The most compelling feature of the DSLR design is its optical viewfinder, which lets you see the world directly through the camera's lens. We spent time with the D3500 around Brooklyn with the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens and an additional 35mm f/1.8G DX Nikkor lens. What’s new? A helpful Guide Mode is available to aid in becoming acquainted with the D3500 through a series of step-by-step tutorials. ISO performance is very good. The range from ISO 100-800 produced test images that were more or less indistinguishable from each other, and noise at ISO 1600 was pretty nicely controlled – certainly well enough to expect good quality prints. Beyond ISO 1600 things inevitably got muddier, with ISO 6400 probably being the usable maximum. ISOs 12,800 and 25,600 are effectively party-pieces – for emergency only. It was while we were shooting our test ISO images, incidentally, that we re-discovered one of Nikon’s more annoying bugbears: set the self-timer, shoot an image, and the camera resets to burst mode after the image is taken.

It’s a shame, because video quality is excellent, and we like the range of frame-rate options, but without an easy way to manage exposures or incoming audio, the D3500’s appeal will always be limited despite its excellent image quality. Nikon D3500 review: Verdict The camera's 'Guide' mode tries to help teach you the camera's functions and how to get the most out of it. Scene Modes: Auto, Auto (Flash Off), Child, Close-up, Landscape, Night Portrait, Portrait, and Sports.Overall the D3500 is an affordable camera that is simple enough to not be intimidating, but features enough tech that a young photographer could grow into it. The D3500 probably won’t be a 'forever' camera, but it’s a solid place to start.

The D3500's live view autofocus is much faster and more responsive than we'd expect from a simple contrast-based AF system. The biggest changes here are the inclusion of the Guide Mode menu, making it easy for entry level photographers to capture a variety of scenes. In ‘easy operation’ mode shooters can select options like ‘moving subjects’ and the camera will automatically adjust to this mode. ‘Advanced operation’ lets shooters refine settings like shutter speed, aperture and ISO. What stands out about the camera? those folks claiming the D3500 is "crap" are more than the freak of the week, this is really jerko BS talk. One who can't make decent pictures with the D3500, can't make any good compositions with any camera, period. One final area the D3500 elevates itself above its competition is its burst mode – 5fps is very respectable. It might not be enough to cover a professional sporting event, but for portraits and events it’s pretty good. The buffer is limited: in JPEG mode we found the burst mode was good for 15 images, followed by a fairly lengthy digestion process. In RAW mode we could only shoot eight frames continuously before the camera paused to process. Nikon D3500 review: Video quality

Seriously, like always since Fall 2018, when the D3500 came out: no DSLM does have its Battery Runtime (CIPA 1550 shots - into real life, way much more). Modes: Auto, Incandescent, Fluorescent (7 Types), Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade, Preset Manual, All Except Preset Manual with Fine-tuning

Some love telephoto, some love 'normal' some like wide, few of us take a lot of all kinds. Now is the time to go one step further: Fast sharp lenses cost a lot, but one a prime covering your most used focal length does not cost that much.There’s plenty of competition at this price. Canon’s EOS 2000D is worth a look, albeit at the cost of about 100g more weight. Canon’s offering also can’t hold a candle to the D3500 in terms of battery life, offering just 500 shots; you’ll get a thousand more from the Nikon. Nikon D3500 review: Features and design

I disagree. Most mirrorless cameras in the same price range offer features that are far better for beginners, like:The camera’s image quality is beautiful on the low end of the ISO range and just fine up to about ISO 6400. On the higher end of the range things start to deteriorate. We didn’t love the amount of noise that we were seeing on files shot at ISO 12800. I shoot wide and long focal lengths mostly, so I got myself primes in the wide end and in the long end. Eventually, I bought a couple in the 'normal' range, but that took some years. Nikon does not use on-sensor phase-detection autofocus in its DSLRs, relying on slower contrast-based autofocus instead. Or at least it should be slow. But somewhere along the line Nikon has found a way to make the D3500’s live view AF feel almost as responsive as a mirrorless camera’s, and we think it’s down to the AF-P autofocus technology in its kit lens. Son of Waldo - First, point taken, the kit lens does serve a purpose, and it is capable of out resolving a smartphone. Second, please calm down; I'd hate to think sharing my opinion about entry-level DSLRs necessitated a change in someone else's blood pressure meds.