Soldato
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shouldnt be the kit lens, more likely settings
Canon 1100D or Nikon D3100?
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Soldato
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should be better than any bridge camera
Only niggle is the image quality, I assumed it would be on par with my lower MP bridge cameras in terms of noise performance however, the photos I've taken around the house so far are fairly grainy when zoomed in on, even at varied ISO settings and lighting. Perhaps it's the limited kit lens? New to DSLRs so don't shoot me down
Are you shooting in auto ISO mode though? If you are, I imagine that to be the cause of the digital grain. D5100 has a decent sensor, so I imagine its ISO performance to be pretty decent (same as the D7000 IIRC)!
Also, how far are you zooming in? 1:1 or beyond?
The sensor in the d5100 is about the best money can buy in the crops sensor size, heck it is not so far behind last generation full frame.
If the images re noises then you are using the wrong settings. Likely you have auto ISO on and you are shooting inside in the dark wi an aperture like f/8 etc.
If the images re noises then you are using the wrong settings. Likely you have auto ISO on and you are shooting inside in the dark wi an aperture like f/8 etc.
Really? That's not my understanding from paper point of view (wearing my engineer hat!) and yes I appreciate this might be in the "someone is wrong on the internets" relm.
It also isn't true from DxO labs testing either.
http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-D5100-vs-Pentax-K-30
In fact the D5100 sensor is distinctly average at best. I'll ascert that statement with the fact it is worse than cheaper sensors.
However we live in a such a great age that a cheap average sensor should deliver top results.
OP if you try posting a full res JPG or even a RAW file showing the problems your having I think people might be able to suggest. Also, you've updated the firmware right? They did have a couple of quirks which could compromise the quality:
https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/50626/~/d5100-firmware-update-1.01
Always worth checking for new firmware.
Anyone tried the new 5200? I noticed that the price has dropped considerably, to same/less than d7000. I have not seen many reviews, but cropping a 24mp image seems tempting as I often trim my images (tried a 3200 and was impressed with its snappyness against my trusty bridge cam).
Are you delusional or just trying to be a troll?
For starters DXOMark does indeed rate the D5100 slightly higher than the k-30
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Ca...rand)/Pentax/(appareil2)/698|0/(brand2)/Nikon
Both score almost identically be ause both use an almost identical Sony sensor. Differencs come from some support circuitry and filters, Nikon's look to be a tad better.
Some of pie taxes latest iterations of the k5 have tweaked the same sensor to provide cleaner output and higher dxomark scores, but there is strong evidence that Pentax are applying dignities noise filters to the RAW files above ISO 1600 even if noise filtering is turned off in camera. Remove at cheating advantage and you are back where you started.
Looking at all crop sensors out there, The one in the d5100 is about the best you can buy, nothing is significantly better at all lost all of the top performers use the same Sony sensor. Both Nikon and Sony have 24mp sensors that have similar performance so these might be considered to be better by some if you need tat resolution. There isn't a single canon crop sensor that comes close. So about the best money can buy is absolutely accurate.
Maybe you do not know how dxomark works,this is a good read.
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/DxOMark-Camera-Sensor2
After lots of help and the cash back offer on both cameras and a buy now pay in 6 months I went with the camera that felt the nicest. I decided on the nikon d3100 from the high street catalogue shop, 40th Bday present bought 
You're better off buying a longer lens so you get the composition right in the first place. I would get the D7000 over the D5200 any day though. It's better in virtually every respect.
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I think it was just my noobness with the camera in this instance!
On 'auto' it sets the ISO to auto and indoors, seems to select somewhere in the region of 3000+. Which is very strange, even when the room is well lit or I point the camera directly at the light, it still reads ''SUBJECT TOO DARK'' on the screen.
When it's in manual and I set the ISO to 100, the images are crisp and clear but only with incredibly fast shutter speeds, meaning everything is too dark...even well lit areas... again, just figuring out the camera!
I still think it's strange that the camera finds everything too dark though, even strong light sources.
On 'auto' it sets the ISO to auto and indoors, seems to select somewhere in the region of 3000+. Which is very strange, even when the room is well lit or I point the camera directly at the light, it still reads ''SUBJECT TOO DARK'' on the screen.
When it's in manual and I set the ISO to 100, the images are crisp and clear but only with incredibly fast shutter speeds, meaning everything is too dark...even well lit areas... again, just figuring out the camera!
I still think it's strange that the camera finds everything too dark though, even strong light sources.
Soldato
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Sounds like it's faulty if it's always saying it's to dark, took mine out in the garden last night around 7 pm and it didn't say anything it just took the pic
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I think it was just my noobness with the camera in this instance!
On 'auto' it sets the ISO to auto and indoors, seems to select somewhere in the region of 3000+. Which is very strange, even when the room is well lit or I point the camera directly at the light, it still reads ''SUBJECT TOO DARK'' on the screen.
When it's in manual and I set the ISO to 100, the images are crisp and clear but only with incredibly fast shutter speeds, meaning everything is too dark...even well lit areas... again, just figuring out the camera!
I still think it's strange that the camera finds everything too dark though, even strong light sources.
One would expect an ISO in that range indoors, the camera is saying it's too dark because it requires a high ISO setting to get the correct exposure. Indoor lighting is very dim compared to being outdoors even on a dark day.
Soldato
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I don't know. In doors pointing at a light surely it shouldn't be to dark.
I can take indoor shots at iso800 (Nikon D50) at around f2.
I can take indoor shots at iso800 (Nikon D50) at around f2.
Soldato
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I think it was just my noobness with the camera in this instance!
On 'auto' it sets the ISO to auto and indoors, seems to select somewhere in the region of 3000+. Which is very strange, even when the room is well lit or I point the camera directly at the light, it still reads ''SUBJECT TOO DARK'' on the screen.
When it's in manual and I set the ISO to 100, the images are crisp and clear but only with incredibly fast shutter speeds, meaning everything is too dark...even well lit areas... again, just figuring out the camera!
I still think it's strange that the camera finds everything too dark though, even strong light sources.
I think you need to read the manual tbh.
Firstly get out of green box mode, and into something like Av.
If your using a kit lens, your not going to get noise free pictures indoors, tbh my D800E would struggle.
The reason is the aperture is too slow. When your zoomed out it's at F3.5 which is pretty slow (doesn't let in much light) but not too bad. However when you zoom in the lens then stops down to F5.6 which let's in much less light, resulting in nosier pictures ad the camera has to up the ISO.
If your going to shoot in low light, then you need fast lenses or flash. I hate it when people dismis genuine camera limitations as 'user error', but in this instance it's solely your lack of really basic knowhow and unreasonable expectation that is to blame, but hey we all start somehwere.
What metering are you using, spot, matrix, centre weighted?
Stick to spot metering most of the time, particularly when metering off skin (18% grey). If metering of pure white the camera will under expose, if metering off black the camera will over expose. This these black or white areas don't cover the whole of the frame then matrix metering would be more accurate.
Centre weighted metering is a waste of time.
But that lens is 3 stops faster than the kit lens.
If you are shooting iso800 and f2.0 then with the kit lens at f5.6 you are looking at ISO 3200 which Is exactly what shifty reportd, ergo both Nikon camera seems to be metering identically for indoor light.
Other things to consider is at that in fully auto modes the camera will try to get a much faster shutter speed to prevent blur than one would aim for in a semi auto mode. E..g at 50mm they will try to get at least 1/150s while I would be happy at 1/80s and get sharp results, a full top slower.