Nikon D3400 - Field Test and Review 

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Man, you're a really good photographer. Every photo was well-composed and balanced. Just goes to show it's who's holding the camera and not how expensive the camera is, that determines the quality of the shots.

I've owned multiple entry level cameras over the years mainly because they were gifts from my grandparents and I can say this is definitely my favorite and felt like the biggest leap in quality relative to price. For those getting into the world of photography I definitely recommend.

Hey buddy, thank you for making my day. I bought this camera today with both the lens kit and it costed me $499 with extra battery, a bag and 2 years extended warranty. I believe it was a steal deal.. :)

I purchased the D3400, viewed all of your D3400 video's, bought without the 55-300 w/o VR, bought 70-200 with VR, and waiting for my 35 mm 1.8f. Love the back button, and using shutter and aperture modes. Thank you so much for your truly informative instructions. At age 78, your detailed video's provided me great pleasure. Thanks, a Viking fan from Florida!

Is this guy John cena's cousin

Accidentally watch one of your video and then watch most of the video about D3400 and now I buying one D3400. Kinda excited to start taking pictures

This is not my first comment on this video, because I watch it frequently to learn more about the settings used for low light photography. Thanks for providing the settings, and demonstrating the capabilities of the D3400. While it's on the low end of Nikon's DSLR offerings, the sensor is superb, and you've done a great job of showing the kind of images it can capture when in the hands of a competent user.

Man, you sold me on this camera.

Just purchased a D3400 and stumbled onto your videos. A big THANKS. I can’t believe how much you have taught me in a few short hours. Thank you so much for producing these videos.

You've been a huge help getting me started with my D3400! Even though it's considered to be a dinky, entry-level DSLR, it's a big jump from a smartphone camera. It's awesome to have professional advice for free on demand.

Great video. I picked up one with both lens for $499 on cyber Monday. This is my first DSLR so I think I'll enjoy it.

If you need to get to know a 3400 camera this guy does just what you need hands on , not someone who reads the booklet.

When your dog ran away I got a good giggle from it. Thanks for this review! It was extremely helpful!

"Man with the magic hand". What you do with camera is truly outstanding. Love your photography.

My wife got me the D3400 today as an early Christmas gift, it's my first DSLR, cannot wait to start shooting with it!!

Thanks for posting your camera settings with the pictures, I've just got into DSLR's and those will be handy cheat cards for me.

Hello....I bought this camera today..... thanks for the video.... lots of respect from India.

I have been researching this camera for a while but u am now 100 percent sure I want this. I'm mostly looking to use it for nature shots and maybe the wildlife as well. Honestly, I'm just looking to see how far this camera can take me until I choose my next camera.

I bought a D3300 for my wife for a change of her D3100 a while ago. And an AF-P 18-55. The lens was surprisingly high-tech for it's price of 50 bucks used. AF was incredible. And in video mode is very intelligent. Yes, plastic was bad,. Front cover locking mechanism was broken, lose the sense of manual focus- feels more digital. But it was really good, silent and compact. After some profile tweaking i found a really great smooth picture in NL, almost film-like. Pushed dynamic range to the max. The only thing i notice is a bit purpulish tone on whites, as far as can tune a white balance offset. But it was in some light conditions. Just shoot and get a really nice prints from jpgs, instantly. Really smooth and detailed. Love it! Definitely has it's own feel.

I always wanted my own stand alone camera to shoot awesome photos, but I was unsure about the right camera for me. Those are some freaking awesome photos man, including the ones in the forest and the street light photos.

Lol I liked the part when your dog ran away and the guy in the song laughed as you chased it! I thought that was clever, haha. Good video though, thanks for the review!

Thank you for this video it helped me make my decision! Can't wait to get my first DSLR!

That 1 dislike, why the hell. Great video!

I bought this camera today after viewing your review.... Lots of respect from India

Nice man u are the only one that took so many photos and actually showed us the photos view...you got a subscriber!

