Nikon D5300 9 years later

All of my photos for the past two years have been taken with the Nikon D5300. For the price of US$300, I’d say it’s still on the top of its game, considering it was released in 2013.

Yes, there are “better” and more expensive cameras, but I’m trying to refrain from upgrading too quickly in order to remind myself that it’s not about the gear, it’s about my own creative abilities.

Just to clarify, I’m not biased towards Nikon or Canon. Nikon was coincidently the first camera I bought and since then I’ve acquired a few lenses for it, and because of that, I haven’t moved over to Canon.

But in the meantime, I’m planning to stick with the Nikon D5300 for a while.

I’m always buying and selling new lenses to find out what works for me. I prefer to be as versatile as possible. I don’t want to keep switching lenses every five minutes. Hence why my main shooter at the moment is the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED. Although, my favourite lens is the Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G because it is a very high-quality lens and I enjoy the shallow depth of field. Before I go out shooting, I usually commit to one of these lenses.

To make your shooting experience even more enjoyable, I’d recommend investing in a fast memory card. This way your photos are processed faster in-camera. This means you can quickly take a shot, look at it, reevaluate, then take another shot. It might be half a second faster, but those split seconds make a huge difference long term. The Nikon D5300 can shoot at 5fps, but when combined with a fast memory card, the buffer gets cleaned almost immediately so you can continuously shoot with ease.

What I love about this camera is the resolution. It has the ability to capture incredibly sharp photos, especially when combined with a high-quality lens. Although it’s still good enough with a standard 18-55mm kit lens.

It has a fully articulating screen, which is incredibly convenient when shooting low objects such as flowers, or if you just want to shoot from a low angle.

This camera has incredible potential and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make an upgrade. If you’re looking to get into photography, I’d recommend beginning with a Nikon D3100. It’s affordable and has enough features for you to learn from but not too much to confuse you.