Nikon started the D-SLR video recording revolution back in 2008 with the Nikon D90 ($899.95, 4 stars). Thanks to its large, APS-C image sensor, with 370mm² surface area, the video captured by this digital camera and its successors was so good that pros have used Nikon D-SLRs to film commercials and movies. The Nikon D5100 ($899.99 with 18-55mm kit lens) carries on that tradition, and adds continuous autofocus during video recording, a high-res, articulating LCD, a microphone input, and top-notch in-camera effects. With its unbeatable feature set and price, the Nikon D5100 dethrones the Canon EOS Rebel T2i ($899.99, 4 stars) as our Editors' Choice under-$1,000 D-SLR.

Design
On the outside, the D5100 looks like virtually every mid-price D-SLR Nikon has put out in the past few years. They're all very luxurious looking and substantial-feeling (The D5100's body weighs 1.2 pounds, and with its included 18-55mm lens, the camera weighs 1.8 pounds). You get switches, dials and levers galore, to get you quickly into almost any mode. There's also a directional pad for speedy menu navigation.

View All 9 Photos in Gallery

The Nikon D5000 ($729.99, 4 stars), the D5100's 2009 predecessor, used a low-resolution LCD that really wasn't in line with its competition. The LCD on the 5100 is a huge leap forward. The 3-inch LCD is filled with 921K dots, which means it's much crisper and sharper than the D5000 and the less-expensive D3100 ($699.95, 4 stars), which have LCDs filled with just 230k dots. When you're trying to frame shots with lower-res LCDs, it's tough to tell if your images are actually in focus. That's definitely not a problem with the D5100.

Also, the display swings out and spins up to 270 degrees, so you can use it to frame shots even when you're holding the camera above your head or at waist level. Many other cameras that offer an articulating LCD, like the Canon EOS 60D ($1,099, 4 stars), aren't particularly useful, because whenever you engage Live View (which uses the LCD as a viewfinder) autofocus slows to a crawl. The D5100's autofocus is much faster than most traditional D-SLRs, but it's not the fastest. The Sony Alpha A580 ($799.99, 4 stars) is one of only a few D-SLRs that can deliver speedy autofocus in Live View mode; it's actually faster than the D5100, but it can't be used during video recording (more on this later).

The user interface on the D5100 doesn't differ much from other Nikon D-SLRs. It's pretty straightforward, and text and graphics in the menu system look particularly good because the LCD is so sharp.

Performance
Since the Nikon D5100 is a traditional D-SLR, when you're using the optical viewfinder to shoot it's blazing fast. The camera powers up and shoots in just 1.4 seconds, and after that, it can capture three frames per second in continuous shooting mode. When using the optical viewfinder you get fast phase detection autofocus and virtually no shutter lag (the time between shutter press and image capture). Shooting speed slows down considerably in Live View, but it's still faster than most D-SLRs are in that mode.

In the PCMag Labs, we use the Imatest suite to objectively evaluate image quality. Under its cleanest conditions (at ISO 100) the D5100 delivered a center-weighted average of 1,860 lines per picture height—a result higher than 1,800 is very sharp. At the same ISO, however, the Canon T2i was even sharper, scoring 2,296 lines. In terms of noise, if Imatest reads less than 1.5 percent noise in an image, it won't be visibly grainy. The Canon T2i kept noise levels below 1.5 percent up to and including ISO 3200, which is excellent, but the Nikon D5100 takes things to the next level. It can go to ISO 6400 and stay below 1.5 percent, which means this camera will perform very well sans flash in low-light shooting situations.