I bought a D5000 with the 18-55 VR lens from Amazon last Friday (Black Friday). I paid about $200 less than a friend who bought the same camera a few months ago. AND... It is NOT part of the recall! My biggest initial concern was getting caught up in the recall. I am very happy to say that Amazon seems to be beyond those serial numbers at least with the kit (camera and 18-55 VR lens).I'm upgrading from a D50 I bought 4 or more years ago. There are a number of reasons why I chose THIS camera. First, I like Nikon over other brands because they are easier to use/better menus for those of us who aren't experts. I also think that Nikon makes the best lenses. Even their cheapest kit lenses have great optics and take great pictures. Not all manufacturers can say that.
The second thing I want to address is this camera's lack of an internal motor to auto focus a lens. In other words, you need Nikon's AF-S lenses with this camera. (Note: almost all of Nikon's lenses work with this camera and auto focus.) I would only think it is a concern for someone who has really old lenses, a non-Nikon lens like Sigma or Tamron without an auto focus motor built-in, or possibly some specialty lens that won't auto focus on its own. For me, I have purchased 4 different lenses over the last 4-5 years. They all work just fine. While it is something to be aware of, I think most people who are looking at this camera will be fine too. The lack of an internal motor means the D5000 is slightly smaller and lighter than the next step up cheaper too. This makes the D5000 easier to hang around your neck and carry around all day. This camera is not targeted at a pro, though it is very capable of taking pro pictures. Pros are more likely to opt for the D90 or above.
Third My D50, the D40, D60, D70 and D80 are all Generation 1 cameras. (Actually the D40 & D60, may be called Generation 2, but are more Generation 1.5) Nikon's current lineup, the D3000, D5000, D90 and D300s, are all Generation 2 cameras. What the reviews say is that the Generation 2 cameras take better pictures. They see things more the way the human eye sees things. I am at that point where I am trying to learn more about photography and take better pictures. I did my research. The D3000 is a light camera that you can carry around all day without getting neck cramp. The problem with the D3000 for me was that all the reviews said how much noise (little purple dots that look like film grain) showed up in photos at the higher ISOs. The D90 is a great camera with numerous features that appeal to someone who has some idea what ISO and F stops mean and how they affect the quality of the photo. The D5000's problem, until recently, has been that it was too closely priced to the D90. There was just no reason not to take the extra step up to the D90. Now that Nikon and Amazon have dropped the price of the D5000, it is a much better value. The D90 with the same 18-55 VR lens is about $300 more expensive than the D5000 as of this writing. The D5000 uses the same sensor (and some other parts) as the much more expensive D90 and D300s. It is a newer camera than the D90. I would think, but don't have actual knowledge, that this would have a positive effect on some of the advanced features in the D5000. I say this because the software in the D5000 is newer. It does NOT have the noise problems of the D3000. If you cannot afford the D5000, I suggest you consider the D40 (while supplies last) over the D3000. The D40 takes better pictures and costs less.
Video Do NOT buy a DSLR to shoot videos. NO DSLR from any manufacturer does this really well. The technology is too new. Video on a DSLR is a goof, something neat/fun to play with and not something to take too seriously. DSLRs are designed to take really good photographs. If you need good video, buy a camcorder!
In my opinion, the D5000 is THE camera for folks new to DSLRs who need something simple, but with great capabilities and those, like me, who want to take a step up in features/capabilities without having to spend over $900 dollars for the D90 and a lens. While Live View has its limitations, the articulating screen (it swivels very cool feature) on the D5000 will make it easier for me to take those occasional hard to get photos.
I really think I made the right choice and got what I feel is a heck of a deal! I hope this information is useful to those of you who are still trying to decide which camera is best for you.
One last thought... Nikons seem to hold their value. I plan to sell my D50 AND there seems to be a market for it. Once I learn what ISO and F stops are (I have some idea, but am still learning.), I will likely sell my D5000 and buy whatever the next step up is. I think this is a great added value to buying a good name brand camera like Nikon. All the best...
**Update 1/3/10** Well, I've had a chance to shoot a few hundred photos with my new D5000. I did a direct comparison with about 150 photos between my old D50 and the new D5000. The output of my old D50 and the new D5000 are remarkably close. These side by side comparisons were shot with the same lens (Nikkor 16-85mm VR and Nikon NC filter), the built in flash and the Nikon SB 800 flash. I took some shots in "Auto" and many shots in "P". I used every ISO and color controll the D5000 had and tried to tweak them up and down (sharpness, saturation and hue). I've decided to return the D5000, and then decided to keep it, and here's why.
