Nikon D5100 Great Image Quality & Usability at an a Affordable Price,

The image Quality from the Nikon D5100 is outstanding for the price. The features of the Nikon D5100 are easy to deploy in general photography, without the usual complexity of figuring how to deploy them. This is why I bought the camera. It's just easy to use the relatively advanced features.

The Hi1 and Hi2 ISO modes are useful when you need to capture images at lower quality in lower light, and the high grain effect of the ISO 102,000 is a lot of fun. The in-camera editing capability is fun, but doesn't replace in-computer editing functionality. It's handy nonetheless if you need to do edit images quickly after shooting, before uploading them online, for example.

For a first time Nikon Digital SLR user, the position of the buttons, Live View etc are very intuitive and the redeployed buttons don't pose the challenge that users of older Nikon DSLR models claim.

Nikon D5100 LCD Viewfinder is as good as other reviewers have commented and while the Depth of Field preview is missing, the LCD screen preview works (for me anyway). Being able to assign the ISO Level to the button beside the flash button makes it even easier to use the camera without having to navigate the menus to get the right shot settings.

The kit lens is OK as a starter lens, and I agree with other reviewers that you'll want to add better lenses to take advantage of the amazing images this camera is capable of producing. I've added the Stereo Microphone for some HD Videos I've produced and it's worth the money only if you need to do tripod based videso with very clear sound. Otherwise the built in Mic is fine.

All in all, a great buy. Absolutely delighted with it.