Nikon D3300 and D5200

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Arch33

Senior Member
I'm interested in buying a new DSLR and the two Nikon D3300 and D5200 catch my eye, both of them having the same price. I would like two know :

1. Which are the differences between the two DSLRs ?
2. Which one of them has a better quality of photos and which one has a better quality of videos ?
 
A

Arch33

Senior Member
Nikon D5200 and D3300

I'm interested in buying a new DSLR and the two Nikon D3300 and D5200 catch my eye, both of them having the same price. I would like two know :

1. Which are the differences between the two DSLRs ?
2. Which one of them has a better quality of photos and which one has a better quality of videos ?

 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Re: Nikon D5200 and D3300

Both of these cameras will give your good, and pretty much equal, photo and video quality based on the technical specs, though the D5200 takes a bit of a lead on paper with slightly better color depth and dynamic range. The things I like about the D5200 over the D3300 are that the D5200 has a lot more focus points (39 vs 11) and a lot more cross-type focus points (9 vs 1). The D5200 also has the articulating, flip-out screen which totally rocks if you plan on shooting a lot of video. It's also built-in protection for your LCD screen when you don't need to be looking at it.

The big thing the D3300 has going for it is that it has an internal focus motor which can be important depending on what lenses you want to buy. With the internal focus motor you'll be able to use auto-focus on a much wider range of lenses. Without it, you'll need lenses that have the focus motor built-in, like Nikon AFS lenses. This may, or may mot, matter to you. The D3300 also has a higher maximum ISO and ever so slightly less noise at higher ISO's but not enough to score points in my book.

Between the two, and based on what you're asking, I think the D5200 would be the better choice for you.

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mauckcg

Senior Member
Re: Nikon D5200 and D3300

Horoscope Fish said:
Both of these cameras will give your good, and pretty much equal, photo and video quality based on the technical specs, though the D5200 takes a bit of a lead on paper with slightly better color depth and dynamic range. The things I like about the D5200 over the D3300 are that the D5200 has a lot more focus points (39 vs 11) and a lot more cross-type focus points (9 vs 1). The D5200 also has the articulating, flip-out screen which totally rocks if you plan on shooting a lot of video. It's also built-in protection for your LCD screen when you don't need to be looking at it.

The big thing the D3300 has going for it is that it has an internal focus motor which can be important depending on what lenses you want to buy. With the internal focus motor you'll be able to use auto-focus on a much wider range of lenses. Without it, you'll need lenses that have the focus motor built-in, like Nikon AFS lenses. This may, or may mot, matter to you. The D3300 also has a higher maximum ISO and ever so slightly less noise at higher ISO's but not enough to score points in my book.

Between the two, and based on what you're asking, I think the D5200 would be the better choice for you.

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Click to expand...

The D3300 still needs AFS lenses like the D5200. They haven't started putting internal motors in the D3xxx or D5xxx bodies yet.
 
A

Arch33

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish, thank you for your response. I 'm not exactly planning on doing lots of videos with my camera, it will be mostly photos, but I want to get the highest performance for the money. I should have also mentioned that this is my first DSLR and I have played with some D7100s (which is awesome :) , but over my budget) and with a D5200 before, but I have never actually owned a DSLR so not all the technical specs are so clear to me.

I have more questions :

1. I'm not sure, but the D3300 and the D5200 are using the same sensor or the D3300 has a newer one?
2. The D5200 films 1080 at 60i and the D3300 at 60p, right ? So why is the D5200 better at filming ?
3. How important is having 39 focus points and more cross-type focus points ? I know that they can be pretty important depending of what image you are trying to shot, right ?
4. The D5200 has a ISO sensitivity from 100 to 6400 expandable to 25600 and the D3300 has a ISO sensitivity from 100 to 12800 expandable to 25600. How important is more exactly that the D3300 has more "non-expanded" ISO sensitivity than the D5200 and that does that expanded ISO mean?
5. What can you tell me about that new Panorama mode on the D3300 which is not on the D5200. It does seem an interesting, but is it a real advantage that I should take into consideration?
6. What can you tell me about the new lenses for the D3300 ? Is anything special to them besides the fact that they are retractable (which doesn't really matter to me) ?
7. The D3300 has a 12 bit depth and the D5200 has a 14bit depth. How important is this difference ?
8. What about that anti-aliasing (low-pass) filter that was removed from the D3300 ? I believe the D5200 still has it. Does its removal make a real difference ? I read that theoretically it should produce a more sharpen image.
9. The D5200 has a stereo microphone and the D3300 has a mono one, but I guess that I should anyway just buy an external one and don't really care about this thing, right ?