The added megapixels of the D5000 seem to have very little effect in the amount of detail in the photos as compared to my D50. The D50 has a 6 megapixel sensor. (I DID tweak the settings of my D50 to get better output. I will tweak the settings of the D5000 too.) And, the D50 seemed to have a slightly more reliable/consistent meter when shooting in auto white balance. All this really surprised me. I guess I was expecting more of a difference between the two cameras. The D50 probably has one of the most accurate meters in any Nikon digital camera better than the D40 and D60. In the thousands of photos I took over 4-5 years, it got the white balance spot on every time.
In defense of the D5000, it does have features far beyond those of the D50. It is these features that have made me decide to keep the D5000. The software in the D5000 allows you to adjust many more aspects of how the camera operates and takes pictures than what my D50 had. This allowed me to tweak any settings that I was not completely happy with. It also has numerous preset scene modes for those who want to treat the D5000 more as a really good point and shoot. I guess this camera gives the user enough features where even prosumers could be happy with the creative flexibility the controls give.
The D5000 has a number of other advantages over the D50. The first is a time saver for me. Its auto distortion controll seems to handle lens distortion "in camera" when the pictures are taken. Having the camera address lens distortion saves me from having to fix it after the photos are taken. I shoot quite a bit with a 12-24mm lens that tends to twist things some. I also took several test photos of a very square surface with a 70-300mm lens at different focal lengths. You could see the lens distortion through the view finder. Big bonus... The auto distortion control really seems to work! Additional features include much better low light performance (The D50 and many other cameras will never touch the D5000's low light performance.), ADR (it will capture detail inside shadows rather than just turning the shadow black.), a larger-articulating screen that is much easier to see and read (the D5000 displays the camera settings on the rear screen instead of an LCD on top of the camera.), live view (I recommend using this only for those hard to get photos when you just can't use the view finder. It can take 3 to 8 seconds to focus in live view.) auto focus with 3D tracking for photographing subjects that are moving, and a smaller and lighter form factor than the D50.
The bottom line for me was that my old D50 took really good photos in good conditions. The D5000 takes only slightly better pictures than my D50 in good conditions. In less than perfect conditions, the D5000 seems to take much better photos than my D50. If you're upgrading like me and none of these added features mean anything to you, keep your current camera. Otherwise, while not completely perfect, the D5000 can be a good upgrade or a very capable first dslr that is easy to use AND will give you the room and controls to expand your skills and your creativity as you learn.
I did play with a variety of settings in my new D5000. The "One Change" that seemed to make the biggest improvement in the quality of the photos was to adjust the sharpness settings in the Picture Controls menu. I have turned the sharpness settings way up over the factory defaults. The factory settings ranged from 2 to 4 (on a scale of 1 to 9). I greatly prefer setting the sharpness more in the 5 to 8 range. You can adjust the sharpness for the different modes 5 for images you want to be softer like portraits, and 6, 7 or 8 for everything else. If you shoot in "auto mode", these changes won't work. You will need to move to "P" or some other setting to take advantage of this. If you try it, I think you will be pleased at how much sharper and how much more detail you get in your photos over the factory settings.
The information I share comes in part from personal experience and in part from reading reviews and information all over the web not because I'm some pro photographer. For anyone who cares to read more, I recommend checking out Ken Rockwell. You can Google him. He rates ALL of these cameras and provides useful information like tips on how to setup your D5000 once you buy it. Note: The guide to setting up the D5000 is burried in the site. If you click the "Nikon" link, then go down to "Plain English User Guides", you will find it. His guide to setting the camera up is separate from the review of the D5000 on his site. If you follow his suggestions when adjusting the saturation levels (color), you should know that you CAN really get some wild colors colors that are not natural. I didn't get this the first time and got some really crazy output from the camera. I decided to leave most of the color settings set at the factory defaults. I saved two custom settings with the saturation level turned up one notch for pictures taken outside and in good sunlight. If you screw up the settings on the camera, it is easy to restore the factory default settings. So, don't be affraid to try different things. Ken recommends setting the sharpness settings to 5. As I said before, I prefer to go even sharper and use settings that range from 5 to 8. Ken's only beef with the D5000 was that Nikon started with it too closely priced to the D90. The D5000 shares the same sensor and A LOT of other parts from the more expensive D90. This makes the D5000 a fantastic camera and a great value at its current price point. Amazon lists the link to the DPReview review on the D5000 page or you can Google it. People may want to read the DPReview of the D5000 before reading Ken Rockwells Guide to setting up the D5000. DPReview tells you whats wrong with the factory default settings on the D5000. Ken Rockwell tells you how to adjust the factory settings to get even better photos! I know I'm rambling a bit here. I'm going to so much effort here only because the reviews on Amazon have provided me so much helpful information in the past. I am just trying to give something back. Oh, I DID sell my D50 for $350! I was very happy to get this kind of money for a camera that was 4 or 5 years old. All the best...**End of Update**
The D5000 is essentially a D90 squeezed into a smaller lighter body (of course it lacks the internal AF motor, doesn't have as good a grip, and has a slightly smaller pentamirror viewfinder instead of the pentaprism in the D90 all of this amongst a few other things, but hey it's cheaper for a reason also it is mentionable that the D5000 has an additional live view mode, a few more in camera editing tools, and more scene modes compared to the D90 all useful for someone new to the DSLR in the sense that you can learn from them or just use them to make your life easier and your photos look great).
