Nikon D5500 DSLR: Lab Test & Review

The Nikon D5500 is a compact SLR system with an APS-C sized sensor and 24 MP resolution. It has a new and very fast AF system and some enhanced handling options.

The 24MP Nikon D5500 looks familiar: while a bit smaller and lighter than its forerunner, the D5300, the differences are marginal. The D5500 has the same image processor as the D5300 (EXPEED 4), but offers a somewhat higher ISO setting: the D5300 offered ISO 100 to 12,800 with an additional high (push) mode of ISO 25,600, but the D5500 offers ISO 100 to 25,600 as standard. Noise results, however, have improved.

The Nikon D5500 is an entry- or midrange level camera with no status LCD on the top. For image and exposure information the photographer has to use the LCD screen on the back. A mode dial on the right hand side allows for setup of exposure modes and special image effects. The “LV” switch next to the mode wheel activates the live preview on the LCD screen.

The D5500 has an optical SLR viewfinder system with a field of view of 95 percent.  To get a 100 percent field of view you have to use the electronic live preview on the articulating LCD screen. To toggle between optical and electronic view finder the camera has a large “LV” lever next to the mode dial on the top, which can be accessed very easily and comfortably. In addition, the camera has an eye sensor that will deactivate the LCD when the photographer looks through the optical viewfinder.

The Nikon D5500 has a 3.2 inch LCD with a resolution of 1,037,000 RGB dots. An 8-way control field is used for menu navigation.

The smaller body size and the lighter weight might be attributed to a function that was offered with the D5300--an integrated GPS system. Users of the D5500 will have to use Nikon’s optional GPS adapter GP-1/GP-1A in order to access geotagging.

The camera uses Nikon's Multi-CAM 4800DX AF system with 39 focus areas, including 9 cross-type sensors. It worked very quickly in our tests and keeps up with the continuous shooting mode that can deliver a maximum of 5 frames per second. Camera startup time is a little longer than the startup times of professional SLRs, but overall performance of the D5500 is very good.

Comments on Image Quality

Color: The color test chart was reproduced with a saturation of 100.6 percent, which is nearly perfect. The white balance system did a very good job: nearly all gray pattern of the test chart are located in the center although we noted a minor shift into the bluish, cooler color area. Only the brightest test pattern showed a shift into the green direction. As is typical for Nikon cameras, the blue nuances are boosted and over exaggerated (even though the mean saturation is on a lower level). Skin tones are reproduced very realistically and naturally. The differentiation of red colors is very good.

Sharpness: The D5500 showed an excellent performance in our resolution test with 3864 lines per picture height within the nominal resolution of 6000 x 4000. Images look crisp and clear without the artificial look of over sharpening effects. The camera showed some sharpness enhancement effects on contrast lines, but over- and undershot effects are on a very low level. The reproduction of fine details is very clean and crisp without Moiré or aliasing effects.

Noise: The Nikon D5500 showed a very good performance in our noise tests. The luminance noise level keeps way below 1.0 percent in images taken within the ISO 100 to 1600 range. The 1.0 percent line is crossed at ISO 6400, yet even at this speed it still creates very clean looking images. The highest ISO—25600--shows noticeable color noise artifacts and slightly reduced image details that have been reduced and smoothened by the filtering.

The dynamic range results are very good. The camera achieved a maximum of 11.6 f-stops and keeps this very high dynamic range level between ISO 100 and ISO 1600. Beginning at ISO 3200 the dynamic range drops significantly with higher ISO settings. Yet, with 9.62 f-stops at ISO 25,600 it achieves a high level for a camera with an APS-C sized sensor.

Comments on Video Functions

The D5500 is able to record Full HD videos and uses Apple QuickTime as the “container format” for its H.264 videos. It offers high frame rates up to 60 frames per second (50 frames in PAL mode). It also allows the user to shoot in cinema style in 24p mode (23.976 frames per second) and in reduced resolution modes with 1280 x 720 pixels or even VGA-resolution (640 x 424 pixels).

To start recording video, the photographer has to use the “LV” lever on the top to activate the live preview mode and press the additional video recording button. This recording button is located directly behind the photo shutter release button and is easily accessible.

The swivel monitor is very helpful when recording videos: the swivel joint on the left hand side allows rotating the screen even if the camera is mounted on a tripod. 

The camera offers manual exposure setup when recording video, including ISO settings. The camera records stereo sound with its built-in microphones on the top (near the built-in pop-up flash). An additional microphone can be mounted on the accessory shoe.

The D5500 offers a standard 3.5 mm microphone jack; sound level can be controlled by the photographer. The camera offers a special video recording information scheme on its LCD, which marks the 16:9 crop of the image when recording videos and also shows sound level bars. Using manual sound level control and these bars will avoid clipping effects due to over-modulated sound levels.

Comments on Video Quality

The Nikon D5500 showed very good video results. The ISO 12233 chart was reproduced with 797 lines per picture height when recording Full HD video (1080 lines per picture height) which is a good result for an SLR system with a video recording function. Aliasing or Moiré effects are missing, and combined with the AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 60 mm 1:2.8G ED lens, used for this test, the camera created very crisp and clear videos.

The color results are similar to our still photographic reproduction tests. Brighter nuances had a slight shift into the yellowish/greenish area, but most colors are reproduced very naturally. In contrast to photo mode, dark blue nuances show only a little over-saturation and the bright cyan is under-saturated.

Noise results in video mode are very good. At ISO 1600, dark gray areas begin to “flicker” due to image noise, but these effects are acceptable up to ISO 6400 mode (and can be reduced with anti- noise plug-ins in editing software like “Neat Video,” for example). Only the highest ISO speed settings of ISO 12,800 and 25,600 will create very noisy artifacts with unacceptable results. The dynamic range results in video mode are excellent: The Nikon D5500 achieved a maximum of 11.2 f-stops at ISO 400, which is a really high result.

Tests are conducted by Betternet, the TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) testing lab. I serve on the Technical Committee of the association.