Nikon D3500 Review : A compact and likable DSLR for beginners

Nikon D3500 DSLR with two lens Kit

₹ 42900

4.25

Build Quality

4.1/5

For beginners

4.8/5

Battery life

4.6/5

Picture quality

4.5/5

Auto focus

3.8/5

Regulated movement

4.0/5

Features

4.0/5

Pros

• Value for money
• Beginner friendliness
• All-round image quality
• Responsive autofocus
• 5fps continuous shooting

Cons

• Fixed rear screen
• No 4K video
• Relatively slow live view AF

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Nikon D3500 Review : I was fond of photography since childhood, started with Negative Film Cameras at age around 8-9, then Mobile cameras especially Nokia 5233, Nokia N8, some android Smartphones, then bought a point and shoot camera, and now finally I bought a DSLR, “Nikon d3500” recently. Yeah! Very slow but steady progress.

As Our Website is growing and with some other project, a DSLR was needed and there are numerous reasons to go with d3500. I bought it after spending around 2-3 weeks on the internet, researching and comparing. And now when I own it and used it for 2-3 months, I am really excited to share my personal experience with Nikon d3500, and that’s what this article ” Nikon D3500 Review ” is all about.

Nikon D3500 Review

Nikon D3500 can be the perfect step, as a beginner, if you want to enter the world of creativity and photography. It is considered the best DSLR which fits in the budget of a beginner photographer or anybody who uses it casually. Well, it’s worth considering the mirror-less cameras too but the Nikon D3500 completes every aspect of a traditional DSLR. So, let’s give the Nikon D3500 some minutes and discuss why many of the experts recommend it as your first DSLR camera if you want to become a professional in photography and have a budget. Without any delay let’s start it…

Body, Built, and Quality

Let’s first talk about its design. So if we compare it to its predecessor, the Nikon D3400, then the body has been a bit smaller and lighter. Here are the exact changes in the dimensions: Nikon D3400: 124*98*75.5 mm; Nikon D3500: 124*97*69.5 mm. And the weight of the Nikon D3400 is 445 grams, including batteries, whereas the weight of the Nikon D3500 is 415 grams including batteries.

The built of Nikon D3500 camera is a pretty nice one. The bent which exists on one of its edges helps you to get a better grip while clicking pictures; it provides stability too to the camera which of course is necessary. It also helps you to support the camera properly when you would be shooting with larger and heavier lenses; of course, you are not going to stick to the basic lens of the camera, right?

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The top part of the camera looks like a refined model of its predecessor D3400 and it kind of comes in the line with Nikon D5600. The camera comes with an almost straight array of buttons and the mode dial is too present but this time it features a switch for Line View around its collar.

Some more changes on the back of the D3500 are the five buttons that sat to the left of the D3400’s display. Well, now the screen now sits almost on the edge of the body of the device, with all these controls re-distributed on the back of the Nikon D3500.

There is a special dedicated button for the flash which onto the left of the viewfinder, and an information button on the right of the viewfinder, with the remaining controls, arranged surrounding the multi-directional control pad.

The absence of the customizable Fn button, which was a handy feature on the D3400, is a bit annoying and particularly the absence of direct control for ISO can disappoint some of you. It means you have to go to the main menu to make a change in the sensitivity, although it’s nice to see the dedicated drive mode button hasn’t gone anywhere, a control which you’ll find useful with no doubt if you tend to call upon burst-shooting and self-timer options with any frequency.

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For the first-timers or the beginners, the number of exterior controls and buttons are just appropriate according to their basic needs – making the D3500 approachable without appearing too confusing to a beginner. Well you can observe some frustration in yourself when you would get to know that some of the important functions are too slow to access and have a long process too.

Nikon has also once again implemented its Guide mode feature on the D3500 which is pretty useful if you are a beginner. Designed to help novice users get to grips with their camera, it provides an alternative to the main menus and helps the user quickly capture specific types of images. There’s also the familiar ‘i’ button, which can be called upon to explain camera functions.

Autofocus

The autofocusing technology remains unchanged from that in the D3400 predecessor (and the D3300 for that matter).

It features the same 11-point Multi-CAM 1000 AF system that covers a satisfactory amount of the viewfinder in a diamond-like formation, with the system featuring a couple more AF points than Canon’s closest competitor, EOS Rebel T7 (known as the EOS 2000D outside the United States of America).

Loaded with the AF-P 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens, and provided your subject isn’t on the peripheral vision of the frame, the AF system will surely do a solid job of locking to stable and steady subjects or objects. Focusing is quite good and, in good light, nice and brisk, although it substantially slows down in poor lights, and it’s in these circumstances that we’d look to use the central AF point more, taking advantage of its enhanced cross-type sensitivity.

