Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera

My Stephen Russell

at 6:59 pm

I bought this camera with great reservations. I was told by the reviews that it was designed in part, for people likely coming over from a compact digital camera, however. It’s a very usable camera for enthusiasts as well. It is a little menu driven which does create a learning bottleneck when you first get started but it’s actually quite easy to learn and certainly not simply for people that are looking for a quality point and click upgrade. The most impressive thing so far is the photo quality. Mainly at high ISO which is very impressive… I took the camera to my local pub, which is quite dark (open fireplace etc…) and set it to 3200 ISO. When I got home and dumped them in to my computer I was quite taken aback at how clear and detailed the shots were. Yep, some grain when you zoomed in but at full frame many people would hardly have noticed a loss in quality from a compact, outside at 100 ISO. I did a few at 1600 ISO (in the brighter parts of the pub) and the quality was so similar to ISO 200 it was amazing. Zoom in and you’ll notice some issues but at full frame the pictures are very clean. I shoot in RAW so a little processing (with iPhoto, read on.. ) and the images are crisp and beautifully toned. For instance, the landlord/ladies’ son (3 years old) was playing with my iPhone and the colouring in the picture clearly depicted the white glow of the iPhone on his face without losing any of the natural colour and tone from the other lighting (fireplace, tungsten) in the pub

At this time of writing (December 16th 2009) the software you get in the box (ViewNX and Nikon transfer) will NOT work with an Apple Mac running OSX 10.6 (Snow leopard). The Nikon website claims that by the end of Jan 2010 the software will be compatible (Capture NX DOES NOT WORK either, suggested as a December 09 release). Nikon have obviously dragged their heals on this which is poor considering many proper photographers, and the rest of us, use Mac’s day to day. There is simply no excuse for this delay despite the fact it’s supposedly on the way apparently so hoorah, or something… iPhoto will suffice until, but it’s a little frustrating to have to wait to something you thought you’d paid for but wasn’t made clear wouldn’t work.

If you are trying to decide on whether to get an EOS 500D (which is where my head was at for at least a couple of months) then whatever you choose between the D5000 or the 500D, you will surely get very good photos from either, when you figure out how they work in your world. If you’re leaning towards the Canon based on the pixel increase then I would say to forget that comparison. The higher res screen would be nice but it simply doesn’t take photos quite as well. If you disagree, then i’ll agree to disagree but my point remains that the lower pixel count doesn’t actually make any real world differences. If anything, the proven Nikon sensor as well as the kit lens on the Nikon is clearly better than the average kit lens (18-55) on the Canon. I bought body only and went with a Sigma 18-250 which is very good. The kit lens isn’t as good as the Sigma and miles better than the kit lens on the Canon (don’t buy it if you can help it. Upgrade from ‘body only’ at the point of purchase). Overall (other than the heavy use of the menu system) very highly recommended.

So, why the four stars? Nothing is perfect…
Rating: 4 / 5

J. Barley

at 10:19 pm

I had been thinking of buying a DSLR for a while and had initially narrowed my shortlist down to the Canon 1000D, Nikon D3000 and Sony A350 (from what I had read the first generation of Sony DSLRs are better than the newest generation, so the A350 was in my price range!)

However, I was lucky enough to receive a little bonus from work which I thought I’d put towards the camera, and so expanded my thinking to include upper-entry level cameras, so started to research the Canon 450D and Nikon D5000.

Every review I read gave almost matching scores, with the Nikon coming out slightly on top regarding image quality. A couple of work colleagues who are in to photography quite seriously both then said they used Nikon, and so I went into a local camera shop to have a feel of the various cameras in my hands. The chap in the shop told me that the Nikon VR kit lenses were of a much higher quality than the Canon IS kit lenses, so that sealed the deal for me really.

I can safely say that I have made a fantastic decision. The D5000 is easy to use straight out of the box, and takes great photos on auto if all you want is to point and shoot. Where the camera excels though is when you start to take control, and the various scene modes and auto options allow you to do this at your own pace all the way through to fully manual.

Although not to everybody’s taste, I have used the tilt screen a few times so far with live-view to take shots on a tripod at funny angles, yes the auto-focus is almost prohibitively slow whilst using live-view, but if you only use it for a minority of specialist shots and you know it’s limitations it does the job well. I used mine for a couple of shots of scenic sunsets where the camera was too high to see through the viewfinder.

I can’t really fault the D5000, if you are looking for a true entry level camera the D3000 is probably the way to go, but for a high quality camera between entry level and professional which is compact enough to carry around on a daily basis, the D5000 is an excellent choice.

Rating: 5 / 5

Louis Vallance

at 11:46 pm

The Nikon D5000 seems to be everything I wanted. Although having the same size 12.3MP sensor as in the D90 and D300, the APS-C CMOS upgrade with 1.5x focal magnification seems an ample improvement over its predecessors. As with all the Nikons I have used, the D5000 presents to the user a robust, compact and light-weight feel, whilst still offering some features you would expect to find in professional level cameras.

The D5000 has many great features with its high ISO range (100 to 6400), 11 area auto focus system and good tonal range. The anti dust system offers three stages of protection: CCD shake, ‘airflow’ (which pushes air out of the mirror box) and anti dust software for post editing. The camera also has live view as well as a tilting screen, however I question the practical applications of the screen as I have taken some 500 images with the camera so far and have yet to use the tilt function (admittedly I prefer the optical view finder over alternative means). All said and done, the crown jewel of the D5000 is without a doubt the HD movie capture feature, allowing not only for 24fps capturing but interval shooting which produces stop-motion action. However the AF system is disabled during filming, resulting in the need to use the focus wheel manually which the clumsy-handed like myself find quite tricky!

One of the things I have always loved about Nikons is their ability to perform excellently in low light conditions. Although not a criticism, my Sony Alpha A350 has always given me a fair bit of grief when taking evening shots at ISO 400 or above, resulting in the need for an extra pass of colour noise reduction after uploading. The dynamic range optimiser as ever is very effective in bringing out detail in the lower tones.

I feel that the D5000 is in a tight spot being that it is the ‘middle child’, making it harder to favour over similar models. Moreover it is difficult to say where it excels and falls short compared to the D90 and the D300. I should say however that, overall, the camera comes trumps in all areas except the price, which is slightly higher than I would have bargained for. Ultimately though I am very fond of this camera and would give it my highest of recommendations. Well worth buying!
Rating: 5 / 5