Nikon Z30 vs Nikon D3500

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Nikon Z30 and the Nikon D3500, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Nikon Z30 was introduced in June 2022 and Nikon D3500 was introduced in August 2018. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Nikon Z30 over Nikon D3500.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Nikon D3500 over Nikon Z30.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Nikon Z30 and Nikon D3500 have 3.0" screens with 1,040k dot and 921k dot resolutions respectively. Nikon Z30 has a Fully Articulated screen which makes it selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Nikon D3500 has a Fixed screen Nikon Z30 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Optical (pentamirror) Viewfinder on Nikon D3500

Nikon D3500 has a built-in Optical (pentamirror) viewfinder. It has a 95% coverage and 0.85x (0.57x 35mm equivalent) magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Nikon Z30.

Nikon Z30 features a 20.9 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.5 x 15.7 mm and a total area of 369 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 51,200 and expands to 100 - 204,800 in boosted mode. Nikon D3500 features a 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.5 x 15.6 mm and a total area of 243.4 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 25,600.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Nikon Z30 is equipped with EXPEED 6 processor and can take pictures up to 5568 x 3712 resolution. Nikon D3500 is equipped with EXPEED 4 processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 4496 x 3000, 2992 x 2000 with 3:2 aspect ratios.

Lens Mount

Nikon Z30 has Nikon Z lens mount and Nikon D3500 has Nikon F lens mount. Due to their APS-C sensor their crop factor (also called lens multiplier) is equal to 1.5x. This means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.5.

No Low-Pass Filter

There is no optical low-pass filter (OLPF), also known as an anti-aliasing filter, in front of the sensor on either of the cameras. This results in a slightly sharper image but may also introduce moiré patterns and aliasing artifacts when photographing subjects with fine, repetitive patterns or details.

No Image Stabilization

The cameras do not have image stabilization. On Nikon Z30 it means that you need lenses with optical image stabilization for vibration reduction. As for Nikon D3500 nothing can be done. On Nikon D3500 it means that you need lenses with optical image stabilization for vibration reduction. As for Nikon Z30 nothing can be done.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Nikon Z30

Nikon Z30 has a built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5, 802.11ac/b/g/n, 2.4/5 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth

Nikon Z30 and Nikon D3500 have built-in Bluetooth (version 4.2 on Nikon Z30) which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Nikon Z30 has a Micro HDMI and Nikon D3500 has a Mini HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Nikon Z30 comes with EN-EL25 battery pack with battery life of 330 shots and Nikon D3500 comes with EN-EL14a battery pack with battery life of 1550 shots.

External Storage Slots

Cameras have a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Nikon Z30 has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Nikon D3500 has Electronic shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Nikon Z30, and up to 1/4000 sec on Nikon D3500. Nikon Z30 can shoot continuously up to 11.0 fps. Nikon D3500 can shoot continuously up to 5.0 fps.

Focusing

Nikon Z30 has Hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF system with 209 focusing points and Nikon D3500 has 11 focusing points. Nikon Z30 has detection range from -4.5 to +19 EV and Nikon D3500 has detection range from -1 to +19 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Nikon Z30 and Nikon D3500 range from -4 to +17 EV and 0 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Nikon Z30 and ±5 EV range on Nikon D3500. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Nikon Z30 and exposure lock and manual exposure adjustment on Nikon D3500.

Flash

Nikon D3500 has a built-in flash with maximum range of 7.00 m at ISO 100 and also accepts external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe. Nikon Z30 has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on both cameras.

Nikon Z30 body has dimensions of 128 x 74 x 60 mm (5.04 x 2.91 x 2.36") and Nikon D3500 body has dimensions of 124 x 97 x 70 mm (4.88 x 3.82 x 2.76"). Nikon Z30 weighs 405 g (0.89 lb / 14.29 oz) and Nikon D3500 weighs 365 g (0.80 lb / 12.87 oz).

Nikon Z30

Nikon D3500

128 mm

74 mm

124 mm

97 mm

74 mm

97 mm

60 mm

70 mm