Real Photographer on review. Nice job!

You can send the full quality pics via the app, but it takes too damn much to do it, so I do it a lot quicker via OTG

Really good video mate! you explained everything really well and your review was very helpful! I will definitely buy this from what I have heard on your video!

This camera is my Christmas present this yr. Ordered last night as it was in a Black Friday sale for $499. Came with 2 lenses, case,32mb card,free online class. I've been looking at this months.. excited about it being here in a few weeks..

Thank you for the info. I just bought D3400. I am totally new to photography. I can't wait to get out there. I think your photographs were great.

Awesome video. lol dog running away.

may i know titles of the songs that you used on your videos? i find it so relaxing and cool..

If I got a dollar for every time he says Entry Level

Realworld, cruise was great other than getting stuck on the ship due to an injury to my foot in San Juan,Puerto Rico. But I was able to get over 200 photographs of my friends wedding and cruise photos.

i enjoy all your videos sir! it helps a lot. i already bought d3400 and your tutorials really helps. i learnes a lot from you, thanks so much and keep on doing such amazing videos.

Subscribed for future vids! 😂 Thanks for this review of the Nikon D3400. I recently bought it as my first ever dSLR and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a solid beginner camera which lets me make great shots, it's user-friendly, and it's not too steep in terms of its price. One comment though, SnapBridge is capable of transferring a full-resolution JPEG via Bluetooth. I've tried it multiple times, and it works. However, the transfer rate is just painfully slow. But as you said, "entry-level dSLR", right? 😂

Nikon 3400 or Canon 700d which one is best......?

You deserve to have more subscribers than what you have now. Quality content!

I have this camera for now about three months and love it Upgraded lenses make this a beautiful camera

i liked the song. wow amazing *+*

I always shoot raw

6:03. 😀 like if you get it.

Thank you, I just bought the D3400 as my first camera after this review. I was considering a bridge camera, but the quality and price of this DSLR was too hard to pass up.

Thank you! I just bought one of these for my mom to be her first DSLR after reading good reviews, and this video gave me an idea of what I gave her. I think I made the right choice. Loved you including the photos you took with it. Would have liked more about how sturdy you feel the construction to be/how nice it feels in the hand. Best wishes!

For a beginner photographer, would you recommend the Nikon D3400 or the Canon T6?

Also I'm moving from a go pro session / iPhone 6 and 7 camera to the 3400 for my videos. Will the lack of the audio jack really hurt my audio or will it be tolerable if nothing else? I'm trying to get the depth look (auto focus, blurred background etc) but I don't want my audio to suffer. Would love your opinion!

One more excellent review!!!!

Watched most of your videos. Bought d3500 recently. Still watch your videos. It helps. Thanks

Just picked this one up as 1st dslr. Granted I did get the dual lens and bag kit through Micrcenter for $500. Thank you for showing full exposure settings with each test pic! This will be an excellent refrence vid as I familiarize myself more with the cameras capabilities!

When I shoot indoor sports the lighting in my pictures are always weird. For example, one side of the picture is very dark while the other side might be brighter. My friend says its probably the white balance but my camera is always on auto white balance (I shoot on sports mode). What should I do?

@realworld how did u get picture at 7:30?

Is this an entry level dslr?? 😀😀 Nice review. Mine is in the mail.

i watched that video when i was begginer and looking for a first camera.I remember how many times i watched that video to get my hype up .Now i'm happy with my 3500

I endorse your suggestion to put more money into a lens like the 18-200 VR. That is exactly what I did years ago when I bought my first DSLR, a reasonable priced Nikon D60 combined with the more expensive 18-200 VR - which I am convinced will outlive the D60 by far - I'm still using both though, with the single addition of a 35 mm 1.8 for the special occations. My previous combinations of SLR's with multiple lenses simply caused to much hustle and bustle and loss of opportunities. Availability and readiness should not be underestimated. The D60 is still enough for me. The real challenge is to bring it into the right place at the right moment.

