Introduction - Nikon D5100 Experience Manual

Nikon D5100 Experience

INTRODUCTION

The introduction of the Nikon D5100 brings forth a worthy successor to its popular predecessor,
the D5000. By incorporating the high quality 16.2 megapixel sensor, great low-light
performance, and full HD video of the pro-sumer D7000, the D5100 puts these advanced
features in the hands of the dedicated enthusiast, plus includes a fully adjustable high resolution
rotating LCD screen. With its 420 pixel RGB exposure metering sensor, accurate 11 point
autofocus system, 4 frames per second continuous shooting speed, and easy to navigate
information display, the D5100 offers the capability and features required for dedicated
photographers who wish to continue to grow.
The Nikon D5100 is clearly an advanced tool for digital photography, and offers the potential to
capture professional quality images in most any situation you wish to use it. But it is merely a
tool.
Figure 1 –Detail of the Nikon D5100 digital SLR
It is up to you to make use of its features and capabilities to create the images you envision.
While the camera's manuals can tell you about the settings and controls and how they function,
this guide will build upon that and tell you when and why you want to use them. Every button,
menu item, and Custom Setting of the D5100 is there for a reason: to help you capture the
images you want. Some of them are more useful to different types of photographers and
shooting situations and you don't need to learn and use them all immediately, but this guide
should help to give you the knowledge to confidently use the ones that turn your Nikon D5100
into an image capturing tool that works best for you.
There are many different ways to use a digital SLR (dSLR) camera and its controls to capture
images, and I'm not going to attempt to explain them all. I am going to concentrate on the ways
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