I've had my D5100 for about a couple of months now and I think it's just the right camera for me. I'm mainly into wildlife shots and have a variety of lenses that I regularly use, most of which I have to use in manual focus though as they are pretty old. However, I discovered a great feature on the D5100 to help with spot on focussing. It may be so obvious to most of you but here goes anyway. Activate the live view and then focus on the subject. Now use the zoom button (+) and you can now refine your focus.

OK, Hog'ers, I just bought my very first DSLR, the Nikon D5100! All I've had up to this point are superzoom bridge cameras and, although they have been very adequate, still, when I picked up the D5100 for the first time AFTER it was paid for, I had this strange feeling come over me, kind of like a kid feels on his birthday when he wakes up feeling strange in a good way because he could almost swear he grew up overnight.
I got the D5100 with the 18-55mm kit lens, a Nikon 55-300mm lens, and a Nikon 40mm macro lens. So.....tell me about your experience with this camera, if you own one. If you have a similar camera, tell me what I have to look forward to over and above my experiences with pretty decent superzooms. If you can remember what it was like for you when you bought your first DSLR (or SLR), tell me about it. This post should turn out to be a really, great, nostalgic one and I look forward to your responses.

You'll find it is a fabulous machine.

But it doesn't have the Guide mode of the 3100. Everything else you learned with the 3100 should pretty well apply, plus much more.

You may want to get David Bush's book on the D5100. Althouh it has a few mistakes by and large it is accurate and really helps to learn all the features.

The default settings on the D5100 are a pretty good place to start.

I recommend learning how to use the focus and metering selections first. I also recommend learning and using the P mode most of the time.