Photography: D3300

24.20 Megapixels	Nikon F	APS-C size sensor

Basic Specifications
Full model name:	Nikon D3300
Resolution:	24.20 Megapixels
Sensor size:	APS-C (23.2mm x 15.4mm)
Kit Lens:	3.06x zoom 18-55mm (27-83mm eq.)
Viewfinder:	Optical / LCD
Native ISO:	100 - 12,800
Extended ISO:	100 - 25,600
Shutter:	1/4000 - 30 seconds
Max Aperture:	3.5 (kit lens)
Dimensions:	4.9 x 3.9 x 3.0 in. (124 x 98 x 76 mm)
Weight:	23.4 oz (662 g) includes batteries, kit lens
Availability:	02/2014
Manufacturer:	Nikon

D3300 SUMMARY

The Nikon D3300 is a solid camera, in more ways than one: solid build quality and solid image quality. While autofocus performance is a little below average, and the limited external controls and smaller size may be a turn off for some, the D3300 excels in most areas. If you're ready to make the jump to a DSLR camera, the Nikon D3300 provides a nice starting point with a great combination of image quality, ease of use and price.

PROS

Excellent image quality with lots of fine detail; Very good high ISO performance; Good dynamic range; Good print quality; Deep buffers with JPEGs; 1080/60p video; Uncompressed HDMI output.

CONS

AF struggles in low-light; Contrast-detect AF in live view is slow; Buffer depth is shallow with RAW files; No AE bracketing; No built-in Wi-Fi.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The Nikon D3300 went on sale in the US market from early February 2014, with a choice of three body colors -- black, red, or gray. Suggested retail pricing is set at around US$650, including the new collapsable 18-55mm kit lens. The optic itself is also sold separately for US$250.

IMAGING RESOURCE RATING

4.5 out of 5.0

Nikon D3300 Optics

Kit Lens Test Results

Zoom
A typical zoom range for a DSLR kit lens, with mixed performance.


18mm, f/8	38mm, f/8

55mm, f/8

The Nikon D3300 comes bundled with the new, retractable Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II kit lens. This 3.1x zoom lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length of about 27-83mm because of the D3300's 1.5x "crop factor."

Sharpness and contrast are excellent across most of the frame at full wide angle and f/8. There's minor coma distortion in the leaves at the corners and some flare is noticeable in white areas of the building, but chromatic aberration isn't an issue because it is suppressed by the D3300's image processor (see below). Performance at a medium focal length of 38mm (57mm eq.) isn't as good, with a drop in sharpness in the center, and noticeably soft corners and edges. Results at full telephoto are however quite good at f/8, with very good sharpness and contrast across most of the frame.

Macro
A slightly smaller-than-average macro area with the kit lens, with soft detail overall. Flash throttles down well.


Macro with 18-55mm II Kit Lens 55mm, f/8	Macro with Flash 55mm, f/8

The Nikon D3300 captured a slightly smaller-than-average macro area with the 18-55mm II kit lens, measuring 2.27 x 1.51 inches (58 x 39 millimeters). Detail is a touch soft in the center, and there is additional softening in the corners despite being stopped down to f/8. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances.) The Nikon D3300's flash throttled down well at minimum distance, resulting in a well exposed image with fairly even flash coverage.

Geometric Distortion
Higher-than-average barrel distortion at wide angle with the 18-55mm II kit lens.

Barrel distortion is ~1.3% at 18mm

Pincushion distortion is ~0.1% at 55mm

The Nikon D3300's 18-55mm II kit lens produced about 1.3 percent barrel distortion at wide angle, which is higher-than-average and quite noticeable in its images. At the telephoto end pincushion distortion is only 0.1 percent, hardly noticeable. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

Auto Distortion Control
Low geometric distortion when Auto Distortion Control is enabled.

Barrel distortion at 18mm is ~0.3%

Barrel; distortion at 55mm ~0.1%

The Nikon D3300 offers an Auto Distortion Control feature to reduce geometric distortion automatically with most modern Nikkor lenses. As you can see it worked quite well with the 18-55mm II lens, reducing barrel distortion at wide angle significantly to only about 0.3% and overcorrecting pincushion at telephoto to about 0.1% barrel distortion. Note that some of the image is cropped away in the process, especially at wide angle. Since this option is database driven, it's only available for Nikkor D, E and G-type lenses with certain optics such as Fisheye and Perspective Control lenses excepted. Auto Distortion Control is Off by default.

