Nikon D3500

A GREAT ENTRY INTO THE WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

LIKE THE D3400 before it, the Nikon D3500 is by no means a perfect camera – but for the novice photographer it ticks an awful lot of boxes.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first: it’s a shame there’s no 4K video capture or touchscreen functionality, while it also feels like some cost-cutting has been undertaken, with some external controls that were present on the D3400 dropped.

Those concerns aside, for the beginner DSLR user the D3500 does a lot of things very well. The 24.2MP sensor delivers excellent results, although as we’ve mentioned you’ll want to invest in some additional lenses to make the most of the sensor – and there’s a huge range of lenses available to suit pretty much every budget.

The excellent 1,550-shot battery life shouldn’t be overlooked – it means you can shoot to your heart’s content for long periods without worrying about your camera dying on you, while the straightforward control layout means new users should be able get to grips with the D3500 pretty quickly – this is aided by the D3500’s useful Guide mode, helping inexperienced users understand some of the camera’s core settings and build their confidence.

More AF points would have been nice, but the 11-point AF system works for general shooting, and it’ll do the job for some moving subjects too.

If you’re looking to get more creative with your photography, and looking for your first DSLR, the Nikon D3500 is hard to beat.