Nikon Announces D5100 DSLR with Full HD Video Recording

The recent news, even in the wake of Japan’s recent natural calamity, is from Nikon, who have just announced their all new prosumer DSLR called the D5100. The D5100 will be quipped with a 16.2 megapixels lens and also feature a 3-inch, super sharp 921,000-dot Vari-angle LCD screen that's a side mounted display and can be swiveled out and rotated when required.

The 16.2-megapixel D5100 is also the first Nikon D-SLR to provide in-camera effects that can be applied to both photos and movies to deliver even more creative expression. Photographers can apply effects such as Selective Colour and choose up to three different colours in a scene while the remainder of the scene is converted to monochrome. Color Sketch creates photos and a stop motion movie in a colorful sketched drawing style, while the Miniature effect records photos and high speed movies to bestow a feeling of a mini-scale scene. Scene Modes include - Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close-up or Night Portrait and more for stunning results in just about all possible lighting conditions.

Full HD video recording

To record photos in extreme lighting conditions or to produce movies with a gritty appearance, the new Night Vision mode uses Nikon’s pro D-SLR performance to offer extreme low-light capability by enabling the camera to shoot up to a super-high 102,400 ISO. ISO setting range from 100 to 6,400. In addition to the Effects mode, users can create photos with amazing tonal range by selecting the high dynamic range (HDR) function within the camera. Additionally, Active D-Lighting can be selected by itself or combined with HDR for an even more dramatic effect.

Coupled with Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED 2 image processing engine, images should turn out quite well. To assist in creating better imagery, the Scene Recognition System reads data from the 420-pixel 3D Color Matrix Meter RGB sensor that examines the scene’s brightness and color data then optimizes the camera’s performance prior to the actual exposure.

The D5100 is also designed to handle 1080p full HD video recording at 30fps as well as 24fps with full-time autofocus. It also features face priority which can track up to 35 human faces, subject-tracking and normal or wide-area autofocus. An HDMI output option is also available. To enhance your video recording capabilities, Nikon is also panning on launching an external ME-1 stereo microphone. This should boost audio recoding to quite an extent.

All the better to hear you with

The D5100 D-SLR camera will be available throughout the United States initially - beginning mid April 2011 - at an estimated price of Rs. 35,526 ($799.95) for the body only, and Rs. 39,967 ($899.95) for the body and lens outfit that includes the AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. The new Nikon ME-1 microphone will be available later in April 2011, and will retail at an estimated selling price of Rs. 7,983 ($179.95). With any luck, Nikon will bring this bad boy to our shores so our local professional shutterbugs can get a crack at this upgrade too.