You can also apply Auto or Manual Distortion Control to JPEGs after the fact, in the Retouch menu. Manual mode works with images from any lens.

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Low C.A. in JPEGs, much higher in uncorrected RAW files at wide angle. Corners are soft at wide-angle when wide open, but improve dramatically stopped down.

Maximum Aperture

Wide, f/3.5: Upper right C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Soft	Wide, f/3.5: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Sharp

Tele, f/5.6: Lower left C.A.: Low Softness: Fairly sharp	Tele, f/5.6: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Sharp

Chromatic Aberration. Chromatic aberration is moderately low at the full wide-angle setting of the 18-55mm II VR kit lens, suppressed by the D3300's image processor. (See below for crops from uncorrected RAW files.) At full telephoto, chromatic aberration is even lower and hardly detectable. (This distortion is visible as a slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.)

Corner Sharpness. The Nikon D3300's 18-55mm II VR kit lens produced soft corners at full wide angle when wide-open at maximum aperture. The top-right corner was the softest, while the bottom-left was fairly sharp, indicating some decentering. Softness didn't extend very deep into the frame from the left, though it extended moderately deep from the right. The center was however quite sharp. At full telephoto, the bottom left corner showed some minor softness, but the other corners were sharp, as was the center. We did however notice the lens was quite soft across the frame at some medium focal lengths when wide-open, however it sharpened up nicely stopped down.

Vignetting. There's some moderate vignetting (corner shading) at the wide end, and some mild vignetting at the telephoto end of the zoom, as indicated by the darker corner crops.

f/8 Aperture

Wide, f/8: Upper right C.A.: Moderately low Softness: Very sharp	Wide, f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Very sharp

Tele, f/8: Lower left C.A.: Low Softness: Fairly sharp	Tele, f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Very sharp

F8. Stopped-down to an aperture of f/8, corner performance improved dramatically at wide angle (and most medium focal lengths) with excellent sharpness across the frame. At full telephoto, sharpness also improved across the frame, though the lower left corner was still not tack sharp. Vignetting was negligible. Overall, excellent results for a kit lens when stopped down.

Uncorrected RawHigher levels of C.A. at wide-angle from uncorrected RAW files.

In-camera JPEG	Uncorrected Raw

Wide: Upper left C.A.: Very low	Wide: Upper left C.A.: Moderately high

Tele: Upper left C.A.: Very low	Tele: Upper left C.A.: Low

As you can see from the crops above comparing camera JPEGs (on the left) to uncorrected RAW files (right), levels of lateral chromatic aberration are higher in uncorrected RAW files, particularly at wide angle. Thus, the D3300's JPEG processing does a good job at suppressing lateral chromatic aberration.

See our in-depth Nikon 18-55mm VR II review at SLRgear.com for more detailed test results.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
About average coverage accuracy from the optical viewfinder. Very good accuracy from the LCD in Live View mode.


60mm, Optical	60mm, Live View LCD

The Nikon D3300's optical viewfinder showed about 95 percent coverage with our reference Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. This is average for an entry-level digital SLR and meets Nikon's specification of 95% for the D3300, however the viewfinder image is shifted horizontally compared to the imaging sensor, which unfortunately is not that uncommon in consumer models. In Live View mode, the Nikon D3300's LCD showed just over 99% coverage, which is very good though we often see 100% coverage here.

Nikon D3300 Image Quality

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Slightly higher than average mean saturation with slightly below average hue accuracy.


ISO Sensitivity
100	200	400
800	1600	3200
6400	12800	25600
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links to compare ISOs, and click on them for larger images.