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What you’ll find out while using it is that the camera will focus on quicker than if you opt to use one of the outer 10 AF points, while there’s also an AF assist lamp to help out when light levels are really low, well you can turn it off if you want because it can get a bit distracting in some kind of surroundings and frames, it’s all up to you and what you think about the photo you want to click or willing to click.

With focusing points a little thin on the ground, it can really struggle to track moving subjects as it moves around the frame. It’s here where a few more AF points would be welcome, as the 11 points are spread out in a little too many intervals, resulting in the camera losing your subject if they’re not that prominent in the frame. This is also one of the main disadvantages of an entry-level DSLR compared to their mirror-less equivalents, which tend to have wider autofocus coverage (well they cost much more too!!!).

If you want to use the D3500’s rear display, you would need to switch over to Live View focusing, and this is where you’ll find mirrorless cameras have an edge over. While it’s possible to focus right to the edges of the frame, focusing speed does take a bit of a knock. As D3500 do lack the touch screen display, the focusing gets really hard as now you have to maneuver the screen by clicking the dial which is way slower than what you can do with just tapping on the screen on the spot of focus and just shooting or clicking the shutter button.

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Performance

With a burst shooting speed of just 5 frames per second, the Nikon D3500 is not for the people who want to shoot the real adventure in life and just want to make their friends feel jealous by clicking some of the best burst photos and capturing every moment. It’s better than the EOS Rebel T7 / 2000D’s sluggish 3fps, but some in competition mirror-less cameras like the Fujifilm x t20 can shoot quicker if that’s a priority. If you want to shoot some sports and speeding pets, then this could do the work roughly but still, the better are there in the market out there.

The D3500 performed well in the tests, delivering consistent exposures for most scenes, and even avoiding overexposing dark subjects in dark surroundings. Thanks to the dedicated exposure compensation button on the top plate, which works in full coordination with the rear command dial, if you do need to dial in compensation, it’s quick and easy to do so.

The viewfinder on the Nikon D3500 is nice, clear, and obviously pretty usable, delivering a pleasingly bright view with good color accuracy. It’s an LCD display, despite its modest resolution compared to those of pricier competitors, shows details clearly while you are reviewing images and reproduces the scene you’re shooting faithfully, meaning there are no sluggish surprises when you view images later on a larger display like that of a mobile phone or a TV.

What you have to do is just install the Nikon app ‘SnapBridge’ which will help you to transfer the pictures to your mobile phone or Laptop or wherever you want. The camera is also powered with Bluetooth 4.1, high-speed USB with a Micro-USB connector, and a Type C HDMI connector.

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One of the trump cards of the camera still is not disclosed. It’s the battery duration of the camera. While the D3400 had enough battery life of 1,200 shots, Nikon has managed to extend this to an impressive and staggering 1,550 shots – that’s much better than Canon DSLRs of a similar price and significantly better than the typical battery life of around 300 shots for entry-level mirror-less cameras.

Finally, The Image Quality

The second trump card of the camera is yet to be disclosed. The Nikon D3500 has an excellent 24.2MP sensor. With the absence of an optical low-pass filter in front of the sensor, it’s possible to capture images really rich in detail – in fact, results can match those from cameras well over double the price.

Dynamic Range performance is also pretty good–it’s possible to underexpose shots, well pretty substantially (around 3-3.5 EV stops) and still be able to regain detail in the shadows without image noise (which could degrade the image).

Nikon’s Picture Control options provide a modest range of color and contrast treatments, which in simple words is editing the picture. There are seven modes to choose from Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape, and Flat (suited to video), while all can be adjusted fairly comprehensively with regards to contrast, saturation, brightness, and so on.

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To keeping camera and lenses clean from day-to-day dirt and micro particle, I recently bought camera cleaning kit and started carrying it in the camera bag. And after using it for last two months I would like to advise you to purchase something similar as micro particle on the lenses lead to scratches sometime.

Nikon D3500 Review Conclusion:

Nikon D3500 is no doubt a perfect camera for beginners or unprofessional in the field of photography. But still, there are some spots where it lacks a bit of functionality and performance. A touch screen could have been a blessing but mind it you are paying for the best in this price range and when I say the best yeah I mean it. Well, if someone asks me which one is a better camera, Nikon D3500 or Canon EOS Rebel T7 (Rebel 2000D outside the USA) I would just say that use both of them and then ask yourselves. Believe me, it is as hard a question as that of an engineering exam question.

Now, after review and comparison, I would like to say that, in the last 2-3 months I used it in every possible light condition as you can see in my Instagram feed, and I am quite impressed with the camera and its performance. From capturing the moon to the tiniest insect in my garden, it never disappointed me, it is outstanding and I loved it. So if you are searching for a DSLR camera on a budget and a bit confused with all the available options Choose Nikon D3500.