NikonD3400 w/ AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR & AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED

I bought this camera so I could take pictures of my kids during sporting events. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this camera! It is SUPER easy to use, even for the inexperienced, like myself; AND it takes great pictures!

After a bunch of research, I landed on this camera as my first DSLR purchase. For price point, ease of use, and including two lenses.I have owned point-and-shoot standalone cameras over the years, but their auto-focus and stabilization was pretty terrible. This camera is just on a whole different level. You can snap off several shots a second continuously, and the pictures are almost always crisp, clean, and beautiful. Shooting at 24 MP results in images that are 6000x4000 pixels in size, so when you pull them onto your computer you can just zoom and zoom and zoom in, to a point where is is frankly creepy. Take a portrait photo? You can see every single pore on their face in the computer. I'm sure people who are big into photography have rolled their eyes and moved on at this point, but it really just blows my mind how good the pictures turn out with essentially no prior knowledge, skills, or lighting experience. Just plug in a battery and an SD card, put a lens on, set it to auto mode, and go to town.So far have taken some nature photos, a bunch of sunset/sunrise photos, some photos of the ocean, and a bunch of fireworks on the 4th. I wouldn't say that anything I've shot is 'publication quality', but it is plenty good enough to send to friends and family. The fireworks even turned out way better than expected with no fancy lenses or even a tripod.Also, the battery life on this camera is just unreal. I've had it for several months, and have taken roughly 2000 photos at various times and locations, and I finally, just now, need to charge the battery for the first time. If you are used to having to charge your phone every night, it's a really nice change of pace to only have to charge your camera once in a blue moon.I am an amateur, but I can happily say that I am blown away with the quality of photos this camera can take at this price point. Would recommend to anyone else looking to dip their toes into the expensive world of photography.

Bought the D3400 with 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses, along with the free "Starter Bundle" including a sling backpack and 16 GB memory card as a Cyber Monday deal for $500. At that price point, I'm exceptionally happy with this camera. The body is comfortable to hold, as well as the strap. Battery life has been good so far, although I haven't tested that fully. The picture quality on automatic settings is very good. This is my first DSLR, and the controls took a little getting used to, but they're pretty intuitive. The lenses are nice. I do wish the 70-300mm lens had image stabilization, but I've been able to take some nice pictures without the stabilization.A lot of reviews have been pretty critical of the SnapBridge functionality. It's not the greatest, but I've found that the automatic transfer of 2 MB previews happens reliably. Sometimes it doesn't pair with my phone right away, but it will do the whole pairing/transferring in the background - may just need to wait a minute. Being able to post a photo you take to FB or Instagram right away is a nice perk.The free sling backpack in the starter bundle is great to have. I've just been keeping all the camera hardware and charger in there - no need to store them separately. The compartments are reconfigurable, and the padding is pretty sturdy. It won't survive being run over by a steamroller, of course, but I don't have any concerns about breakage if the pack drops on the ground from shoulder height.Bottom line: for the $500 price point for the 2-lens deal, I'm extremely happy with this camera. At the non-cyber monday price point (currently $600), it's still a good deal - if you're not interested in the 70-300mm lens, you could forgo that to save some money.

I've been wanting to move up from a point and shoot digital camera for quite a while. My Sony DSC-H3 (8.1MP) is limited in what I want to do; although it's been a good camera and I'll continue to use it some, having the higher resolution and greater versatility of the DSLR opens up my creative streak. So far, it's been a steep learning curve for me, but it gets easier very rapidly to utilize the features the D3400 has. The lenses are a bit basic, but do a very nice job even though their max aperture isn't as large as the much-higher priced premium lenses. I have not found the lack of image stabilization on the 70-300 lens to be an issue, even hand-holding at 1/70 sec shutter speeds. All the buttons and controls fall naturally to fingertips when holding the camera, allowing quick adjustments with a minimum of fumbling. I can't imagine what one of the upper-line Nikons is like to use, as well as this one performs. This is an outstanding entry-level DSLR and has quite a bit of room to grow with, simply by using premium lenses. Youtube has numerous videos devoted specifically to the D3400, by quite a few professional photographers, so you can get a varied education in its use. My last SLR camera was a Minolta XD-11 film camera from the '80's, and I am amazed at the versatility of the new DSLR's compared to it. Being able to bang away, making lots of pictures without worrying about film cost, is also a big plus. I would recommend this camera to anyone who wants to move into photography as a hobby, or even to start professionally. Below are a couple of photos from a recent beach trip.