Saturation. The Nikon D3300 pumps dark blues quite a bit and most other colors by a small amount, but slightly undersaturates bright yellow, light green, and cyans. Mean saturation levels are a little higher than average, but remain fairly stable as ISO climbs except at the highest ISOs where saturation drops a bit. Mean saturation at base ISO is 113.4% or 13.4% oversaturated, a little higher than average, but as mentioned, much of that is because blues are pushed so much. Overall, we found the D3300's default saturation levels pleasing to the eye. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Nikon D3300's Caucasian skin tones looked just about right when using manual white balance in simulated daylight. A very good job here. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Nikon D3300 did shift cyan toward blue by quite a bit at base ISO, with smaller shifts in reds and orange. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) With an average "delta-C" color error of 6.42 after correction for saturation at base ISO, overall hue accuracy was a little lower than average (lower numbers are better), but still what we'd consider "good," and hue accuracy remained fairly stable across ISOs. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Saturation AdjustmentThe Nikon D3300 has a total of seven saturation levels available, three above and three below the default saturation, plus an Auto setting. This covers a pretty wide range of saturation levels, about as wide a range as you're likely to find photographically relevant, apart from special effects that are arguably better achieved in software. The fine steps between settings mean it's easy to program the camera to just the level of saturation you prefer. Saturation also doesn't impact contrast, which is very good.

Saturation Adjustment Examples

-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The table above shows results with several saturation settings, see the Thumbnails index page for more (look for the files named D3300OUTBSATx.JPG). Click on any thumbnail above to see the full-sized image.


See full set of test images with explanations See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lightingGood color with the Manual white balance setting, but overly-warm results with Auto and Incandescent. Above average positive exposure compensation required.


Auto White Balance +0.7 EV	Incandescent White Balance +0.7 EV

Manual White Balance +0.7 EV

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was very warm and reddish with the Auto white balance setting. (We'd say unacceptably so, though unfortunately this is common.) The Incandescent setting was also too warm, with a strong yellow cast. The Manual setting by far produced the most accurate results, if just a touch cool. The Nikon D3300 required an above average amount of positive exposure compensation here, at +0.7 EV (most cameras required +0.3 EV for this shot). Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylightGood results under harsh lighting, with very good handling of contrast, detail, and color.


Manual White Balance, +1.0 EV	Auto White Balance, Default

Outdoors, the Nikon D3300 performed well, requiring +1.0 EV exposure compensation for our "Sunlit" Portrait shot to keep the face reasonably bright. (The average for this shot is +0.7 EV, so the D3300 required a bit more than average.) We preferred skintones from the Manual white balance setting as they were a little pinker than Auto, but both were pretty good. Contrast is a little high as you might expect under such harsh lighting, but the camera did a very good job of holding onto detail in the highlights and shadows, however very deep shadows are a touch noisy and posterized. The Nikon D3300 produced vibrant colors and a good exposure without any exposure compensation in our Far-field scene (above right). Very few highlights were blown and shadow detail is quite good, though very deep shadows are polluted with color casts and noise. (We're talking very deep shadows here, so this won't be in issue for vast majority of properly exposed images.) Overall, very good performance for its class here.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, ~2,850 to ~2,950 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, a bit higher from ACR processed RAW files.


Strong detail to ~2,900 lines horizontal Camera JPEG	Strong detail to ~2,850 lines vertical Camera JPEG

Strong detail to ~2,950 lines horizontal ACR processed RAW	Strong detail to ~2,900 lines vertical ACR processed RAW

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,900 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,850 lines in the vertical direction. Some may argue for higher numbers, but aliasing artifacts start to interfere with detail at this resolution. Extinction of the pattern didn't occur until around 3,600 to 3,800 lines. We weren't able to do significantly better with NEF files processed through Adobe Camera Raw, only about 50 more lines in both directions. Color moire is more evident in the ACR converted RAW files, however it's not as high as we'd expect for a camera without an optical low-pass filter. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Sharp images with great detail. Minor edge-enhancement artifacts visible on high-contrast subjects. Moderate noise suppression visible at base ISO.


Very good definition of high-contrast elements, with only minor evidence of edge enhancement.	Subtle detail: Hair Noise suppression tends to blur detail in areas of subtle contrast, though detail remains strong in the darker parts of the model's hair here.