Can I save location on D3400 automatically. And how?

Nikon D5300 VS Canon 700D VS Nikon D3400 Can't decide which one is the best so please help!!!!! I want the best Video & Audio quality & The best pictures.. So please help me which one should I choose!!!!

Hello. Overall what is better, canon 1300d or nikon d3400? thanks

my lovely song don't the end ,,,, A thousand times and a thousand times listened it at day, thanks so much about this video it's so beautiful , more again and again song

Great video. Easily understood technical points. After seeing this I ordered a package for my wife for Christmas. I will update to let you know how things went.Thanks again

This guys smile scares me

Hi RealWorld, Thanks for this great test and review for Nikon D3400.. this is what ive been looking for! 2 thumbs up for this!

Good job! And thank you for emphasizing the absence of an anti-aliasing (which Nikon calls a low-pass) filter on this camera. I wish I had known about that before I went with Canon. It's on all of their DSLRs, and degrades the sharpness of the image a lot, especially on the APS-C models. This looks like a great camera for still photography, but if you use that non-stabilized 70-300 lens it better be on a tripod, unless the shutter speed is 1/250 or faster. Also, the lack of a microphone jack is a serious minus for videography, since in-camera mics are never very good.

Still,one of the best D3400 review out there.

Great review, I shoot with a D3200 over here in the UK and only recently started in December, hoping to get a video up soon. Great content.

Picking one up tomorrow for 400. Camera, tripod, car charger and wall charger, SIM cards and extra battery and both lenses

Just bought this camera with the 18-55mm kit lens refurbished and on sale for $360 before tax from the nikon website. Real excited to use it

A little late for this video but here it goes. I’m an old time SLR film user and its been about 30 years since shooting. I have also shot video of my kids growing up (e.g., sports, band, graduation, family etc.). That has been about 15 years ago. They (i.e., my kids) are each expecting their first child and want to get back into shooting video and stills with one camera. I’ve narrow down my search to the Nikon 3400, Canon t6i and Panasonic Lumix G7. I like all f them but in particular the Nikon lenses, battery length…not snapbridge and non-articulating screen; I like Canon’s color, articulating screen, focusing, wifi and not the battery and cost; G7’s articulating screen and 4K capability - although not sure of 4K use and impact with storage and post processing and looks a little on the cheap side? They all appear to be close in price with the Canon a little more expensive - but all manageable. Of your video reviews you appear to favor the Nikon (i.e., and me too) but not sure if not having an articulating screen will haunt me down the road. I’m figuring I’ll download images via the camera or a disk reader and snapbridge should not an issue - also I’d use my phone for 2 meg photos. What do you think? I tried to keep short as this is my “top level” thoughts… LOL.

Thanks mate. Just convinced me to get this over the Canon 700D. I've always borrowed friends DSLRs so it's time to get my own as I've finally put my original Nikon FE to rest.

Can't tell you how happy I am that you pronounced it 'Nikon', and not Nic-on like lots of others on RU-vidrs!

Nice night and nature shots. Just got a used one with a 18-55 on fleabay, watching vids.. This was a good one, thanks!!

thank you so much for this review! I am currently trying to decide if this is something I want to purchase as there is a sale going on right now. I've only ever shot with little point and shoots, this has helped me out greatly!

That is crazy u can literally see the individual cell dots in the leaf picture 😍😍😍

Thanks for the Video RealWorld great info and perspective! Im brand brand new to photography but I really want to get into it. I dig this vid because of the the honest and obvious professional approach you take as well as the encouragement. keep it up!