So far I love it. It is simple to use and great for those new to the DSLR realm, but it also packs enough punch for those looking to upgrade and will give newcomers much room to learn and grow with it.Out of the box, my first impression wasn't the best, as camera size and feel are more like my entry level D40 than I expected. Of course there's the movable LCD (which is more useful than I thought) and Live View button, but not too much more to separate the outer look and feel from D40 mode.
Then I spent some time setting things up and shooting and all of a sudden I'm loving this thing.
The menus, IMHO, are waaaay better than anything I seen on other Nikons (mostly D40 and D200 experience) ISO adjustments and AUTO decisions all in one place, the access to the Info parameters on screen is really clean, and the LCD clarity is great.
The high ISO performance for low light is quite good for my purposes. Sure you get some noise, but you get the shot and if you are getting material for web and simple uses it's perfect.
The wiggly LCD screen is helpful for reading the menus and changing settings with the camera, say, in your lap. Also helpful at odd angles to review what you just shot. I use it more for those purposes than the live view.
So what don't I like? The video isn't real useful. Zooming without autofocus isn't much fun. Moving, even a little, creates odd artifacts in the 24p video -so don't think of any zoomed hand-held shots. Tripod, basic static focal length maybe. I don't know whether video editing sw like Final Cut Pro is ready to ingest these video files.
Overall I really enjoy shooting this camera and the images are excellent.
I'll try to post a few.I bought a D5000 locally ten days ago and exchanged it for another one three days ago.
The first thing I did was get out in the early morning light and take some landscape photos with the D5000 and my D40. Over the next few days I continued taking dozens of photos testing various settins on the D5000. I used my old 18-55mm non-VR zoom lens and the new 35mm f/1.8 lens.
Right away, it was obvious that the D5000's image quality greatly exceeds the D40's. First, megapixels DO matter if you want to look at your photos on a big monitor, and they add texture to the details of landscapes. Second, I don't know what processing magic Nikon has rolled into the D5000, but it handles low light with more subtlety and predictability. Caveat: While Active D-Lighting is generally desirable, it may sacrifice contrast that you want to keep in strong lighting situations.
The one problem I have experienced is that many of the photos came with a strong yellow-ochre cast suggesting that the camera was pushing too much amber into the white balance. Green grass would turn chartreuse and blue skies would become pale. This occurred unpredictably, perhaps 75% of the time. The rest of the images would have what look to me like perfect colors--much better and more subtle than the D40, which is pretty good. (I am evaluating these photos on a calibrated color-accurate monitor.)
After fiddling with white balance settings, hue, WB bracketing, turning ADL on and off, etc., etc., I returned the first camera, only to find that the second one does the same thing. Yesterday, however, I stumbled across the fact that if you select "Direct Sunlight" WB instead of "Auto White Balance" (and you actually have sunlight) the problem goes away and the colors are perfect.
A little more research on the internet indicates that the unpredictable behavior of Auto White Balance is a well known problem on many digital cameras. Essentially the camera is trying to guess what lighting conditions apply, but most of the experts who came up in my search strongly recommended manually selecting and/or adjusting white balance. Now, I didn't think that my D40 or the other cameras I owned had this problem, but maybe the other issues they did have were related. For instance, the D40 often put a faint blue cast into shadow areas that wasn't there. A D60 that I briefly owned was worse in this regard.