Sharpness. The Nikon D3300 produces images that are crisp and sharp when coupled with a sharp lens as used in the above left crop. Some minor edge enhancement artifacts are visible on high-contrast subjects such as the halos around the border and text, but default sharpening looks to be a very good compromise between crispness and sharpening artifacts. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some mild to moderate noise suppression, as the darker and lower-contrast areas of the model's hair show some smudging where individual strands of hair merge. Still, a very good performance here considering the resolution and target market. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

Aliasing. You can see hints of aliasing artifacts in a number of our test shots, such as the slight moiré pattern in the red-leaf swatch of our Still Life target, however the D3300 does a pretty good job at suppressing moiré for a camera that doesn't have an optical low-pass filter.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGsAs noted above, the Nikon D3300 does a great job at capturing lots of fine detail in its JPEGs, but more detail can often be obtained from carefully processing RAW files, while at the same time reducing sharpening artifacts. Let's have a look at base ISO:

Base ISO (100)



Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare an in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 8.7 (right) using default noise reduction with some strong but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (200%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

As is frequently the case, the demosaicing in Adobe Camera Raw and sharpening in Photoshop deliver finer detail than the camera, with fewer sharpening artifacts. Looking closely at the images, ACR extracts some detail that wasn't present in the camera JPEG, especially in the red-leaf swatch where the conversion was able to resolve some of the fine thread pattern, while the camera's JPEG engine tended to blur it away as if noise. The ACR conversion does however show more noise at default noise reduction settings than the camera at its default settings. All-in-all, though, the D3300 did a very good job at reducing noise while maintaining excellent detail in most areas of our target. Still, for maximum detail (and flexibility), using a good RAW converter does yield slightly better results than in-camera JPEGs, as is usually the case.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good high ISO performance for a 24-megaxpixel APS-C model.

Noise Reduction = On (Default)

ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400

ISO 800	ISO 1,600	ISO 3,200

ISO 6,400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600

Noise levels are fairly low at ISOs 100 through 400, though some detail is lost to noise reduction even at base ISO. ISO 800 shows a very fine noise "grain" but detail is quite good, and chroma noise well-controlled. At ISO 1,600 noise levels increase with a touch more blurring in the fine details and more visible grain, but detail is still pretty good and chroma noise remains low. This trend continues as ISO rises, with progressively stronger luminance noise that remains fairly fine-grained but blurs out fine detail, along with very low levels of chroma noise. Only at ISO 25,600 does chroma noise become a major issue with obvious purple and yellow blotchiness in darker areas.

Overall, very good noise performance for an APS-C model, especially considering the 24-megapixel resolution. See our Print Quality analysis section below for recommended print sizes at each ISO.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, usually using one of three very sharp reference lenses (70mm Sigma f/2.8 macro for most cameras, 60mm f/2.8 Nikkor macro for Nikon bodies without a drive motor, and Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds bodies). To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we're shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. We know this; if you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don't need to email and tell us. :-) The focus target position will have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range, and low light tests
Very good detail in both highlights and shadows, with good dynamic range. Good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness though autofocus can struggle in low light.


+0.3 EV	+0.7 EV	+1.0 EV

Sunlight:The Nikon D3300 handled the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above well. Though contrast is a little high, shadow and highlight detail are both very good. The +1.0 EV exposure did the best job here, producing a fairly bright face without blowing out too many highlights in the white areas. Despite the bright appearance, there are relatively few clipped highlights in the mannequins's shirt and the flowers. Some shadows were pretty dark, but remained fairly detailed if a little noisy. The camera's contrast adjustment also did a good job of decreasing overall contrast without also affecting color saturation. (See below.) Still, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast AdjustmentWe really like it when a camera gives us the ability to adjust contrast and saturation to our liking. It's even better when those adjustments cover a useful range, in steps small enough to allow for precise tweaks. Just as with its saturation adjustment, the Nikon D3300's contrast setting offers seven levels, plus an Auto setting.

Contrast Adjustment Examples

-3	-1	0	+1	+3

The series of shots above shows results with several different contrast adjustment settings, showing the minimum step size around the default, as well as both extremes. While you can see the extremes, it's hard to really evaluate contrast on small thumbnails like these, click on any thumbnail to go to the full-size image.

Nikon's contrast adjustment is that it has very little effect on saturation. Contrast and saturation are actually fairly closely coupled, it's a good trick to be able to vary one with out the other changing as well. As usual, Nikon did a very good job here.

