A Simple Box

The little camera that could… dwarfed by it’s lens

Nikon did something audacious with their D3200: They put their best APS-C sensor into their “Beginner DSLR” body. And there are some more signs of a guerilla agenda for that camera. It still can be set to all traditinal exposure modes (P, A, S and M) and the “Guide” mode for a structured introduction to photography (and for missing the decisive moment while chimping on the back screen… ) is on a separate position of the mode wheel. You never need to go there if you don’t want to. There are no “Art Filters” or similar in-camera effects, Nikon postpones that kind of gimmicry to postprocessing. Of course, it shoots RAW as well as JPEGs, and let me tell you, the NEF files from this 24 MPixel sensor are something to look at. Here’s an example (clickable for full-size version).

A very detailed and harmonic representation of the wood grain and the soundhole rosette of my Martin. Even though the strings are a bit in front of peak sharpness, their windings in combination with the high 24 MPixel resolution still elicit color moiré.

As the metadata show, this picture was taken with the AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 G at f/5.6 and with flash. Other pictures from the first batch have shown that with this high-resolution sensor you have to have your technique down pat. Focussing errors, camera shake and object movements are rendered as exact as finest details of your subject are!
For me, it was a natural addition to my mainly film-based Nikon kit. I had toyed with the idea of a Pentax K-5 as an alternative, but that one is three years after it’s introduction and sensor technology has made significant advances sine then. Plus, I’m heavily invested in Nikon lenses.

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Tags: D3200, DSLR, Nikon, photography