Now for the details.
Appearance, processing and use
The generously, elongated cardboard can be found next to the D3200 itself and the kit lens nor the usual accessories (strap, rechargeable battery, charger, cable), warranty cards, a CD with our own image processing software ViewNX2, a lightweight printed manual (German) and a DVD with a detailed manual (several languages).
Camera and lens have plastic housing, but act otherwise solid and are expected to be very well made. The camera body has a slightly rough surface, and at the most important holding areas there are slip-resistant rubber pads, so that can be handled comfortably and safely with the unit.
While the SD card slot is located behind a solid, tired snap flap (at least as important) the battery cover acts mechanically less robust and a little rickety - a arg small plastic hook keeps the lid closed. Well done, I find it the rubber cover for the electronic connections.
The display has a non-moving for the evaluation of recordings sufficient brightness and resolution, but provides only moderate contrast. The anti-reflective coating is a bit too weak.
All controls operate solid, are useful places, easily accessible and work perfectly. The camera responds very quickly to inputs, and can also navigate through the menus liquid.
The user interface presents straightforward, clear and with a little photo-experience even without special knowledge Nikon largely self-explanatory. (Only Nikon-art concept: "Active D-Lighting" - automatic digital illumination correction.)
Image quality and function
The image quality of photos from the D3200 is excellent on the whole as expected. Contrast behavior and color reproduction are impeccable.
Of course, the high resolution of 24 megapixels you bought with an increased image noise. Even at ISO 100, it is recognized in the details, but it remains problematic to ISO 800 even when significantly enlarged. Since there are hardly any strong outliers (clearly falsified pixels), it is similar in overall impression rather graininess analog footage. From ISO 3200 the noise starts but to destroy details and also to impair the overall impression in fullscreen. Depending on personal nitpicking so you will want to go normally only up to ISO 800 or 1600.
The D3200 exposed safely and relatively uniform, tends in my experience most likely to slight underexposure.
The white balance has occasionally, in which heavily dominated difficulties with motives color. So the lush green bush rose hedge looks in my garden on full-scale test photos of gray. I take a little more environment with which colors do again. Mostly the relationship of colors, however, is balanced, and even skin tones are reproduced well generally.
The shutter lag is not very long, but noticeable, at least for a DSLR not outstanding. My kids have always been half a gesture on until the camera had captured it. In Live View mode, it is very uncomfortable, here goes an eternity until triggering - snapshots are virtually impossible.
In the series D3200 shoots at recording in RAW + JPEG about 10 images in 3 seconds before the internal buffer memory is full and then (from the memory card dependent) goes much slower. When shooting in JPEG (max. Quality) about 40 images in 10 seconds in the box.
The kit lens AF-S DX 18-55 VR is lightweight and compact. It focuses quickly, relatively purposeful and almost silently. The imaging performance is mediocre. Especially the wide angle there is a marked CA and edge blurring. The distortion is highly visible in wide angle, but still acceptable (barrel-shaped) at the telephoto end rather low (pincushion). For the JPEG output can be expected out the distortion of the camera. The image stabilization makes inconspicuous but decent work and helps to balance the moderate aperture of the lens.
RAWs from the D3200 (NEF) occupy depending on the image content and in particular noise about 18-25 MB, JPEGs in the highest quality about 5-14 MB (an average of about 8 MB). Nikon NEF format apparently recently changed so that RAWs can be read from the D3200 only by the latest software. The plugin CameraRAW has meanwhile appeared in the compatible version 7.1 of Photoshop CS. Users of Photoshop Elements (incl. The latest version 10) have to switch to Nikon's in-house ViewNX2 to convert currently. (By the way, swells the file size of NEFs when saving changes made ViewNX2 dramatically, to 30-40 MB.)
For users who want to carry out any RAW processing on the computer, the built-in conversion feature can be useful.
The battery type of D3200 (EN-EL14) matches that of the predecessor D3100 and is also found in the D5200, D5100 and the P7000er series. It contains a chip that is read by the camera and is designed to prevent these works with batteries from other manufacturers. I think that's unnecessary and annoying. After all, there are now still compatible external batteries, but due to the technical complexity are not quite as low as in other camera types.
The supplied battery charger is a bit bulky, where you put a Euro plug attachment directly to the housing. Unfortunately, these snaps firmly and is difficult to be removed again (eg when traveling).
On the other hand very positive is the fast data transfer via USB to the computer, in my case of a SanDisk Class 10 SD card with about 30 MB per second.
Video mode
Videos from the D3200 offer a decent color reproduction, but also act restless especially at 1080p resolution relatively coarse and with 25 Hz frame rate. I personally liked the 720p videos in 50 Hz bit better.
The built-in microphone is rather seen as a temporary solution and provides barely acceptable sound quality with significant background noise. Although on two tracks, is thus received only in mono. For require- ments is thus an external microphone required.
While changes in the focal length are noiseless possible autofocus produces clearly audible scraping noise. Whenever possible, you should turn it off when shooting with the internal microphone.
Overall, the video feature of the D3200 is in my opinion a nice little bonus, but less suitable for discerning tastes. (. Specifications Video: max 1080p AVC with 25 fps or 720p AVC with 50 fps in each case about 20-22 Mbps data rate; Audio: Stereo PCM with 48 KHz, 1536 Kbps)
Conclusion
The Nikon D3200 is undoubtedly a very good entry-level DSLR. Who can do without a folding screen, makes her even with high demands on image quality no mistake. Encouraging I find that highly bred resolution does not mean too much compromise on the noise performance.
Given the current price structure, the D3200 must but compete against higher models of the previous generation, which it is only slightly in the resolution ahead. Depending on the demands of the other properties is currently the D5100 from the same manufacturer or, if it must be a Nikon does not necessarily, in particular the EOS 600D from Canon a better choice.
For taking the camera can deliver up to a few minor shortcomings from a thoroughly successful presentation. Therefore, I give four stars ****.