Outdoor Portrait Active D-Lighting (+0.7 EV)


Off	On

Nikon's Active D-Lighting
The shots above show the results with Active D-Lighting Off and On. (Like other entry-level Nikon models, the D3300 only has these two settings, while Nikon's more advanced models let you choose from a range of strengths of the effect). This is different than the touch-up menu's D-Lighting, as it is performed during image capture instead of after. (It does affect only JPEG images though, Nikon very properly leaves raw file data strictly as it comes from the sensor.) Mouse-over the links to see the difference, and click on the links to load the corresponding full-resolution image.

As you can see from the images and histograms above, enabling Active D-Lighting resulted in a brighter more balanced image with boosted shadows and midtones, however highlights remained roughly the same and intact. The effect of Active D-Lighting will vary quite a bit with the subject and lighting: The camera decides what needs adjusting, and by how much, so the effect can be quite a bit greater or lesser depending on what the camera "sees".

Far-field Active D-Lighting Example

Off	On

Above is another example of Nikon's Active D-Lighting at work, this time with our Far-field shot in bright daylight. In this case, both highlights and shadows were boosted. Again, mouse-over the links to see the difference, and click on the links to load the full resolution images.

Face Detection

Off Aperture-priority 0 EV	Auto mode (Portrait) 0 EV	Live View with Face-priority AF 0 EV

Here, we can see the effect of the Nikon D3300's full Auto mode as well as face detection enabled in Live View mode. As you can see from the shots above, full Auto enabled the flash and selected Portrait Scene mode, producing a well-exposed subject and background. In Live View mode using Aperture-priority, Face-priority AF mode also improved the exposure versus Aperture-priority with the optical viewfinder, selecting a slower shutter speed of 1/40s versus 1/100s to brighten the image (since the other two exposure variables of aperture and ISO were fixed).

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we've switched to using DxO Labs' results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO's approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO's "Print" dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you've decided to make a 13x19 inch print, that's the size you're printing, whether the camera's resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the "Low Quality" threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we're comparing the Nikon D3300's dynamic range to the Canon T3i (600D) because our reviewer is so fond of that camera and Canon's current entry-level DSLR (Canon T5 or 1200D) is very similar, as well as to the entry-level Sony A3000. As you can see from the above graph (click for a larger image), the D3300's dynamic range is about the same as the Sony A3000 at ISO 100 (12.76 vs 12.82), but 1.3 stops higher than the T3i at its ISO 100 setting (12.76 vs 11.46). The D3300's dynamic range is a little higher than the A3000's at ISO 200 and 400, but roughly the same at higher ISOs. The Canon T3i's remains significantly lower up to ISO 400, after which it catches up and is roughly the same. In summary, good dynamic range performance from the Nikon D3300, though not quite as good as the best APS-C models. (The Nikon D5300 and D7100for instance manage about a full stop more dynamic range at base ISO.) Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Nikon D3300 for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 100	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	15 s f2.8	30 s f2.8	30 s f2.8
ISO 200	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	15 s f2.8	15 s f2.8
ISO 400	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	8 s f2.8
ISO 800	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	4 s f2.8
ISO 1600	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	2 s f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	1 s f2.8
ISO 6400	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8
ISO 12800	1/60 s f2.8	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8
ISO 25600	1/125 s f2.8	1/60 s f2.8	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8

Low Light. The Nikon D3300 performed well on the low-light test, capturing usable images at the lowest light level (1/16 foot-candle) with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). As you'd expect, noise increases as ISO goes up and light levels go down, but remains well-controlled and fine-grained to ISOs as high as 6,400. We didn't notice any significant issues with hot pixels, banding or heat blooming.

Color balance was good with the Auto white balance setting, just slightly cool, though there's the strong shift towards magenta at lower light levels we often see from Nikons.

The camera's phase-detection autofocus system was only able to focus on our test subject down to just below the 1/4 foot-candle light level unassisted with an f/2.8 lens. That's not as good as most DSLRs and a bit of a disappointment. The Nikon D3300 was however able to autofocus in complete darkness with the AF assist enabled. In Live View mode, the camera's contrast-detect autofocus actually did a bit better as it was able to focus down to just below 1/8 foot-candle which is pretty good and very useful, since AF assist is not supported in Live View mode.