Like the D40 before it, the D5000's manual recommends Auto White Balance for most situations, but you may want to question that. This is a bit a disappointment, because the way Nikon has intelligently automated so many menu choices is part of the D5000's excitement, but it seems that the Auto White Balance problem is common among DSLRs.This is my first DSLR camera, and I can say right off that it's very easy to use and takes amazing photos. I chose the D5000 because a friend who is a professional photographer recommended it saying I should invest my money in lenses not the body. I believe this is true, but there is a consideration to make when purchasing the D5000, or the other Nikon entry-level cameras such as the D40/D40x/D60/D3000, and that has to do with the auto-focus motor.
The D5000, which tops Nikon's entry-level line, does not include an auto-focus motor in the body, instead it relies on a "silent wave" auto-focus mechanism in the lens (AF-S). This is supposed to be very quiet and fast, though I don't know if that's true compared to the screw-drive motors used in other camera bodies. It's also supposed to be more cost effective and allow for a smaller/lighter camera body, but again I'm not sure if that is quite true or exactly why Nikon chose this option for their entry level line (if anybody knows more about this please feel free to comment). However, this option will limit users who already have a collection of Nikon AF lenses (not AF-S), as well as those purchasing a Nikon for the first time. The AF lenses will work fine but have to be manually focused. That said, more experienced users would probably not be purchasing an entry-level model; a more appropriate starting point would be the D90.
So as far as lens compatibility? The first lens I sought to purchase was a fast prime (FFL) unit for indoor/low-light and portraits. I looked at the low-priced 50mm f/1.8D AF, but the auto-focus is not compatible. Same with the faster and more expensive 50mm f/1.4D AF, as well as the 35mm f/2D AF. Also, no luck with the Tamron or Sigma FFL units, though I did see some Tamron zoom lenses with AF-S compatibility. I became very concerned that my options would be severely restricted, and perhaps I would need to return the camera and upgrade to the D90 or go with the Canon T1i. However, I discovered the 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW, which came out last year, and also the more moderately priced 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX which currently sells for about $200. That unit came out earlier this year (I haven't chosen yet). I also went to the Nikon homepage, and noted that 30 of the 50 current auto-focus lenses listed were AF-S, so while the options are limited, the average non-professional user shouldn't have a problem finding an appropriate lens for the occasion including many professional level models. I also suspect that Nikon will include AF-S in more if not all future auto-focus lenses. Users will find the least options with Nikon's wide-angel, standard, and telephoto models. Most of the super telephoto, wide-angle zoom, standard zoom, high powered zoom and close up lenses include AF-S.
PROS of the D5000
1. Has virtually the same image sensor as the D90 and D300. This puts the D5000 in good company, and one could argue it's more of a prosumer or mid-level class camera than its entry-level predecessor, the D60. It's almost a D90, but just lacking of a few options and the D90's ruggedness. The difference is about $300.
2. Flip LCD; I considered the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, and while both the Canon and Nikon have their advantages, both are very similar with the exception of Nikon's flip LCD. I consider this more than just a novelty. It not only protects the screen but is practical in some situations, such as shooting photos overhead. The D90 does not have this function either.
3. Easy to use; I got fantastic pictures right off using the auto mode as well as the pre-set scene selections. However, users are not restricted to these options and experienced photographers should enjoy the camera alike. Just like the D90, the D5000 has scene modes on the dial, but it also has 13 additional modes from the menu which adds benefit to novice users. I tried the night landscape and sunset with excellent results.
4. The lens is very good for a kit, and includes Vibration Reduction (VR). The lens by itself currently sells on Amazon for about $185 new, as appose to the model without VR which is currently priced at $110. Users may also want to pick up a fixed lens and/or higher power zoom, but the kit lens should be fine for most users. That said, I'm sure this camera could be taken to another level with the right lens.
5. Long Battery Life
6. Compact / Light weight
CONS
1. Price; the D5000 may be priced a little high for an "entry-level" camera, but again it's $300 less than the D90, and in many ways comparable. It's also slightly less than the Canon EOS Rebel T1i.
2. Ruggedness; some may say it's a little "toyish" with the plastic finish, and being light (which isn't a bad thing), but overall it looks sharp and is well built. I handled the D90 and some of the pro lines, they felt a little more rugged, but of course are designed for more abuse (and cost much more).
3. AF-S auto-focus (see above)
Bottom line, if you're looking for a great camera with the ability to produce real quality photos, but you don't want to spend a small fortune, the D5000 is a great choice.
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