News - Nikon simplifies DSLRs

[HEXUS]

Nikon has launched what's claimed to be its simplest and most accessible Digital SLR to date.

Read more.

[this_is_gav]

dSLRs are just as easy to use as a point and shoot if all you want is point & shoot. The only real difference is that to zoom you turn something instead of pressing a button or rocker switch.

Other than that, they're just more awkward to carry around... and give you massive flexibility when you do want to go beyond P&S.

I'm always giving my D40x (the camera this one indirectly replaces) to fellow staff and kids at our middle school - I often give them my D300 too. I tend to get a more of a variation of shots that way as different people picture different scenes (something I've never been that good at anyway). Stick it on P mode (programmed auto) and set the ISO and you can still get cracking images - even full auto mode is at worst as good as that of a P&S.

Sounds like a lot of marketing speak, but it'll be interesting to see how well this teaches users though. It could be good so long as it's not a gimmicky "my first camera" approach.

[Funkstar]

I usually give my dSLR to people to use as well. I've ended up with some great shots that I wouldn't get any other way. And some shots of me, but you take the rough with the smooth.

Although I've found that people seem to be a little more intimidated by the 40D than they were with the 350D. Mainly it's the size and weight and the cost, some are scared of breaking it, despite the fact they are more likely to break a cheap P&S due to the 40D actually being well built.

[TheAnimus]

So basically its a fully automatic mode, with white balance adjustment?

I'm assuming thats what they will be talking about, or will they have proper meeter adjustment too?

This is one of the things i found amazing about my friends panasonic point and shoot, when on an incredibly sunny day on the mountainside of lake geneva, it completely failed to meter anything at all well. I ended up putting my compact into exposure bracketing to be able to get any hope of decent shots. Anything that improves on this problem is a good idea.

However, this just sounds like marketing tosh.

[chrestomanci]

In my experiences if you give a DSLR to someone who has never used one before, the hardest thing they find is the need to actually look through the viewfinder, instead of using the rear screen. Once they get past that hurdle the pictures are great.

At a recent family party, my uncle lent his Nikon D90 to a 10 year old cousin who took about 300 pictures in point & shoot mode. All where perfectly exposed, though obviously some where crap for all sorts of other reasons.

[kalniel]

So basically its a fully automatic mode, with white balance adjustment?

I'm assuming thats what they will be talking about, or will they have proper meeter adjustment too?

Aren't they just talking about the guide mode? It's similar to Canon's CA mode, but taken much further. Basically it's a results orientated approach, so rather than asking you what settings you want to put the camera in, it asks what kind of results you want and sets up the camera accordingly, with explainations of what it's doing and why.

Sounds like a great idea to get novice users undestanding the control they have with a DSLR.