Keep in mind that the longer shutter speeds here demand the use of a tripod to prevent any blurring from camera movement. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Digital SLRs like the Nikon D3300 do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Very good 30 x 40 inch prints at ISO 100; a nice 13 x 19 at ISO 1600; a good 5 x 7 at ISO 12,800.

ISO 100 prints are very nice at 30 x 40 inches and even higher, with fantastic color reproduction and excellent detail for such large prints.

ISO 200 prints are great at 24 x 36 inches, also with fantastic color and detail.

ISO 400 images look very good at 20 x 30 inches with lots of fine detail. ISO 400 images also allow for 30 x 40 inch wall-mounted prints. At 24 x 36 inches, prints look very similar to ISO 200 but with only a minor trace of noise in the shadow areas (but you have look very closely).

ISO 800 prints are good at a very large 16 x 20 inches, and the D3300 does a good job of controlling noise levels for such a large print at this ISO. Like we saw with the D5300, low contrast detail is still very good in our challenging red swatch, something Nikon DSLRs tend to shine at.

ISO 1600 images produce a great 13 x 19 inch print. Even at this ISO, there's still only minor noise visible in the shadows areas with the rest of the print looking crisp and vibrant.

ISO 3200 prints look good up to 11 x 14 inches, and, as expected, show a little more noise in the shadows. Some edge detail is beginning to show a little softness, as well, but overall still impressive print quality at this size.

ISO 6400 images are starting to show slightly bland-looking colors, and noise is becoming more noticeable for an acceptable 8 x 10 inch print.

ISO 12,800 prints look similar to ISO 6400 ones but are just slightly softer and noisier, and 5 x 7 inch prints are the largest we can call acceptable.

ISO 25,600 does not yield a good print and is best avoided except for less critical applications.

The Nikon D3300 is a very impressive performer when it comes to print quality -- super-high resolution prints that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with higher-end, even professional-level cameras. And all this from a base, entry-level camera! The D3300 follows along with the D5300, producing exceptionally large prints for its price range and doing a great job with fine detail and color thanks to its AA-filterless 24-megapixel sensor and adept processing. At ISO 100, prints up to 30 x 40 inches and even larger look excellent. The D3300 does a great job of controlling noise, and when it does appear it tends to look more like film grain than many other cameras' default processing which can often look more like splotches than grain in flatter areas -- a quality we're seeing more and more in Nikon's DSLRs. At ISO 800, prints are still great looking at 16 x 20 inches, and even ISO 6400 images can go as large as an 8 x 10. Excellent job again, Nikon, for a super affordable DSLR that prints this nicely straight out of the camera.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute forprinting a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro9000 Mark II studio printer, and on the Canon Pixma MP610 here in the office. (See the Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II review for details on that model.)

Nikon D3300 Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Weak flash with narrow coverage. Our standard portrait shots required an average amount of compensation.


18mm	55mm

Normal Flash +0.7 EV	Slow-Sync Flash Default

Coverage and Exposure. Flash coverage was very uneven at wide angle (18mm), with very dark corners. Coverage at telephoto (55mm) was much better, but still somewhat uneven. (Some of the corner shading is due to the lens itself, though.) For our Indoor Portrait scene test, the Nikon D3300's flash required +0.7 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get reasonably bright results in normal Auto flash mode with a 1/60 second shutter speed, which is about average for the DSLRs we've tested. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode at 1/20 second produced bright results without any compensation, though with a stronger pinkish-orange cast from the room lighting.

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200	1/60 sec f3.5 ISO 200

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200	1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 200

ISO 200 Range. With the kit lens at wide angle, the Nikon D3300's flash exposures started out dim at 6 feet, and brightness decreased from there. At the telephoto end, flash intensity started out dim at 6 feet but got a little brighter at 7 feet, but then brightness fell from there. Very poor and inconsistent flash performance for a DSLR.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
11.1 feet ISO 100	7.0 feet ISO 100

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Nikon D3300's built-in flash has a guide number of 12 meters at ISO 100. That works out to about 11.1 feet at f/3.5, and 7 feet at f/5.6, the maximum apertures of the kit lens at wide angle and telephoto respectively. In the shots above, the D3300 appears to underperform relative to Nikon's specification, producing dim exposures at the rated distances. At wide angle, the target was underexposed by almost a full f-stop, but that could be do to metering being fooled by the white ceiling, door and wall. At full telephoto, the target was only slightly underexposed, by about 1/4 f-stop. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

Nikon D3300 Performance

Timing and Performance

Good overall performance for an entry-level model.

