What are the advantages of moving from the Canon 550D to Nikon D5100?

Question

What are the advantages of moving from a Canon 550D(Rebel T2i) to Nikon D5100 ?

I purchased a Canon 550D a month ago with a 18-55 kit lens, even before I could become a pro, I am getting an opportunity to replace it with a Nikon D5100 at no extra cost. Not to mention I wasn't very happy with the photographs output that I got but I wouldn't blame the camera as I haven't explored it in detail.

Please don't compare the Nikon vs Canon ideology, I am interested in comparing only these two models with the same kit lens.

Answer

• D5100 was released in 2011, the 550D in 2010
• D5100 will shoot 4 frames per second, the 55D 3.7 fps
• D5100 has a slightly larger sensor (23.6 × 15.6 mm vs 22.3 x 14.9 mm) and 16 MP vs 18 MP
• D5100 does not have an AF motor, so will not use the full range of Nikon lenses (will only AF with the newer AF-S lenses)
• D5100 has a reticulating LCD (flips out) which you might find useful, or not
• D5100 has 11 AF points vs. 9 for the 550D
• D5100 has in-camera HDR (a cool feature I didn't know existed, not sure how well it actually works!)
• I have read (inconclusive) suggestions that the D5100 has less noise at high ISO (you would need to look on dpreview and similar sites and compare test shots yourself, it's somewhat subjective)

I'm not sure any of these are really vitally important. The D5100 is a newer camera, so you should expect it to be incrementally better than the older 550D.

I would listen to the advice in the comments that you are buying into a system/brand, at least once you buy another lens, a flash etc. Makes it expensive to ditch that to switch back to the other brand. So you are locking yourself in somewhat, so beware of going one way or the other based on a few differences between these two cameras.

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