Nikon D5000

The Nikon D5000 is Nikon's best DSLR today, if size, weight and price matter.

The D5000 offers the technical image quality of Nikon's best DX cameras like the D300s and D90, with the smallest size, weight and price.

Something the D5000 does exceptionally well is work quietly. When I first shot it, I noticed how quiet it was, and a week later when I found the D5000's Quiet Mode, I was astounded! It's far quieter than any other SLR, and is at least as quiet as the LEICA rangefinder cameras.

The D5000 has the D300s' sensor, the D90's AF sensors, the D300s' superb Gen 2 image processing smarts and the D90's crappy movie mode. The D5000 shares the same ADR and Picture Controls as the D300s and other Gen 2 cameras.

The D5000, like the D40, D40x and D60, lacks most of the D90's extra control buttons that make the D90 such a masterpiece. In terms of command and control, the D5000 is the same as the discontinued D40: you need menus to select among AF-S, AF-C and AF-A modes, AF-area modes, WB trims and etc.

I like all the Gen 2 features like 12MP resolution, ADR and magic lateral color fringe correction, but even then, I still love the images I get from my old D40. The extra pixels don't make better pictures.

The D5000 is Nikon's least expensive camera with the same technical image quality as the $5,500 Nikon D3s in normal light, but unless you're making prints at least three feet (1 meter) wide, it just doesn't matter. It requires a very skilled photographer to get great photos from any camera; buying a technically better camera has nothing to do with getting better photos.

Once you have the skill to elicit great photos from one camera, you can get them from any camera. It's like pianos: a 9-foot Bösendorfer may be better piano than the upright at the local bar, but if you can't play the piano, you won't get good music out of any of them. Anyone can bang on a piano and anyone can shoot a camera, but it takes an artist to get decent results from either one. The sad part is how many well-meaning people think photography is as simple as buying a camera.

Getting great pictures comes from knowing how to "play" your camera's settings and paying attention to the lighting. If you know what you're doing, you can do it on the D5000.

The D5000 can record video and mono sound as a goof, but any camcorder gives much better moving picture and sound quality. The Nikon D5000 has relatively poor video and audio quality, and can't focus while you shoot. Just buy a camcorder if you want video. (Nikon doesn't make camcorders, so they're not going to tell you that.)

If I only had one DSLR, I wouldn't complain if it were a D5000.

The D5000 is a wonderful camera, but I prefer the D90's ergonomic masterpiece of programming of its POWER, INFO and FUNC buttons so I can shoot the D90 single-handed (click those links, and/or see my D90 User's Guide). You won't read this on geek sites that can't get beyond pixels, but in actual shooting, the D90 lets me shoot faster and more conveniently than the D40, D5000 or even D300. The D5000 and D40 lack these tricks.
data from kenrockwell