Startup/Play to Record/Buffer Clearing
Power on to first shot	~0.4 second	Time it takes for camera to turn on and take a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.3 second	Time until first shot is captured.
Buffer clearing time	2 seconds * after 50 L/F JPEGs	Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't shut down until the buffer is cleared.
	9 seconds * after 7 RAW frames
	9 seconds * after 5 RAW + L/F JPEG frames
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times.

The Nikon D3300's startup time was good for a consumer DSLR, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was also fast. Buffer clearing times were good with a fast card, especially considering the 24-megapixel files, though buffer depths with RAW files were shallow.

Shutter Response (Lag Time), Optical Viewfinder
Full Autofocus Single Area AF (Center AF point)	0.262 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. (All AF timing measured with Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm II kit lens).
Full Autofocus Single Area AF, Flash enabled	0.287 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, Auto Flash enabled.
Full Autofocus Auto Area AF	0.344 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.
Manual focus	0.268 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "pre-focused."
Pre-focused	0.081 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Shutter Response (Lag Time), Live View mode
Full Autofocus Live View Single-servo AF	1.847 seconds	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.
Pre-focused Live View	0.472 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Nikon D3300's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was a touch slower than average for a consumer DSLR, but not bad for entry-level model. The D3300 required about 0.26 second for full AF using the center focus point. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag only slightly to 0.29 second, reflecting the added delay caused by the metering preflash. Shutter lag increased to about 0.34 second in Auto-area AF mode. Manual focus shutter lag was oddly a little slower than full autofocus (center) at about 0.27 second, and that's somewhat sluggish for a DSLR. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 0.081 second which is about average for a consumer DSLR.

As expected, autofocus and shutter lag were much slower in Live View mode. The Nikon D3300 only offers contrast-detect AF in Live View, which took about 1.8 seconds to focus in our tests, which is a bit slow even for Live View. (How fast the lens can adjust focus makes a big difference here.) Prefocused shutter lag was also slower but still reasonable in Live View mode, at about 0.47 second.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot-to-shot)
Single Shot mode Large Fine JPEG	0.57 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.
Single Shot mode 12-bit RAW	0.60 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.
Single Shot mode 12-bit RAW + L/F JPEG	0.66 second	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 4 seconds to clear.
Early shutter penalty?	No (Yes with Flash)	Some cameras refuse to snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous modeLarge Fine JPEG	0.20 second (4.95 frames per second); 50+ frames total; 2 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 50 shots with no signs of slowing down.
Continuous mode 12-bit RAW	0.20 second (4.96 frames per second); 7 frames total; 9 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 7 frame buffer. Slows to an average of 0.29 second or 3.5 fps when buffer is full.
Continuous mode 12-bit RAW + L/FJPEG	0.20 second (4.94 frames per second); 5 frames total; 9 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 5 frame buffer. Slows to an average of 0.66 second or 1.52 fps when buffer is full.
Flash recycling	3.2 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and other settings such as Advanced D-Lighting or NR can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were about average for a consumer DSLR, at 0.57 second for Large/Fine JPEGs, 0.60 second for RAW files, and 0.66 second for RAW + L/F JPEG frames.

Continuous mode speed when shooting best quality JPEGs or RAW files (only 12-bit compressed NEF files are supported) was slightly above average considering the class and resolution, at almost 5 frames per second.

Buffer depth in continuous mode was excellent with JPEGs at over 50 L/F JPEG frames with no signs of slowing (Nikon says up to 100 frames), though with RAW files buffer depths were quite shallow at only 7 RAW frames or 5 RAW+L/F JPEG frames, which is typical for an entry-level DSLR.

The built-in flash took 3.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is fair.

