mind is that the d3100 is a crop sensor dslr (like most on the market). Putting the classic 50mm 1.8 on a crop sensor dslr turns it into a 70mm+ which essentially turns it into a fixed zoom. If you want the 50mm (human eye) standard fixed lens, you need to get the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G.

  • John Brownlee

    That’s a fair point, Scott. I just have a 50mm myself. I’ll update!

  • Bruce

    The 18-55mm zooms that Nikon has included with many of their DSLR models are very, very good lenses, and I don’t believe that beginners need to “ditch” them to see the difference between a camera like the D3100 and a P&S. There are very good reasons for buying the 35mm 1.8G or a 50mm lens, including better low-light shooting and depth of field control, but I’ve used both the non-VR and VR versions of Nikon’s 18-55mm zooms and they’re very capable lenses. I’ve been shooting with Nikon SLRs since 1979 and have worked extensively with a variety of fast and sharp Nikkor prime lenses, and have had poor experiences with earlier Nikkor zooms, but I have no qualms at all about shooting with the current 18-55mm zoom and I’m getting sharp images with great color rendition.

    Also, I don’t think the “classic” 50mm 1.8D will autofocus on the D3100? It won’t on my D40 or D60, and I’ve found both of these cameras’ focusing screens to be bad for precision manual focusing at wide apertures. If the D3100 needs a G or AF/S lens to autofocus, the 50mm 1.8D would, I think, be a poor choice for a beginner.

  • imajoebob

    The things continue to piss me off. The pricing for SLR cameras doesn’t budge. Entry-level P&S cameras started out at about 4 or 5 hundred bucks, but dropped to less than 200 within about 3 years. “Prosumer” entry-level digital SLRs started off at about 500 bucks (retail) about 4 or 5 years ago, and they now cost… 500 bucks. The body is still the same design they used fro film SLRs back in the 70′s. The electronics, while improved, are still the same basic design. Even the sensor is still the DX size (although you can’t actually use it to take DX/APS/4×7 images).

    So now we’ve got an entry level SLR with a couple extra pixels (though the sensor probably costs less), and it’s added features you can already get on cheap P&S cameras. And it costs 200 bucks MORE than the old model?

    These are still a rip off.

  • Figurative

    You seem to forget about all the software and firmware development, which is huge. These cameras are computers with optics. Your analogy is flawed.

  • Bruce Wilcox

    Also, it’s not quite the “same old” 18-55mm lens – the more recent Nikon DSLRs have come with the VR version of that lens. Even though this lens has a smaller maximum aperture than the faster prime lenses referenced above, I find I can shoot successfully with much slower shutter speeds, getting a little more depth of field than I could with a non-VR prime lens using a large aperture but by necessity a faster shutter speed – another reason to not discount the zoom that’s bundled with this camera.