Great video. I am a long time Canon shooter since 2005. Rebel XT, 20D, 40D, 5DII, and just recently sold my 7D and lenses(TODAY). I've been looking around and I'm really drawn toward the Nikon D3400 or possibly D3300. You're the only person I've seen that has talked about the file size limit on the Bluetooth. After hearing that I'm leaning towards buying just a D3300 body and adding glass to it. I've had all prime setups in the past and really loved it. Maybe just grab the 18-55mm if it's part of a bundle and cheap enough. I also need a macro solution. I'm in the watch repair business and sell parts as well. Some parts are no more than 1 or 2mm in size. So, having something that can clearly take photos without a huge amount of cropping and image quality loss is nice. I had extension tubes on the 7D, but found it hard to light the things I was shooting because I had to have the lens right on top of the watch or parts. Can you suggest anything for my needs? Again, thanks for the wonderful video.

Great video. Some really nice photos. Really showed off the camera. I know this video is 4 years old but after watching it I just went and ordered a d3500. Seems to be the ideal camera for me in terms of price and image quality. I've got a nikon b700 which is great but just wanted an interchangeable lens camera with a bit better IQ for when I'm not out taking wildlife photo's.

I do a lot of natural landscape photography and mainly purchased this kit because of the 70-300 lens. Regardless of it not being VR, with any good tripod the lens has proven 100%. The 18-55 lens is good but I use the 70-300 85% more of the time.

Hoping to start from the entry level.. review helped well and after my public exams, I'm almost ready to buy this camera... Waiting for the exams to be over !! :)

Wow those night shots are awesome! [checks Ebay] Oh yeah, I think I found my camera.

I love my D3400. Amazon has the 55-200mm VR for $150 and the price for the 70-300mm VR just dropped to $250. My experience is that setting the aperture manually and then letting the camera set the shutter speed gives the best results. It will bump up the ISO insanely high on auto and I do not like the grainy look, so I set it manually at 400. The color this bad boy gives is like Technicolor. Hand held shots on full telephoto with the 55-200mm are rock steady. Love it

😀 I used Nikon for several years but recently switched to Olympus, but I miss my Nikon so re watching Marks videos and bam! I’m buying another Nikon this week😀, your videos are great although a change of background tunes would be nice, I’m whistling that tune through my day now🥴. Just followed you on instagram too👍. Kind Scottish regards Alec

I got a clearance one for some of my speed drawings, I was upset when I got home and noticed no rotating screen should have watched this review first , great video

Amazing review :-) I have brought this DSLR . But the one that I brought has the VR feature on the 70-300mm lens

Thanks for the video. After watching a lot of review, yours are the best. Finally I can set my heart to buy this one without regret.

Sure appreciate all your videos so far. Just bought a DLSR yesterday, The only thing I'd have appreciated seeing is how adjusting the lens manually with your hands fits into the whole PSAM picture.

I purchased this Nikon D3400 camera with 18-55 kit lens. I purchased the 55-200mm with VR lens, a tripod, the ML-L3 shutter release, extra battery, tripod and UC-E21cable for the computer. This camera has no wifi. I've been using the camera in various local hockey arenas when I first purchased the camera. The 2 megapixel images may be small, but I can take a photo, immediately transfer it to my phone to post on twitter without making it smaller. With snapbridge I can look at the photos on my phone that are on the camera and select which ones to transfer to the smartphone. Most public places do have wifi, but don't allow the public to access their signal. So you need something. My phone helps with that using cellular data at times, and wifi in others. . I like the colors I'm getting with the camera. The videos are great, but it would be nice to have the mic jack. I like the rear curtain flash enabled so the flash goes off at the end of the frame in a photo. I'm looking at external flashes and having no wifi might cause an issue with selection. I've taken a few night photos of the moon and they are great using f/11 with the ISO and shutter speed matching with the zoom lens and no tripod. Stars are different. You need long exposures and a tripod. This is my first DSLR. I went through small compact pocket digital cameras but they had limitations. I've been using manual mode recently to stay away from auto placing the ISO to high and getting digital noise. Nikon has two pieces of software on their site for editing photographs. I've been shooting in RAW and JPEG together in one of the settings so I can edit the images properly. This camera is light, easy to carry, and has great images. The battery life beats any other on the market hands down. Any tip on a flash unit that is NOT manual would be helpful.There are lots of videos like this one which helped make the decision to purchase this camera and tips on how to use it. Thank you for recording these videos and building an audience for tutorials and tips.

