Camera Labs

My wife takes all of our family pictures with a Sony Cybershot 10x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels. She is looking for a better quality camera. Would a Nikon 3100 or 5100 with a 18-55mm VR Lens be a good next step for her. Will the quality difference be noticable and is it a fairly simple camera to use.

Welcome to the forum! This post probably could have been posted in the buying a new camera section unless you are set on buying a Nikon. Any DSLR will have significantly superior image quality to a compact camera due to the larger sensor. You will also have better ISO performance, fps, metering ect which will increase your photography options. If you were to buy a DSLR with only the 18-55mm you should be aware that you will have significantly less zoom than on your compact camera. Major camera brands often offer multi-lens kits that come with the 18-55mm and a telephoto lens. This might be a better option to make sure you have all fields of photography available to you.

Hope this helps,

James

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

In general, you will notice an increase in image quality with any modern DSLR compared to any point & shoot camera. If she uses her camera in fully-automatic mode, DSLRs also come with them, and in that sense, she could just open the box and start taking photos. If she would like to improve her photography skills even more, a basic photography class could be usefull. The one I took was only 1 hour a week for 6 weeks, and was very affordable (75$/student for the entire 6 weeks if I remember well). Such a course would improve anyone's skills tremendously, but even more so with a dSLR.

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Cameras: Canon EOS Rebel T2i, Canon S90
Lenses: Tamron: SP70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di VC USD, Canon: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens, 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III, and EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Retired camera: Fujifilm Finepix s700