The D5500 at a glance

Shutter release

The shutter release button is entirely conventional, and unlike on most of Nikon’s enthusiast-level SLRs, there is no sub-command dial in front of it.

Drive mode button

The drive mode button is unconventionally placed near the bottom of the front panel, and the usual AF selection button is missing.

Shooting mode dial

As on the D7200 and D750, the shooting mode dial avoids clutter by grouping banks of Scene and Effects modes together.

Skinny build

The monocoque (one-piece) shell is remarkably slim-line and enables a deeply sculpted finger grip.

Viewfinder

Unlike all other cameras in the group, the D5500 features a pentamirror rather than pentaprism viewfinder, without 100 per cent frame coverage, but at least it gives a reasonably bright view.

Touch-sensitive rear LCD

The D5500 is the first Nikon SLR to feature a touchsensitive screen, and it’s also the only one in the group with full vari-angle articulation.

Flash and Fn

Towards the top of the front panel are a pop-up flash activation/ flash mode button, and a customisable function button.

Live View latch

The D5500 is the only camera in the group to feature a Live View lever on the top panel of the camera.

i button

The interactive touchscreen makes short work of altering shooting settings, which are accessed via the i button.