Download speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	10,519 KBytes/sec	Typical Values:Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer via USB 2.0, download speeds were reasonably fast.

Bottom line, the Nikon D3300's performance was generally good for its class in our tests. Startup was good, as were single shot cycle-times, as well as JPEG and RAW continuous mode performance. Autofocus speeds however were slightly slower than average and buffer depths with RAW files were shallow, but that's not unusual for its class.

Battery

Battery Life
Very good battery life for a compact DSLR.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Optical Viewfinder, (CIPA standard)	700

The Nikon D3300 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger. Battery life when using the optical viewfinder is above average for a consumer DSLR, though Nikon does not specify battery life for Live View mode, which will certainly be a lot lower. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings, or when using Live View a lot.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Nikon D3300 Image Quality Comparison

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing the Nikon D3300 with the Canon T5, Fujifilm X-A1, Nikon D3200, Pentax K-500 and Sony A5000.

NOTE: These images are best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested, you can access the full set of RAW images we shot via the Nikon D3300's Thumbnails page -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world renowned Comparometer to compare the Nikon D3300 to any camera we've ever tested.

Nikon D3300 versus Nikon D3200 at Base ISO




Nikon D3300 at ISO 100	Nikon D3200 at ISO 100
While both these cameras house the same 24MP resolution, the D3300 does away with the optical low-pass filter for improved sharpness, and it shows noticeably in this comparison, though default sharpening and contrast seem to be higher as well. Particularly in the mosaic and pink fabric crops, the D3300 displays quite a bit more fine detail and crispness. The D3200 is certainly not bad, but the D3300 takes the cake here.

Nikon D3300 versus Canon T5 at Base ISO




Nikon D3300 at ISO 100	Canon T5 at ISO 100
Both cameras here do well with clean, crisp fine detail, but the higher-res D3300 wins out with its AA-filterless sensor. The D3300 produces sharper and crisper images, as well as handling the often-troublesome fabric swatches better than the T5, though the T5 itself is certainly no slouch here.

Nikon D3300 versus Fujifilm X-A1 at Base ISO




Nikon D3300 at ISO 100	Fujifilm X-A1 at ISO 200
Despite the considerable difference in resolution (24 vs 16MP), both cameras here show an impressive amount of fine detail. The D3300 takes the prize in the bottle comparison with crisper detail, and it also handles the fabric swatches better. The mosaic crop is a hard comparison, as both do very well, but the difference in resolution makes it a hard call one way or the other, though the D3300's resolution advantage remains evident.

Nikon D3300 versus Pentax K-500 at Base ISO




Nikon D3300 at ISO 100	Pentax K-500 at ISO 100
Again, another stark difference in resolution (24 vs 16MP), but both cameras do great with the bottle crops, and while the D3300 shows more contrast, both also do very well with the red fabric. The D3300, however, does better with the pink both for accurate color and fine detail in the thread pattern.

Nikon D3300 versus Sony A5000 at Base ISO




Nikon D3300 at ISO 100	Sony A5000 at ISO 100
It's a very close call here with this comparison, as both cameras are very evenly matched in terms of fine detail and color. There's a slight difference in resolution (24 vs 20MP), but both produce sharp, crisp images. The fabric crop comparisons are the most telling, with the D3300 having a slight edge over the A5000 in the red fabric.

Most digital SLRs and CSCs will produce an excellent shot at base ISO, so we like to push them and see what they can do compared to other cameras at ISO 1600, 3200, and 6400. Recent advances in sensor technology have made ISO 1600 look a lot more like ISO 100, but there are still cameras whose quality starts to fall apart at this setting. We also choose 1600 because we like to be able to shoot at least at this level when indoors and at night.

Nikon D3300 versus Nikon D3200 at ISO 1600




Nikon D3300 at ISO 1600	Nikon D3200 at ISO 1600
It's a pretty interesting comparison here at ISO 1600. The D3300 does better with high ISO noise reduction as well as fine detail compared to the D3200. The older model shows more luminance noise as well as some chroma noise, which isn't as visible in the D3300 images. However, the D3200 produces a better resemblance of the red leaf pattern than the newer model, while the D3300 still does better with the pink fabric swatch.