which one is better in ANY way?

The D3000 has been replaced by the D3100. The D5100 is better in low light/high ISO situations than the D3100. The D3000 is not good in low light/high ISO situations. Go to your local camera shop and try them all out. But before spending $500 on a camera, go to your local library and read a few basic photography books.

I own both of these. The 5100 is much better. The metering, the quality of the image, and the light sensor are much much better. I shoot a lot with no flash and even in dark rooms and I don't even try it with the 3000. The 5100 is built better and a little larger in your hand so it doesn't feel so delicate.

The 3000 is 10 megapixel and the 5100 is 16. This allows you to crop the image and still get the full quality of the image. With the 3000 you are pretty much stuck using the entire image.

The videos shot on the 5100 are WAY better than the 3000. The 5100 is actual 1080HD 30 FPS

But the higher, and much better quality low light ISO settings of the 5100 is worth the extra $ in my opinion. You'll LOVE the 5100.

Did you see the D3100? Much better than D3000, pretty much a little D5100 with no articulating screen and 1fps slower.

If you can go with the money of course D5100 would be great. Image quality will be the same, even compared to pro models. It's not like there is a formula to see that one camera has 8% better quality.

Here's a DSLR Buying Guide - http://www.the-dslr-photographer.com/2009/11/which...

the D5100 has a much more powerful sensor as well as updated components

it is the better camera.