Pixiq

It feels as if it were one of the worst-kept secrets in the photography world, but the Nikon D5100 has at last been made official. It’s the shiny replacement for the D5000, with a bigger screen, smaller body, and larger sensor. It can make full HD movies, too (now there’s a shocker), has in-camera special effects capabilities, and has a super-high ISO in night vision mode.

The idea is to give the same image quality as a D7000, but in a smaller and less expensive body, whilst sitting a notch up from the D3100.

Ooh look! A vari-angle screen!

The movie capability, full HD for up to 20 minutes, on this camera is something that really seems to have made Nikon proud, from the vari-angle screen to the option to add an external microphone. (How about the ME-1, also announced today?) Of course, there’s also auto-focus, in-camera editing, and the ability to watch your videos directly on an HD screen via the HDMI port. And last but certainly least, all of this is controlled from a dedicated movie button next to the shutter release. (I can just see my mother only ever managing to make videos if she were to get her hands on one of these.)

It’s 16.2 megapixel sensor backed up by the Expeed 2 processor, just the same as the D7000. ISO ranges from 100 to 6,400, but can be pushed to 12,800, and on again to a dizzying 25,600 in Hi2 mode. Head into night vision mode and it goes higher still, but your pictures will be in black and white. (Mind you, I’m getting a headache just thinking about the noise they’d have in colour.)

There’s an 11-point auto-focusing system, what feels like a gajillion different auto scene modes, 4 frames-per-second continuous shooting, and the now-obligatory gamut of in-camera effects, which includes miniature, selective colour, and high- and low-key.

How does this strike your fancy? The D5100 is coming in at around £780 (€904) with an 18-55mm kit lens and will be available from 21 April 2011 (probably).

Nikon can, of course, tell you even more.