It was my dream to have a DSLR camera and to capture stunning photographs. Two weeks ago I realized that dream, I bought a DSLR camera. What I bought is a good DSLR camera, Nikon D5300. Now it is really a matter of situation and patience to capture stunning photographs.
I think it was in my higher secondary school or college time, when I got to know about the DSLR camera. At that time, front page of The Hindu newspaper used to have an advertisement from Nikon for one of their camera model, I don’t exactly remember the model name now, was it Nikon D40 or something older? That advertisement listed advantages of that bulkier black camera with the price of around ₹45,000 (not exactly sure, I vaguely remember it). I understood that there are quality differences between the images taken with larger black camera and stylish point-and-shoot. Even I did not know what exactly a DSLR camera and the difference between normal point-and-shoot digital cameras. To me all of them were just Digital cameras.
While contributing to Wikimedia projects starting from 2009, I saw many Wikipedia users uploading good photographs that are of great use for encyclopedia articles. I wished I could do same. But money was a problem for me to buy a DSLR that time.
In 2010, I bought a point-and-shoot camera, Fujifilm’s FinePix F70EXR. Actually I tried to buy a bridge camera, but ended up buying this model, because of budget limit. It was a good camera and I could capture lots of good family moments. Main problem is that we get blurred images due to shaking.
Deciding
Desire to have a DSLR was in deep sleep in my sub-conscious mind. Recently I got relaxed to have a budget enough to purchase entry level DSLR. After deciding to move forward, I started to read lots of reviews about available DSLR camera models for my budget. Nikon D5300, Nikon D5500 and Canon 750D; these three candidates were considered to my list. Also thought about mirror less cameras. But I did not find a very attractive reason to go for a mirror-less one. Already implanted dream in my mind might have contributed to go for DSLR type.
After having the three above mentioned cameras in my list. I did an extensive research over Internet to find the final one.
When Canon 750D is considered, the only extra feature in it was touch screen, but it was not an attractive one for me. It costs more, needs to pay around ₹10,000 extra when compared to Nikon D5300. And Nikon D5500 and D5300 models do have several good features when compared to Canon 750D. So I removed Canon 750D from the list.
Nikon D5500 also cost higher than D5300, that is predictable since former one is introduced as upgrade to later one. Nikon D5500 price range is similar to that of Canon 750D. But none of the advantages of Nikon D5500 over Nikon D5300 looked attractive to me either. Nikon D5500 do have touch screen. As stated above, it was not a feature I thought very useful. Nikon D5500 is lighter in weight, has more color depth, higher dynamic range, and more low light ISO performance. But all of these got only minor enhancements when compared with Nikon D5300. Also, I was having a tight budget. Finally I decided to go with Nikon D5300.
Buying
After deciding to go with Nikon D5300. I estimated best price available from different online stores. As it was festive season, there were sales offers. Then I inquired about the availability and price in local stores in my city. There are few authorized stores in my city those are listed in Nikon’s official website. My preference was to buy from a local store, to ensure the proper warranty and service. Fortunately, offer from local stores matched with online stores. So, I bought the camera from one of the local store.
Accessories Included
I bought camera with Double Zoom Kit. It included Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm VR II and Nikkor AF-S DX 55-200mm VR II lenses. I got these extra items along with the camera.
- Camera bag
- 8GB Class 10 SD memory card
- Photron Steady Pro 560 tripod
- Two Nikon School DSLR tutorial DVDs
- Sunglass of Aux brand from Videocon (I think, this one is provided by that store and not by Nikon)
After Thoughts
Image quality is very good. Taking photos in automatic mode is very easy and produce good images.
I was having desire to learn more about taking professional grade photographs by adjusting the camera settings in semi-manual and manual modes. Free tutorial discs by Nikon School bundled with the camera package was very helpful for that. I watched the discs and learned the basics more quickly. Now I am taking more pictures in Aperture-Priority and Shutter Priority modes. Hopefully will move to manual mode soon.
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