The D5200 has been announced and it along with the D3200, D600 and D800 is another Nikon camera with a high megapixel count. There are still some older models hanging around on their website, including the four and a half year old D90 that have less megapixels but it appears they foresee a future where moms are packing the big guns. The D5200 is locked and loaded with the 24mp sensor that has been previously released in the D3200.
The most shocking feature and improvement of this camera over the previous version is the fact that it has a 39-point AF system. The D5100 which this replaces has the typical 11-point AF system which is expected at this price point. The camera can also do 3D tracking and has the ability to recognize skin tone along with the typical face detection. I should also add that the 39 points appear to have a good spread in the viewfinder compared to the D600. The camera appears to have a new feature where in live view you can take sequential images without the mirror slapping up and down for each frame, this has always been an odd trait of live view shooting.
The 24mp sensor in their consumer range is something I have yet to fully understand, either Nikon is running out of sensor choices or they believe that by offering more pixels over the competition, they will gain significant sales. I would boldly say that the previous 16mp sensor of the D5100 would probably be the better choice for most newcomers because it is said that more pixels require more discipline and I’m not sure if (most) buyers of this camera will have that. The sensor will have a sensitivity from ISO 200-6400 and 12,800-25,600 with boost but again I feel confident the previous sensor would be less noisy.
The layout on the outside is identical to the D5100 except that the D5200 comes in three colors, bronze (seen above), black and the odd bright red color that the D3200 offers. The new camera can also do 5fps at its full 24mp while the D3200 with the same sensor can only do 4fps. Also similar to the D3200 it is compatible with the WU-1 Wifi adapter that will allow a transfer to an Apple or Android device.
1080P recording is all there as expected and the camera now features a stereo mic but these mics still make me cringe thinking about all of the people out there recording poor audio along with their video.
For those of us who are looking for a cheap second body I think we may have struck gold here with the D5200. It doesn’t have the 100% viewfinder of the D7000 or its weather sealing but in daylight shooting landscapes this camera (in the right hands) will come out on top as far as IQ. Besides the couple of features above the D7000 still holds a few more features above the D5200’s head including 1/8000th shutter instead of 1/4000th, ability to use two SD cards instead of one and is 1fps faster.
It appears that the camera has yet to be announced in the US but has been officially priced and released in Europe. We will surely update the post to list a US price as soon as its available. If you would like to read more about the cameras features please check out Nikon Imaging here and if you would like to pixel peep here are a few sample images. Thank you Nikon Rumors for being hard at work compiling details and emerging impressions of the camera here.
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