Nikon D5300 Performance

Good to slightly slower than average speed for its class.

The Nikon D5300's startup time was good for a consumer DSLR, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was also fast.

The Nikon D5300's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was a little slower than average for a consumer DSLR. The D5300 required about 0.29 second for full AF using the center focus point. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag to 0.42 second, reflecting the added delay caused by the metering preflash. Shutter lag increased to about 0.42 second in Auto-area AF mode which is a bit on the slow side for a DSLR. Manual focus shutter lag was faster than full autofocus at about 0.23 second, but that's still a touch slow for a DSLR. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 0.080 second which is about average for a consumer DSLR.

As expected, autofocus and shutter lag were much slower in Live View mode. The Nikon D5300 only offers contrast-detect AF in Live View, which took about 1.3 seconds to focus in our tests. (How fast the lens can adjust focus makes a big difference here.) Prefocused shutter lag was also slower but still reasonable in Live View mode, at about 0.42 second.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were about average for a consumer DSLR, at 0.58 second for Large/Fine JPEGs, 0.60 second for 14-bit RAW files, and 0.63 second for 14-bit RAW + L/F JPEG frames.

Continuous mode speed when shooting best quality JPEGs was slightly above average considering the class and resolution, at almost 5 frames per second. When shooting 14-bit RAW files, frame rate dropped to just below 4 frames per second in our tests however Nikon says switching to 12-bit allows speeds similar to JPEGs (5fps). And indeed in our tests, the D5300 managed just over 5 fps when shooting 12-bit RAW or RAW+JPEG files.

Buffer depth in continuous mode was excellent with JPEGs at over 20 L/F JPEG frames with no signs of slowing (Nikon says up to 100 frames), though with 14-bit RAW files buffer depths were quite shallow at only 4 RAW frames or 4 RAW+L/F JPEG frames. Buffer capacity with 12-bit RAW files improved to 8 RAW frames and 6 RAW+L/F JPEG frames.

The built-in flash took 4.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is a touch slow for a DSLR.

Connected to a computer via USB 2.0, download speeds were very fast.

Bottom line, the Nikon D5300's performance was generally good to a little below average in our tests. Startup was good, as were single shot cycle-times, as well as JPEG and 12-bit RAW continuous mode performance. Autofocus speeds however were slightly slower than average, and burst performance with 14-bit RAW files was mediocre. Buffer depths with RAW files were shallow (particularly in 14-bit mode), but that's not unusual for its class.

Battery Life
About average battery life for a lithium-ion powered consumer DSLR.

The Nikon D5300 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger. Battery life when using the optical viewfinder is about average for a consumer DSLR, though Nikon does not specify battery life for Live View mode, which will certainly be a lot lower. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings, or when using Live View a lot.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))