Nikon D5500 vs D5300
Nikon used CES 2015 in Las Vegas to launch its new advanced beginners D-SLR, as predicted in our Camera Rumors 2015 story and TechRadar has now been able to try out the D5500 in the flesh.
It takes a fairly careful look at the specification list of the D5500 to find the differences between the D5500 and its predecessor, the Nikon D5300. Both cameras, for instance, have an APS-C or DX format sensor with 24.2 million effective pixels, an Expeed 4 processing engine, a 3.2-inch 1,037,000-dot LCD screen on a vari-angle bracket and Wi-Fi connectivity built-in.
In fact the D5500 has the same sensor as the D5300. This has no optical low pass filter, which means that it can resolve a bit more sharp detail than a regular 24Mp sensor with a filter, but it may be more prone to suffering from moire interference when shooting some very fine repeating patterns – although this hasn’t been a major issue for the D5300.
The most significant difference between the two cameras is that the screen on the D5500 is touch-sensitive, enabling a range of adjustments, including AF point selection, to be made with a touch of the screen. As the screen is a vari-angle unit, that encourages shooting a from a range of angles, which may make pressing the shutter release tricky, so it’s especially helpful that the shutter can be tripped via the screen.
At ISO 100-25,600 Nikon has also kept the overall sensitivity range the same on the D5500 as it is on the D5300, however the top setting is now part of the native range rather than expansion settings. The native sensitivity range of the D5300 is ISO 100-12,800. Could this mean that Nikon has managed to improve image quality at the higher values?
Interestingly, while the D5300 has a GPS unit built-in, the D5500 does not. However, it should be possible to add GPS data via a smartphone connected to the new camera’s Wi-Fi system. Alternatively there’s Nikon’s GPS Unit GP-1A which is available as an optional extra.
Like the Nikon D810 and Nikon D750, the D5500 has Nikon’s new ‘Flat’ Picture Control mode in addition to the usual Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait and Landscape to tailor the look of JPEG stills and video footage. It’s also possible to adjust the ‘Clarity’, or micro contrast settings for each of these modes, along with Saturation, Contrast and Sharpness. The Flat option is aimed specifically at video recording as it’s often desirable to produce flat footage with a wide dynamic range for post-capture adjustment.
On the subject of video recording, the D5500 has the same specification as the D5300 and Full HD (1080) recording is possible at 50/60p. The touchscreen can be used to move AF point and shift focus during shooting.
Like the D5300, the D5500 has the Multi-CAM 4800DX autofocus module with 39 TTL phase detection focus points, 9 of which are cross-type. It’s also possible to shoot continuously at a maximum rate of 5fps (frames per second), but we have yet to discover what the burst depth is.
Although the D5500 uses the same EN-EL14a battery as the D5300, Nikon claims the battery life has been increased from 600 shots to 820.
First impressions
Build and handling
Like the D5300, the D5500 has a monocoque construction, which means its shell is made from a single piece of material. However, at 124x97x70mm and 420g (body only) the new camera is lighter and slimmer than the D5300 which measures 125x98x76mm and weighs 480g (body only).
The difference in the thickness of the two cameras is particularly noticeable when they are seen from below and the D5500 is considerably thinner between the lens mount and grip. This thinning has meant the internal layout of the camera has had to be redesigned, but it has enabled Nikon to make the D5500’s grip deeper while still reducing the overall depth of the camera. As a result the D5500 feels more secure in your hand and is very comfortable to hold.
The D5500’s touchscreen is a capacitive device, and is very responsive. It can be used for navigating the menu, making settings adjustments and setting the AF point. It’s even possible to set one of seven features (AF point, sensitivity, Active D-Lighting, HDR, bracketing, AF-area made, viewfinder grid and aperture) for adjustment via the screen when the camera is held to the eye. The AF-point selection option seems the most logical one to me and once this is set via the menu, the active point can be set just by moving a finger across the screen.
I’ll need to experiment more with a full-production sample when we get one in for testing, but I expect that it will be advisable to make on-screen adjustments with the screen flipped out to the side of the camera when looking through the viewfinder in order to avoid making changes with your nose.
Pressing the ‘i’ button or tapping that option on screen reveals a collection of key features for adjustment including image quality, image size, bracketing, HDR, Active D-Lighting, sensitivity, white balance, Picture Control Mode, metering mode, exposure compensation, flash exposure compensation and flash mode. Just tapping any one of these reveals the options available, which in turn can be adjusted via the touch-screen or the navigation control.
One visible difference between the D5500 and the D5300 is the change in the control dial at the top of the camera. On the D5500 this is now on the top-plate and the whole dial is visible, making it easier to access and use, rather than just a small section protruding from the back of the camera.
Performance
As the D5500 has the same sensor, processing engine, metering, white balance and autofocus systems as the D5300 we can reasonably expect the quality of the images that it produces to be the same. However, the fact that Nikon has included the D5300’s sensitivity expansion settings within the D5500’s native range suggests that noise control may be a little better – perhaps as much as 1 EV better.
In the past we have found that the D5300 produces high quality images with lots of detail and pleasantly vibrant colours. Some luminance noise is visible when images captured at ISO 400 and above are viewed at 100%, but it isn’t a major problem for most of the D5300’s sensitivity range. In fact we found that even at the highest expansion value (ISO 25,600), images look respectable, but the saturation reduction and some softening of details mean that it’s best kept for emergencies. We will investigate whether the D5500 can better this when we perform a full test in the near future.
Early verdict
There may be some who are disappointed that the D5500 doesn’t make any huge leaps in pixel count, but 24 million pixels is more than enough for most uses. The files (usually) have plenty of detail, noise can be controlled well and the memory card or computer hard drive isn’t filled up too quickly.
Digital SLR development seems to have plateaued and most of the advances we are seeing are in the compact system camera arena where the battle is to get AF performance up to (or beyond) that of SLRs’ and create electronic viewfinders that can match and beat optical finders.
While it’s extremely unlikely that any Nikon D5300 users will want to upgrade to the D5500, the enhancements made with it keep it relevant in the current marketplace. It’s a solid and versatile camera that looks to be a good option for relative novices who want to get more creative with their photography.
There may be a few who lament the loss of GPS technology, but I suspect that there will be more potential users who are pleased by the addition of touch-sensitivity for the screen.
I’d like to see Nikon improve the range of control made possible via its Wireless Mobile Utility app when a camera is connected via the built-in Wi-Fi system to make it more useful to photographers who want to control the camera remotely. It could even make it possible to geotag images via the connected smart device.
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