dslr camera Nikon D5500 joins the touchscreen club

The D5500 isNikon's firstDSLRcamera to include a touchscreen. It's hardly a new idea —Canon's EOS Rebel T4iwas the first DSLR to have one and that came out in 2012. Nikon's newest camera is the company dragging its feet in the face of new market trends and finally relenting.

Camera purists will wax poetic about physical buttons and dials all day long, and how they're so versatile out in the field for adjusting settings, but today's users don't share the same sentiment. Buttons are scary and complicated.

But a touchscreen — now, that's friendly and easy to use. It's just like a smartphone! Everyone from mom to grandpa can figure it out.

And so we have the D5500, an "advanced beginner" DSLR camera that now sits above theD5300, Nikon's previous entry-level king. At $899 for the body, the D5500 doesn't one-up the now $799 D5300 in any big ways, beyond the touchscreen.

The D5500 has the same 24.2-megapixel APS-C image sensor, Expeed 4 image processor, 5 frames per second continuous shooting and full HD 1080p video recording at up to 60p. There are some small upgrades like a higher ISO range that goes from 100 to 25,600, an interval timer to help take timelapses and slightly longer battery life, but they're relatively minor.

The D5500 is a small camera. Not that the D5300 isn't small, but it's ever-so-slightly smaller and lighter, which is always a plus.

The design isn't inspiring, but as any photographer will tell you, it's the subtle things like the deeper grip, clickier buttons and firmer dials that make a camera so satisfying to shoot with — all things the D5500 improves over the D5300.

The camera's as sturdy as any entry-level DSLR, but it would be great to see Nikon take the initiative and include water or weather-sealing. It's almost embarrassing that certain smartphones like theSamsung Galaxy S5orSony Xperia Z3vcan be used to take photos in the rain and a beefier standalone camera can't.

The 3.2-inch (1037k-dot) LCD touchscreen is tack sharp, but could stand to be brighter outdoors. It swivels and tilts out, which is great for taking pics at all heights and at strange angles.The touchscreen is buttery smooth; tap-to-focus works great and works with gloves, too.

Tap-to-shoot is not so good; it's really slow and not worth it. Technically, you can take selfies with this camera, but it's harder than just using your phone. You'll need to hold it with two hands — one hand to grip it and the other to tap a screen.

Taps, swipes and pinch-to-zoom work as well as on an iPhone. You can also control all your settings like ISO, white balance, flash, exposure compensation with the touchscreen. I really liked how the onscreen buttons are laid out in a logical grid unlike on other cameras that use lists and meters.

By now, Nikon has its imaging chops down to a science, which is why most updates to its DSLRs are incremental. For the general user, any of Nikon's DSLRs is going to take great pictures.

Because the D5300 and D5500 share the same 24-megapixel image sensor and Expeed 4 image processor, they take pictures that look largely the same, which isn't a bad thing.

Pictures are sharp, colors are great, dynamic range is excellent and the amount of image noise is minimal at up to ISO 6400. The D5500 boasts a maximum ISO of 25,600, but you're almost never going to go that high because of all the image noise you'll get on your pics.

There are three new picture effects — Super Vivid, Pop, and Photo Illustration — but none of them are spectacular in any way. They also take a few seconds too long to process.

You can record video at 1080p full HD resolution at various frame rates between 24p and 60p, but it's not exactly great if you don't know anything about recording video. I noticed a lot ofrolling shutterwhile panning the camera around. I tested the D5500 with the 18-55mm VR II kit lens and the stereo mics situated on the top of the camera often picked up the lens' loud focusing motor sounds. Setting the lens to manual focus reduces the motor sounds in the footage, but beginners may not be comfortable doing so right out of the box.

I can't say I've ever worried about battery life on a DSLR. I've gone entire weekends and shot hundreds of photos without having to pop the battery on the charger. It's another testament to how versatile DSLRs are.

Although the D5500 uses the exact same battery as the D5300, battery life has improved — you can get 820 shots out of it (up from 600). The 220 extra shots come at the loss of the built-in GPS the D5300 had. To get geotagged photos, you'll need to shell out $312 for anexternal GPS unitthat attaches to the hotshoe.

The addition of a touchscreen is something Nikon should have done years ago. It's not that it's too late, but that the company has allowedmirrorless cameraswith touchscreens and smartphones (and even tablets, to some degree) to undercut and woo away a large segment of upgraders.

The D5500 is a fine camera that takes great photos, as was the D5300, but is the touchscreen worth paying extra for? I'd say no. I'll take conveniently-placed buttons and dials over a touchscreen any day.You shouldn't buy a DSLR if you're looking for a touchscreen experience.There are plenty of point-and-shoots and smartphones that will suffice.

The camera is part of Nikon's upper tier of entry-level DSLRs, but the pricing is decidedly not entry-level: $899.95 for the body only and $999.95 for the body and a 18-55mm VR II lens.

You can still get along fine with the D5300, which is essentially the same camera. Otherwise, you may be better served with a compact mirrorless camera like the Sony a5100, which goes for $700 (can be found for $600) and also has comparable specs: 24-megapixel APS-C image sensor, Wi-Fi, a touchscreen, and a 16-50mm lens.