I bought the one with the kit lens and the 70-300mm. Be honest I love the 70-300mm even though it does not have VR. It takes fantastic photos. Being on the river boating we see a ton of birds so being able to get a close of them with that lens is awesome. With the kits now you basically get it for free. I paid 596$ but also got a bunch of extras included. The Nikon bag itself goes for 44$ on amazon alone plus a 32GB sdhc card and some other stuff. I have also figured out how to do timelapse with it and I am doing some testing now. They have fixed the app so now with a OTG and cable you can do timelapse with the D3400. You can see a few that I have done on my channel.

Excellent video with some great "need-to-know" thoughts. I am an avid hunter and fisherman so I encounter wildlife quite often throughout the year and would love to capture the beautiful images so that everyone can see what I see. I am personally considering delving into the photography world(wildlife,nature) and this video helped me in my decision; however, it would be great to see a comparison video for starter DSLR's and your opinion on which would be the best to begin with.

The lens itself is an anti-aliasing filter, owing to the finite wavelength of light, and the finite size of the aperture, so removing the filter from the sensor has little effect. This can be understood in terms of Fourier optics. Further details are given in e.g. . Nikon have most likely omitted the filter because it saves them money! Lens aberrations will also filter high-frequency components from the image, particularly at wide apertures (small f-ratio).

What i like about the kit lens 18-55mm of Nikon D3400 or D3500 it that while you use 55mm focal length (82,5mm with crop factor) you can focus really very close to the subject, less than 30cm. Very useful to take photos of very small objects or small flower. In such cases i prefer the kit lens than the 35mm or 70-300mm for instance.

I paid $525 for this camera , it came with the body , 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses, a bag, and 2 batteries

Wow. This is amazing. Someone Is selling that kit for $250 In my area right now. He's a beginner photographer upgrading to something better. I think I'm going to go buy It today

Ah i miss carmel indiana. Lived there for 8 years, I can name every single place you had pictures of here. Funny that from just looking for a dslr camera to start vlogging with, your video came up and its Carmel!!

Really nice video, informative but also gives me a good vibe

I went ahead and bought a refurbished D3400 with a TON of extra goodies for $279. What a deal, but the kit lens it came with only has an F-stop of 3.5, if I zoom in even a little it only goes to 4.5 I was hoping to see if I could capture the Milky Way but something tells me this 18-55 kit lens isn't going to cut it. Do you have any suggestions for a better lens with an improved F-stop that isn't ridiculously expensive for this camera?

Dang daddy, your photography skills are amazing

Thank you for the great video. It is going to be very helpful in my search for the right camera for me.

Hey! Just a follow up, I actually picked up this kit the other day and was able to transfer a 7.2 Mb file (JPEG, havent tested Raw) and there is an option to remotely activate the camera from your smart device!

Bought a d3400 in November 2017 for a cruise in April 2018 from B&H photo with the 18 - 55 lens with 2 telephoto vivitars 650-1300 and I think the other was 100 - 450 with a cleaning kit flash and one battery,3 filters,and a fordable handle tripods with a regular tripods for $749. I am no professional photographer but I found it easy to use with the telephoto lenses and the 18-55 lens is very quiet and take great photo's indoors and out. With the telephoto lenses I do recommend getting a heavy duty tripods to handle the , the one that comes in the bundle reminds me of a bobble head doll on your cars dash.

Great review man! I'm definitely going to get this camera for my girl for our two year mark. She is really into photography but she is a little tight on money and her parents won't get her one so I'll surprise her. I'm looking forward to her getting this now because of your review