Hey guys, this is Austin and today I’m here with a review
of the Nikon D3200.
With 24 megapixels and 1080p video with
full manual control all in a small package this has a lot
going for it but is it worth it over the D3100 or D5100?
Taking a look around the D3200 you can see that it looks very
similar to its predecessor.
I’ve already done a full comparison
between the two cameras if you want to check that out but the
gist of it is that you can expect solid ergonomics and build
quality as you would expect with a Nikon DSLR.
It’s still made
entirely out of plastic and it’s not weather sealed like the
D7000 but considering the much cheaper price tag it’s not a
surprise and should still hold up fine with normal usage.
Around back is the new 3 inch 921,000 dot LCD which matches the
resolution on the 3.2 inch screens on the D4 and the D800.
This
is a huge help when shooting in live view as manual focus is much
easier with the added clarity.
There’s also a new accessory you can
pick up which will give the camera Wi-Fi capability for transferring
pictures and video as well as letting you control the camera from
your smartphone.
Probably the most important part of any DSLR is the
image quality and the D3200 definitely doesn’t disappoint here.
With
24 megapixels at your disposal you have a lot of room for cropping
images which gives you a lot of extra freedom.
In addition it also
works for allowing you to change your framing after the fact without
losing precious resolution.
I really found myself enjoying shooting
with the D3200 because of this, being able to resolve that much detail
really is impressive for a $700 camera.
A lot of people complained
when the D3200 was announced that having so many megapixels would
compromise the low light capability but overall ISO performance is
very similar to the D3100.
Noise is hardly distinguishable up to
ISO 400 and even moving up to 800 noise is still fairly well maintained.
ISO 1600 was about as high as I felt comfortable shooting, here noise
is fairly visible even without cropping and colors and detail begin
to fade just a bit but the files are still usable. 3200 doesn’t lose
too much more detail but noise is more prevalent and 6400 is really only
good for resizing the photos down for web use.
You can expand the ISO
to 12,800 but...well, don’t do that if you don’t have to.
Where the
D3200 really shines is in video mode.
I shoot hours of video on a DSLR a
week and I’ve been very pleased with the D3200.
It shoots 1080p video at
30 frames per second or 720p at 60 frames in H.264 at around 21Mbps at
1080p.
As you would expect video looks really quite nice from the APS-C
sensor with good depth of field and great color.
The kit lens works fine
here although I do most of my shooting with prime lenses which will
definitely give you better results.
All right so I am now recording
using the Nikon D3200.
So this is pretty much totally stock, I'm using
the 18-55mm kit lens and I'm also using the built-in microphone, which
I might add is actually not half bad at all.
So one of the greatest
things about the D3200 is that you can manually adjust your video.
So
for example while I'm recording I can go up to ISO 400 or 800, I can
also go ahead and adjust my shutter speed to kind of compensate for that,
and again bring the ISO back down, change the shutter speed, all of that
kind of good stuff is very very easy to do while recording.
On top of
that it also does have autofocus during video mode so if I half press
the shutter, you can see it should autofocus on the grass and then you
can use the D-pad on the back of the camera to adjust exactly where you
want to focus, and again we'll go ahead half press one more time,
it won't adjust quite right here, it's not quite the best especially with
the kit lens but there we go so pretty decent job there.
Now the
autofocus isn't great, it's definitely nice to have but as you can hear,
it's a little bit loud and since you have to half press the shutter each
time it's not going to be continous.
The D3200 also has a microphone jack
which is helpful when you’re out on a shoot, although I personally prefer
to use external audio it is a nice option to have.
A very nice feature is
that you can manually adjust your audio levels as well as display your levels
on screen as you record.
With full manual control over the 1080p video,
audio-in with level adjustment and the low light performance and depth of
field this is one of the strongest Nikon cameras for video to date.
Overall the Nikon D3200 is an excellent DSLR and a considerable improvement
over the already great D3100.
The megapixel count is second only to the D800
in the Nikon range, a camera that costs four times as much, ISO performance
is reasonable, build quality is top notch and the video mode is a massive
improvement.
For $700 I can safely recommend this to anyone who’s looking for
an entry level DSLR that stands right up there with the Canon T3i.
Interested in more coverage of the D3200?
Feel free to check out my unboxing as
well as the comparison with the D3100.
If you enjoyed definitely be sure to
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