I'm sorry if some of these questions might seem dumb, but I am new to the world of DSLRs and some of the numbers that I see at the technical specs don't really tell me a lot of things, but please, PLEASE, help me get these things and don't just tell me "Buy the D3300 because is more simple and beginners-orientated". All my life I have bought stuff with the highest performance that I could buy with my budget so don't just tell me to buy something because it's more simple, I want the device with the highest performance = best image quality (both photo and video). Simplicity and comfortability comes second for me, yet I have to admit that the vari-angle LCD screen on the D5200 is an advantage that I would take into consideration pretty seriously.
 
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Arch33

Senior Member
Unfortunately those two models are very expensive in my country so I would rather stick with one of the two DSRLs that I've mentioned at the start of this thread.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
1.) I'm not sure if it is the D3200's sensor without the OLPF or if it has the same sensor from the D7100. Nikon hasn't been real clear about that. The D3300 has the new Expeed4 processor. This should help. Nikon D3300 sensor review: Revised entry-level model - DxOMark

2.) D5200 has a rotating screen. You can shoot from different angles without contorting yourself to those angles.

3.) The area the points cover is as important as the amount of points. The cross type points help track action. I use the 9 cross type points for tracking race cars and aircraft. How important this is depends on what your trying to do.

4.) Not sure. Slightly better low light performance than the D5200 according to DXOmark.

5.) Not a clue. I own a D5200.

6.) Look up some reviews.

7.) More data in RAW so more data you can manipulate in Lightroom or some similar program.

8.) Theoretically removing the OLPF will make for sharper images. There are a lot of factors to sharp images, the OLPF is just a part of that.

9.) If your going to use an external mike, then that isn't much of an issue.

Figure out whats most important for what you want to do, and read/watch as many reviews as you can to see which camera will better suit your needs.
 
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Arch33

Senior Member
I just got my D5200 4 days ago and it's great! Thanks a lot for all the help in this thread, it really helped me a lot to make my choice !
 
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Abhinav Punter

New member
Arch33 said:
I have more questions :

1. I'm not sure, but the D3300 and the D5200 are using the same sensor or the D3300 has a newer one?
2. The D5200 films 1080 at 60i and the D3300 at 60p, right ? So why is the D5200 better at filming ?
3. How important is having 39 focus points and more cross-type focus points ? I know that they can be pretty important depending of what image you are trying to shot, right ?
4. The D5200 has a ISO sensitivity from 100 to 6400 expandable to 25600 and the D3300 has a ISO sensitivity from 100 to 12800 expandable to 25600. How important is more exactly that the D3300 has more "non-expanded" ISO sensitivity than the D5200 and that does that expanded ISO mean?
5. What can you tell me about that new Panorama mode on the D3300 which is not on the D5200. It does seem an interesting, but is it a real advantage that I should take into consideration?
6. What can you tell me about the new lenses for the D3300 ? Is anything special to them besides the fact that they are retractable (which doesn't really matter to me) ?
7. The D3300 has a 12 bit depth and the D5200 has a 14bit depth. How important is this difference ?
8. What about that anti-aliasing (low-pass) filter that was removed from the D3300 ? I believe the D5200 still has it. Does its removal make a real difference ? I read that theoretically it should produce a more sharpen image.
9. The D5200 has a stereo microphone and the D3300 has a mono one, but I guess that I should anyway just buy an external one and don't really care about this thing, right ?

I'm sorry if some of these questions might seem dumb, but I am new to the world of DSLRs and some of the numbers that I see at the technical specs don't really tell me a lot of things, but please, PLEASE, help me get these things and don't just tell me "Buy the D3300 because is more simple and beginners-orientated". All my life I have bought stuff with the highest performance that I could buy with my budget so don't just tell me to buy something because it's more simple, I want the device with the highest performance = best image quality (both photo and video). Simplicity and comfortability comes second for me, yet I have to admit that the vari-angle LCD screen on the D5200 is an advantage that I would take into consideration pretty seriously.
Click to expand...



Are you happy with the camera you bought or any regrets for not getting d3300. I have exactly the same questions you had, Hope you answer better.​






 
A

Arch33

Senior Member
Sorry for the late answer.
Yes, I'm verry happy with the D5200 and I have no regrets. The photo quality is amazing and the same thing I could say about both the image and the sound quality (and I still haven't bought any external microphone) of the videos. Also, the articulating, flip-out screen REALLY helps. I didn't have the need until now to use the Panorama Mode, but if i would need to, I could just shoot multiple photos and then use an image-editing software to create the Panorama image.
 
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